Bamboula@Brixton: Jamaican restaurant review

What are you taking pictures of?!!

An enraged Jamaican man pounces on us as I'm taking snapshots of our long-awaited dinner. The proprietor, as it turns out, works himself in a scary frenzy as the private party he is entertaining across the room from us are apparently nervous about any photographic euqipment deployed anywhere close to them. Perhaps, balacalvas would be a good solution for their phobia.

In the meantime, our dinner keeps arriving, one dish at a time.


We have long meant to visit this restaurant located right in front of the favourite haunt of Brixton's feral teenagers, across the road from the Lambeth Town Hall, but some other chow-hound opportunity would have always turned up.

About an hour before the closing time, warnings started coming, like in a vintage sci-fi movie where a mechanic female voice advises everyone to evacuate before the explosion. Never mind the

As one for the road, we get not even a sorry when the perfectly coiffed cashier chick shortchanges us of 20 quid. Like, big deal, mon.

Pro's: Good-tasting food, some less known Jamaican dishes.
Con's: Smallish portions. Rude-boi style customer service. Waitresses seemingly unaware of the fact of their gainful employment, while totally engrossed in "keeping it real" and working on their "street credibility".
In a nutshell: With so many other alternatives for West Indian fare in Brixton, give it a miss.

How to cook African plantain

his is NOT a banana. This is a plantain!" Oby definitely has a point. For Nigerians (and Jamaicans) it is a kind of potato that you can fry, boil, mash or make pies from.

I saw similar ones, if somewhat smaller, in Thailand, where they call them kluay nam wah (กล้วยน้ำว้า) and grill them on charcoals.



You can definitely know they are not your regular dessert bananas because they have black stones inside.

The easiest and most common thing you can do with a plantain is to fry it in oil.

1. Heat a frying pan on medium high heat.
2. Add oil, wait until it gets hot.
3. Slice plantains into 2-3mm wedges and sprinkle them with salt.
4. Put the wedges in the pan. Fry until golden brown.
5. Serve with hkatenkwan or abenkwan or any other African or Caribbean dish of your choice.

liquid cane sugar sucre cannes

Lipton's Caribbean infusion: good things come from corporations too!

all it a commercial concoction, I don't care! This Caribbean infusion is made by Lipton and, as it goes, I have never seen it on sale outside France. It has a corruptingly sweet, tropical smell yet there is not a wee dram o' sugar in it.

They brand it as "hibiscus and papaya flavoured" but it also contains orange blossoms, lemon grass, orange rind, licorice and rose petals. Quite a mix, innit?

If I have any left over (hardly ever, truth be told), I add liquid cane sugar and cool it in the fridge. Served with ice on a hot day, it is superbly delectable.

Chayote squash: a.k.a. cristophene

epending on which shop you buy it at Brixton market, it is called chayote, chow chow or cristophene. Apocryphally, it goes by "old people's lips" on the Stateside. If you look at the picture you will see where they are coming from.

Chayote is uniquely crunchy, juicy and starchy. Its texture and taste are a cross between squash and guava. It can be used like either.

I find it quite pleasant raw with the sugar and chili powder pepper, just like they have unripe guava in Thailand.

So far I have tried it in its squash emploi in Ghanaian abenkwan and will report on my further findings.

Ode to Brixton Market

allelujah, the vicious plans to pull down this exciting fount of exotic foods and erect yet another Faceless Temple of Bland Edibles and Mindless Consumerism have come to none! Brixton Market is here to stay.

Tesco's 2-pound Curry Pack and Starbucks' Cardamom-and-Chili Soy Milk Crappuccino aficionados will have to go elsewhere and leave us alone to enjoy the colourful cornucopia of African, South American, Indian, Chinese, Caribbean and Middle Eastern groceries.

Brixton Market keeps us from the sad fate of having to sustain on Tesco and the ilk's substandard fodder. Where else can you buy in one place

• Columbian sausage,
• Thai durian,
  
• Nigerian fufu,
  
• Jamaican locust fruit,
• Turkish bulgur,
  
• Panamanian chayote,
  
• Chinese daylily buds,
• Brazilian mandioquinha and
• Ghanaian garden eggs

and at a price anyone can afford?

Negril @ Brixton: Jamaican classics remixed

here are so many reasons why one could love London. For some, it is a place to gain fame and fortune. For others, it is an endless source of entertainment. For me, London is an exciting place where ideas, influences, cultures and backgrounds converge, collide and thus the new is born.

Sometimes new is upgraded old. There is nothing wrong with that. Many remixes sound way better than original versions. Food in my neighbourhood star eatery Negril is just like that: enlightened versions of old Jamaican classics.

I discovered this place last December. Driving back from Brighton I heard Floyd cackling, "He-he-he, look at what those brothers came up with!" Although Wikipedia says that Negril is a beach resort in Jamaica, I like Floyd's version of "Negro grill" better.

On a cold spring day three months later, Floyd popped by on a layover to Texas. After watching the sunset from Brockwell Hill, we went for a walk around the daintier parts of Brixton where swarms of Victorian and Edwardian architecture have somehow managed to escape the latter-day "development". This is how we stumbled over Negril again. The temptation of a nice spicy meal to warm up our chilled bones was irresistible.

We went for Jamaican classics. Floyd had half a jerk chicken with fried plantain (£10.95), yours truly - salted fish with ackee (£6.95) and roti (£2.25). I was half curious and half apprehensive about my order - can bacalao be really turned into something nice? - but the friendly proprietress let me try a bit of it. I was converted on the spot. Creamy from stewed ackee and intensely flavourful from fresh thyme, never had lowly cod tasted so delicious. Floyd's chicken was lean, smoky and spicy, the plantains: crunchy on the outside, nicely cooked on the inside and, most importantly, very light on oil.

I am very sensitive to details. One thing off and my dining experience can be ruined On the other hand, nice touches can make my day. In Negril I noticed quite a few.

1. It is not common at all that you can try food before ordering. I really appreciate this. It also show how (rightly) confident they are about their cooking.
   
2. They use free-range chicken. I'm far away from my vegan animal rightist days, I just think that eating a bird that could happily roam around is much better for your health.
   
3. When we entered the waiter turned down the music to the just-right unobtrusive background level.
   
4. There a lot of deliciously sounding vegan (ital) entries, so no headaches when inviting veg(etari)an mates for a dinner out.
   
5. I saw the waiter polishing glasses over a tub of steaming hot water - the kind of finesse you expect in much pricier establishments.
   
6. There is a spacious terrace with proper chairs and tables outside. I will definitely come here again on a sunny day!
   

Pro's: See the above numbered list.
Con's: A 10-minute uphill walk from the Tube station.
In a nutshell: Great remix of best Jamaican goldies with a generous touch of urban sophistication.

Negril, 132 Brixton Hill, 0208 674 8798

* * * * *

One of the cheerful chefs who is behind the creation of all this delectable goodness:

Jamaican cerassie/corilla herbal tea

Regular tea or coffee after 3PM gives me insomnia for the next night. That is why I am very big on herbal teas and infusions.

In Russia, herbal teas are a part of daily life. Mint, linden blossoms, rose hip, nettles, St. John's wort and willowherb are both commonly self-administered for medicinal purposes and enjoyed just for their flavour.

I get excited every time I discover a new type of caffeine-free beverage. This time I stumbled upon Jamaican cerassie or corilla at Brixton Market. The tea comes out rather bitter but it is purported to cleanse blood and purge pimples. But for those alleged properties I don't see why anyone would drink this willingly.