London’s best Caribbean restaurants

Paradise Cove in Battersea is a creation from much-loved local chef Tarell ‘Chef Tee’ Mcintosh. The space opened in 2022 following a crowdfunding campaign after original restaurant Sugarcane was forced to close. A wonderful, community-focused space, it comes with a varied, experimental menu featuring Jamaican-inspired home-cooked classics. Whilst you’ll find traditional jerk and oxtail here, there are also lots of vegan options, with a dedicated section for ital food, which is plant-based cooking influenced by Rastafarianism. Their turmeric spiced green plantain chips are hand cut and dehydrated in house, and come served with jerk mayo. Don’t miss the sweetcorn pimento fritters either, which taste best with a squeeze of fresh lime. 

Time Out tip Try the super fresh and fiery ginger beer, which is made on site.

Tucked away in a railway arch in south east London, Buster Mantis is a cool, underground, and creative space. Everything is curated by owner Gordon McGowan from Mandeville, Jamaica and they’re best known for their Sunday roasts, which bring the flavours of Jamaica to a British classic. Fridays are also well worth checking out, with Jamaican seafood dishes served for a fabulous fish supper. Escovitch fish, steamed fish with okra, fried festivals, pepper shrimp and saltfish fritters were originally introduced for the restaurant’s Easter celebrations, but were so loved they were kept on the menu for a weekly treat.

Time Out tip The house rum punch is the real deal.

Roti Joupa is a proper institution. They’ve been serving the very best of Trinidadian fare since the early 2000s, first in Clapham North and now in Stratford. From homemade drinks such as sorrel and mauby (bark of the snakewood tree, boiled with ginger and spices before being sweetened), to snacks like doubles, aloo pie and pholourie - warm, light, airy fritters made from split peas doused in tamarind chutney. For mains, there’s dhal puri roti (roti stuffed with split peas) and delicious flaky ‘buss up shut’ (paratha) to eat alongside curry chicken, curry goat or stew chicken. There’s also pumpkin, bodi (green beans) and spinach for a plant based meal.

Time Out tip Order doubles with everything; sweet tamarind chutney, cool cucumber chutney, spiced kuchela and medium pepper.

Sweet Dee's Jerk comes from brothers Troy and Jarrell Johnson, who started the concept in their back garden in Tooting before taking proceedings to Selfridges Food Hall. The menu celebrates their British-Jamaican heritage and offers a tasty twist on family favourites as well as their experience growing up in London. 24hr marinated jerk is cooked over charcoal then served with rice and peas, fried plantain and slaw. Why not get it in a bagel stuffed with fried plantain, Caribbean salad and their homemade sauces? If you’re after something fun, check out their dutty nachos, topped with jerk chicken and your choice of sauce.

Time Out tip Try their mango and pineapple, fruit punch or lemon and ginger slushies. With or without rum, they’re fresh and super fruity.

Founded in 2020 by siblings Jordan and Chyna, Jam Delish is an independent Caribbean vegan restaurant and cocktail bar in Angel. The velvet chairs, bright neon signage and decorative flower wall give the space a modern feel, and the menu features traditional family recipes influenced by the fresh, modern energy of the London food scene. Expect to find innovative delights such as ‘oxtail’ chow mein made with jackfruit, wild mushroom and udon, jerk ‘pork’ belly tacos topped with green salsa and pickled red onions and curry ‘goat’ made using seitan, but almost tasting identical to the meaty original.

Time Out tip Try the Caribbean fried ‘chicken’ and Jamaican gravy with garlic mashed potatoes and confit hispi cabbage. It's giving vegan soul-food meets the Caribbean. Truly comforting.

Sister to local legend Brian Danclair’s beloved Fish, Wings and Tings and Danclair’s Kitchen, Veg and Tings brings a plant-based menu to Brixton Village. Celebrating street food and snacks from Trinidad and Tobago, the menu features ‘small tings’ such as doubles (small fried flatbreads called baras, which are then topped with spiced chickpeas) and aloo pie (fried pies filled with spiced potatoes), topped with tamarind and mango chutney, pickled vegetables and fried plantain. If you’re looking to really fill your belly, then there are ‘big tings’, such as ital (plant based cooking influenced by Rastafarianism) stew and veg roti (creamy curried chickpeas, string beans and pumpkin, wrapped in a deliciously soft dhal puri roti). There’s even a full Sunday lunch, complete with mac and cheese and stew red beans.

Time Out tip Enjoy a glass of their homemade sorrel, which takes its flavour from a bright red flower similar to hibiscus, boiled with spices and ginger then sweetened. Sip it on the outdoor terrace – perfect on a warm summer’s evening.

