ROUGH ONLINE Night Out At Rum Kitchen In Brixton

Rum Kitchen open up their new and third fixture in the “capital of South London’” Brixton - adding to their Carnaby Street and Notting Hill branches. It’s no surprise that they’ve set up shop in the heart of South London with the area’s surge of new restaurants, making it an unofficial foodie hub that includes Caribbean eateries such as Turtle Bay and Negril.

The cavernous Brixton space is the chain’s biggest yet, seating 110 people with a small terrace area for 20. Upon entering, guests are transported to a Caribbean beach shack setting and a bar area intricately decorated with every type of liquor imaginable - a dominant highlight in the decor. Following in the same layout theme as their other restaurants, there’s also the grand open kitchen where all the magic happens.

The colourful menu boasts sizable mouthwatering Caribbean inspired comfort food such as jerk fried rice, saltfish fritters, slow braised curry mutton and 18 hour marinated chicken, slow cooked for 6 hours before being smoked, soaked in a Bertha oven to improve ‘flavour and tenderness’. Exclusive dishes were also unveiled in the Brixton menu, including the jerk fried chicken burger with spicy lime salt and grilled red snapper served with pepper escovitch and avocado salsa. With a mighty 200 sweet and spicy rum varieties and 40 cocktails, the drinks menu wowed us entirely! From poolside concoctions such as Mai Tai, Pina Colada, Jerk Mary and the formidable Zombie, served in a skeletal glass jar with flamed passion fruit...pretty impressive. The taste, even more impressive with refreshing bursts of citrus - thumbs up all round!

First rounds was from the ‘Bits & Bobs’ section, aka. Starters - zingy glazed sticky ribs, island spiced crispy and succulent squid and heavily seasoned jerk chicken wings. All presented immaculately with borderline gluttonous portion sizes, right up our street! Starters continued with the Plantain dish consisting of chopped soft sweet diced plantain, garnished in diced bacon, sweetcorn. The clear winner of the round! Mains was the 3 Piece Bowl - 3 pieces of glistening boneless jerk chicken, black eyed pea rice and house slaw (coleslaw) served with a small pool of jerk gravy. With an aesthetically pleasing presentation and packed full of flavour, our only gripe was the slightly overcooked chicken. Though this was salvaged once smothered in the jerk gravy.

There’s a substantial selection of desserts, which we missed out on due to our full stomachs. We’ve got our eye on the banana cake for when we next visit. Also on the menu, coconut ice cream, chocolate and rum ganache and sorbets spruced up with rum.

The highlight of our experience was the informal, vibrant atmosphere and..soundtrack. Flawless mixes of Hip Hop, R&B and 90’s club hits. It wasn’t Caribbean music, but it didn’t sound out of place either, adding a contemporary vibe to the setting. We couldn’t help but have one dance, albeit heavy, well fed stomachs in tow. Even Alex, the manager had to join in with us!

Rum Kitchen is the restaurant to visit in Brixton for one of London’s top Caribbean cuisines, or even just to soak in the buzzing surrounding and sip on one of the best cocktails you’ll probably have this summer.