Jamaican Restaurant Opens in Harajuku

A new restaurant has opened in Japan offering authentic Jamaican cuisine in the Harajuku district of the capital Tokyo. JamRock Cafe is the latest Jamaica themed restaurant to make it’s home in Japan but this is arguable to one with the best location which is easily acceptable on the JR Yamanote Line.

JamRock Cafe is owned by Yvonne Goldson a Jamaican born in the north western parish of Trelawny (same parish as Usain Bolt) who has written a Patois Handbook titled ‘Let’s Speak Jamaican!’. She moved to Japan in the late 90’s to find a publisher for her book and fell in love with the country. Since opening in January, JamRock Cafe has welcomed customers looking to escape the frantic pace of Tokyo living while enjoying freshly prepared Jamaican dishes and soothing reggae music from Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff, Peter Tosh and many other reggae music legends.

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Menu

The full menu is split into appetizers, salads, soups, entrees, side orders, appetizers and desserts. World renowned Jamaican dished like ackee and saltfish, jerk chicken, patties, sweet potato pudding, fish tea and pepperpot soup. The 2010 Staging of the One Love Jamaica Festival in Yoyogi Park will take place from Saturday May 8th to Sunday May 9th 2010 and some of these foods should be available during the festival for sampling.

In Tokyo? Why not stop by?

Living Tokyo? Passing through Harajuku? Want to sample authentic Jamaican cuisine? Why not stop by Jamrock Cafe. It is closed on Mondays but open every other day. Full menu and opening hours available on the official website. Looking forward to visiting when in Operation Visit Japan in complete and I hopefully arrive n Tokyo in July 2011.

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JamRock Cafe Website

Information sources

Jamaica Observer | Timeout Tokyo | Somatic Systems | BigUp Radio

[jamaica]

7 thoughts on “Jamaican Restaurant Opens in Harajuku

  1. I guess it was only a matter of time before someone did this. Japan is huge on the Jamaica and dancehall circuits. I agree with the first poster though, not much of a Jamaican feel inside!

    Good luck to them, I hope they do well!

  2. I think that it *does* have a JA feel to it: warm lighting, intimate seating, use of natural products and views of greenery. It could only be more Jamaican if I could smell the jerk fish right now. [jamaica]

    Thanks for letting us know about the resto.

  3. I was very excited about it, so I went there with some friends (1 Jamaican and 2 Japanese). We were pretty disappointed. We tried a lot of things- curried chicken, jerk chicken, jerk fish, rice and peas, ackie and patties. The best thing there were the patties. The worst- the jerk fish! We all stared at the plate for about 30 seconds before actually trying the fish, and it was really bad. Take my advice and dont order that. Very small, but comfortable environment with both Jamaicans and Japanese working there. I’ll stick with “Alawe” in Ebisu.

  4. And I know that I am in Japan so it would taste the same. The food might not have that same flavor…..thats expected. But I didnt expect the food to be so …..(trying to think of a word but the only thing that comes to mind is ) BAD.

  5. If I lived in Japan, I’d go to this place. If I just traveled to Japan, I’d rather go and try Japanese food. But anyway, yay to [jamaica] and [japan] 🙂

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