Umana Yana is a family-owned establishment celebrating all that Guyanese cooking has to offer. The menu is affordable, and stacked full of delights including incredible seafood in the shape of their fish curry and fish stew. There’s also super succulent curry goat that falls off the bone – enjoy it with the softest paratha roti or rice and peas. Add to that pillowy pholourie fritters made from split peas, as well as mango achar, which is mango curried with lots of spices. We can’t forget about the pepperpot either, which comes deep, dark and rich from the cassareep, spices and sugar.

Time Out tip There are a few seats inside if you want to dine in. However, this is mostly known as a take-away joint.

Maureen’s Brixton Kitchen is a humble spot in the heart of Brixton. Maureen Tyne has been cooking straight from her garden for the last 20 years. Walk up the historic Railton Road and you’ll see fumes from her jerk pan rising above the wall of her yard. Her menu is quintessentially Jamaican, with all you’d expect from a shop on the island; rich curry goat that melts in your mouth, fried chicken which she cooks in those massive outdoor pans and, of course, jerk chicken. The set up is mostly take-away, however, there are a few tables set up for when the weather is good.

Time Out tip: Grab a bottle of Maureen’s homemade punch to go with your meal.

If you’re looking for some real Jamaican home cooking, then head down to Dub Pan, formerly known as Rudie’s. Michelle and Matin - the wife and husband duo behind the brand – have done an epic job of bringing a host of classic dishes to various sites across the city, from curry goat and slow cooked oxtail to shrimp rundown (juicy shrimp cooked in lots of coconut milk) and saltfish fritters. For street food, especially jerk, try their Shoreditch or Croydon locations, but if you’d like to dine in and have the full Dub Pan experience, get down to their Tooting branch. 

Time Out tip Their cocktail selection is excellent. Go for the rum punch if you fancy something strong and fruity or Guinness punch for something malty and milky.

You’ll find this cult neighbourhood take-away spot right on the corner by Stoke Newington train station, Serving up some of the best Trinidadian cooking in North London, Bernard Jackson’s food is super-affordable, and features loads of vegetarian and vegan options, such as ital soup and doubles with all the chutneys and toppings. He also serves dhal puri roti with a whole bunch of fillings, such as lamb, curry chicken and stew chicken. If you fancy something a little less traditional, there's saltfish with or without ackee, not commonly found in roti but delicious all the same. 

Time Out tip Order one of the ace homemade punches. Choose from mauby, Irish moss, sorrel, Guinness and best of all, sweet, rich and super-nutty peanut.

Chef-owner Faye Gomes has been plating up magic for Kaieteur Kitchen since 2003. This unassuming spot in Elephant and Castle is a staple for Guyanese cuisine, sharing some of the best traditional home cooking with influences spanning Africa, Portugal and south India. Expect dishes such as Spanish rice, curry chicken, souse (pickled pigs feet) and rice pudding – rice seasoned with spices and pig’s blood or browning, then stuffed in pork intestine casing and steamed. It’s savoury and earthy, humming with scotch bonnet, garlic, spring onion, thyme, and cloves. For dessert, she makes excellent salara – a coconut roll with spiced coconut – and classic pine tarts, with pineapple jam baked into triangle-shaped pastries.

Time Out tip Be sure to try Guyana’s national dish, pepper pot. It’s oxtail, goat and pig tail stewed down with brown sugar, cassareep (a thick syrup made from boiling the liquid of fresh cassava) and spices.

Sham Mahabir started Limin’ as a pop-up in Spitalfields market. The idea was received so well, it went on to become a permanent fixture, located on the edge of the Thames in Gabriel's Wharf on the South Bank. With a menu influenced by Sham’s Trinidadian heritage as well as his life in London, it features snacks such as freetas (split pea fritters with spinach) and Trini puri (hollow puri shells stuffed with potato seasoned with roasted cumin) and hook and ball (a take on saltfish accra fritters but made with smoked haddock). Don’t miss the impressive array of homemade chutneys and pepper sauce.

Time Out tip Be sure to try the doubles, and try and visit on May 30, which Sham has branded ‘National Doubles Day’, in line with Indian Arrival Day, which commemorates the arrival of people from the Indian subcontinent in Trinidad. 

Rhythm Kitchen is a double-pronged, family run business. There’s a spot at Stratford Westfield’s food court, but a larger, bricks and mortar site in Walthamstow. The latter boasts a cosy dining room with an extensive, seriously impressive rum collection which covers the entire back wall of the space. They’ve collected over 100 bottles spanning the entire Caribbean, from Martinique to Grenada, as well as rhum agricole, which is rum made in the French Caribbean islands from sugar cane juice rather than molasses. They also serve jerk straight from their charcoal grill; juicy, smokey and charred just the right amount. It comes alongside classic rice and peas, coleslaw and mac and cheese.

Time Out tip Visit the Walthamstow branch for Caribbean afternoon tea, which comes remixed with jerk wings, plantain cornbread and saltfish fritters.

