Stephen Weir
Friday, November 29, 2019
While it is not unusual for a British restaurant to open in Toronto, it is newsworthy when a Canadian resto decides to set up shop within pickup and delivery distance of the Queen of England!
When I contacted Edward and Lilly Pottinger, the founders and owner of The Real Jerk (TRJ) on Gerrard Street (where Drake and Rihanna shot their crazy popular music video) they said yes indeed there is now a Real Jerk in Streatham Hill only 5 miles south of Buckingham Palace.
But, then they told me, neither the news story nor the resto is new. In fact, “The London location was in fact opened in May 2018!” they said. “They recently celebrated their anniversary!”
“Same menu. Same sign. Same vibe.”
I took a look at the resto’s website and saw that the London outlet has taken that TRJ vibe one step farther. The restaurant is situated on a busy corner on Streatham Hill Street, a road originally built by the Romans long before the days of yore. They have tables and chairs outdoors on the sidewalk which have been painted with TRJ colours and look so very Caribbean.
Apparently the chairs and tables have been dubbed thrones and they are also called the Eighth Wonder of the World! So when the weather is good the customers line up to sit down and take selfies! Some of those selfies are printed with this article.
So how is the food? I looked at some of the reviews on Travel Advisory and found that people by and large love the food (there were some knocks on the speed of service in the early days of TRJ-UK) and the staff.
“I am half Jamaican and was brought up with a lot of Jamaican food, this is by far my favourite Caribbean restaurant and I will 100% be having many more visits!” wrote a customer named Miranda last month.
But what customers really rave about their Caribbean style Rum drinks. TRJ is flipping Guinness drinking Brits one Dirty Jamaican Rum Punch at a time.
Travel lush posted on social media that “The cocktails are amazing, though they’re slightly pricey for the size but they were definitely not watered down! The drinks are very strong which I personally like, I’m a bit of a light weight so just one drink gets me feeling a nice buzz”.
The last entry on Travel Advisor is probably the last word that many English diners would like to leave with the owners of the sort-of-new The Real Jerk UK. “The only thing I would say is I think the manager should do some deals for the drinks like a Happy Hour or 2.4.1!!”
Pip Pip, Cheers and Cheerio to TRJ UK!
