DUTCHY’S JAMAICAN JERK SHACK | FOOD REVIEW
15 North Street, Newport. 01633 215048 / www.dutchys.co.uk
Up a staggeringly steep North St, adjacent to a handy car park, is one of Newport’s best-kept secrets, but it shouldn’t be. Blink and you’ll miss Dutchy’s Jamaican Jerk Shack, so don’t blink.
The inside of an old Irish boozer has been transformed into an authentically-styled Jamaican restaurant complete with sack-covered windows, corrugated tin and wooden walls. The shack has a well volumed soundtrack of ska, reggae, rocksteady and lover’s rock.
So where to begin? Start off with a cocktail or two, served in milk bottles (washed out of course) at £4.50 for a regular, or £6.50 for deluxe. A definite hit, and at these prices, hit me baby one more time! Miss Chris’s Rum Punch tastes deceptively fresh and innocent but after a couple of those you feel no pain at all, while a banana daquiri is suitably lush.
We began with starters of ackee and salt fish – delicious – and followed this with a dish of prawns with mango: even tastier and satisfyingly buttery, both served in half coconut shells. Then on to an excellent curry goat and Santa Cruz ribs, with a piquant hot sauce and such a large helping that we could only manage half. There were side orders of rice and peas, and cabbage and carrots. The cabbage was beautifully cooked, al dente and sweet.
The dessert was chocolate, rum and orange cake, which tasted lovely but was denser and heavier than your average British cake. The accompanying rum and raisin ice cream was laced with real spirit, not artificial flavouring.
Service was friendly and helpful, and the portions were large enough to snag a carry-out for a decent lunch on another day. Be warned, it’s cash-only at the moment, but at these sort of prices, who’s complaining? The three-course meal for two with three cocktails each cost £70, including a tip. Happy days.
words MARK TIMLIN