Chef-owner Stafford Geohagen started out as a market trader, cooking from his one bedroom flat in Stockwell. After years of hard graft, he finally opened Healthy Eaters, which can now be found on Market Row in Brixton Village. As well as a restaurant serving up the likes of pepper steak and fried fish, it’s also a bakery where you can get traditional hard dough bread and super flaky, bright yellow Jamaican patties. The patties come with everything from callaloo (similar to spinach, with cooked onions and sweet peppers) to cheesy beef and saltfish. There’s also amazing sweet spice bun. Get a loaf to take away or order a piece sandwiched around a thick wedge of bright, orange processed cheese. The latter might not sound incredibly appetising, but it's a beloved Caribbean classic. 

Time Out tip The signature jerk chicken is made using the families personal marinade recipe, passed on through generations and then cooked over coal in a steel drum barbecue.

Founded in 1985, Ma Petite Jamaica brands itself as London’s ‘first Caribbean diner’. Local art, straw gazebos and Jamaican flag bunting transports you straight to the island, with the menu dedicating a whole section to jerk. Whether you want chicken in quarter, half or whole portions, or jerk pork sold by weight, here everything is set up just like it would be back in Jamaica. The abundance of sides go perfectly with either, from rice and peas, to festival (sweet, spiced fried dumplings), crispy cassava wedges and of course, mac and cheese.

Time Out tip Order escovitch fish with grilled vegetables and fried cassava. Jamaicans enjoy this dish on Good Friday as part of their Easter celebrations, but it tastes great all year round.

Though common in parts of Colombia and Belize, Latin-Caribbean restaurants such as Guanabana are pretty rare in London. Incredible cheese empanadas with aji sauce and cactus fritos are the ideal order throughout the week, but they’re best known for their outrageously good – and halal – Sunday roasts. Here, the jerk beef is served with crispy roast potatoes, caramelised baby carrots, super light Yorkshire pudding, fried sweet yellow plantain and copious amounts of gravy made from all the meat juices.  

Time out tip For a sweet ending to your Sunday lunch, try the cool and fresh Guanabana sorbet, also known as soursop. 

Harlseden’s ever-enticing Trinidad Roti Shop was opened by Dulcie Joseph in the early 2000s at 27 Craven Park Road. It’s a lovely, local spot with a few seats inside to dine in but most people are here for the take out option The menu focuses on traditional dishes such as doubles (fried bara dough, topped with spiced chickpeas and chutneys), pholourie, dhal puri (roti stuffed with split peas) or ‘buss up shot’ (paratha) roti filled with curry goat, curry shrimp, curry beef or spinach, pumpkin and channa for a plant-based option. If you fancy dessert, then there’s coconut tart and sweet bread.

Time Out tip For breakfast try saltfish and bake, which is saltfish cooked with onions, peppers and green seasoning, served in a fried bake. It’s similar to fried dumpling but larger and airier and is a common morning snack in the islands, but a rare treat to find it being made here.

London’s Saint Lucian diaspora may not be as large as those from Jamaica or Trinidad, but those in know seek out this bakery in the heart of Dalston. Founded by the Monero family, Rainbow Bakery have been cooking up everything from patties, cassava cake and spiced bun since 1987. They also have a great selection of homemade drinks and punches, such as sea moss punch and peanut punch. Super rich and delicious, they’re popular in the Caribbean and made with condensed milk, evaporated milk and spices. 

Time Out tip If you’re lucky enough to arrive when the coco breads have just come out of the oven, also order a patty and pop it in the middle of the bread. They’re both great alone, but together is a whole other experience.

Jamaica Patty Co. was founded in 2013 by chef Theresa Roberts with the hope of recreating the unique flavours and aromas of Jamaican cooking. You’ll find the most flaky, golden yellow and fresh patties here, baked daily with a multitude of fillings, such as curry goat, cheesy beef, ackee and saltfish (Jamaica’s national dish), vegetable, beef and jerk chicken. Besides patties, they also serve traditional vegetable or chicken and dumpling soup, based on recipes cooked by Theresa’s father when she was growing up.

Time Out tip Pick up some blue mountain coffee. These delicious beans straight from Jamaica go best with a slice of Tortuga rum cake on the side.

Peppers & Spice is a long-standing Dalston space that offers everything from quick snacks to main meals. You also might also recognise it from the London episode of ‘Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown’, where the late icon tucked into their veg patties, curry mutton and saltfish callaloo while sat outside on Ball's Pond Road. They’re also known for their wonderfully comforting mannish soup, aka a meat soup packed full of ground root vegetables such as yam, sweet potato and pumpkin. Curry mutton is slow cooked in serious spices and stew chicken is deep and rich with a subtle sweetness. Both come with rice and peas and coleslaw. Homemade natural juices, particularly the soursop punch, will take you straight to Jamaica. There’s also a branch on Tottenham High Road.

Time Out tip Make sure to get your hands on their mac and cheese, which is extremely popular and often sells out early.