IRIE SHACK | FOOD REVIEW
Woodville Road, Cardiff. 029 2037 3272 / www.irieshack.com
“A plastic palm tree always brightens the place up, doesn’t it?” Not my words, but those of one of the management team at Irie Shack, a Caribbean restaurant which has existed on this most student-saturated of Cardiff streets since April. It seems to sum up their general approach and demeanour quite well, which I don’t mean as a bad thing. Rather than pursuing an ideal of ‘authenticity’ which is likely unachievable, better to coax Cathays’ hungriest in with cheerfully gaudy imagery (wallpaper made up of classic reggae poster art; lavatory doors which says GYALS and BWOYS; the copious plastic trees) and sate them with decent food.
The selection of main courses comprise three categories: fire pit-cooked dishes (chicken, beef or seafood, barbequed and flamegrilled); one-pot meals such as curry goat or ackee and saltfish; and burgers, which are called things like Jammin’ and Rasta. I go for jerk chicken, which feels like enough of a Jamaican staple to serve as a measure of Irie Shack’s ability: it delivers on char and flavour, as does the king prawn skewer my friend chooses. Both dishes come with nondescript jerk sauce, rice’n’peas and Caribbean coleslaw, which I think equates to it having pineapple in it somewhere. The, perhaps unlikely, stars of the show are the salt cod fritters I order as a side, which are respectively fluffy and crunchy in correct proportions.
A key lime pie, which could do with being a bit more sturdy but ultimately satisfies, finishes me off. For an establishment which clearly thrives on the university population, and the calendar they adhere to, it’s pretty busy for a Thursday night in July; service is prompt and friendly, even if my two attempts to order a Jamaican beer which isn’t Red Stripe both fail. As regards comparable places in Cardiff, the River Tavern on Cathedral Road is streets ahead in the authenticity stakes, but if you’re over this side of town with a Caribbean-shaped gap in your dinner schedule, Irie Shack is recommended.
words NOEL GARDNER