Jacksons

I’d passed this place a few time and made a mental note to pop in. From the outside it looks pleasant enough — and forgive me for stereotyping somewhat — but it almost looked too nice to be a Caribbean place!
So in I popped today whilst running my errands — I thought I’d treat myself.
First impression? Not great. A token teenager behind the counter was more interested in her phone than me, hardly any food whatsoever in the display cabinets and not another soul in here. Now, I’ve frequented my fair share of Caribbean joints before so have a good idea what’s what. The average joe from Clapham wouldn’t have a clue and the staff and the lack of food on display won’t help at all.
I went with the pepper steak and rice/​peas. The food was actually delicious. Strong flavours, a good old portion on the plate and I got some free coleslaw when I asked for it. It’s not the cheapest though. Compared to the shops in nearby Brixton, it seems extortionate.
On the plus side, they do 2−4−1 with a TasteLondon card.
I miiiiight be back. Who knows.

Well when I saw there was a Caribbean place on Clapham High street, thought that was a good idea;
But as soon as I crossed the door, realized that was not great: soulless place, dark, not really good service, the kind of place you know you made a mistake when you crossed the threshold.
The food was OK, but as I am not a specialist of this kind of cuisine, hard to rate it really.
So except if you are craving Caribbean food, I do not think you should go there.

I’m hoping this might be a Clapham find — I’m giving it 3 stars for now but I might be prepared to up it. I’m a strong advocate of Caribbean café/​take aways and I want this new one on Clapham High St to do well. In order to appeal to a conservative Clapham crowd I suspect they’ve probably tried hard with the branding, décor and smiling welcome to distinguish themselves from the sort of high-​countered, blunt and uncompromising first impression you might receive in your typical Caribbean outlet: the ones that are a bit suspicious of newcomers and prefer to deal with people that already know their way around the system. I stress first impression as I have unreserved joy for those little places so was a bit sceptical of Jacksons with all its contemporary décor and smiling staff reading explain ‘oxtail’ in just a jiffy. But the lady serving was so friendly, genuine and chatty she soon wore me down. But would the food pass muster? Well in answer to that I’m not sure as they appeared to have run out of most things — no rice n peas; no dumplin’; no plantain– perhaps revealing the teething problems of a new business. The jerk chicken I left with was good and I also bought the most enormous slice of homemade carrot and coconut cake that was easily one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten. The lady told me it was a struggle to work with it sitting temptingly on the counter all day and I can understand way. I went back there soon afterwards on the hunt for more and left empty handed– so time your visit well and Jacksons make more of that cake!