Cuisine: Caribbean
Isn’t it exciting to visit an omni place where half of the options are vegan? So it is at Jerk Shack, a fun, canteen-style restaurant right in the centre of Manchester. It was really vegan-friendly, with the staff checking that we wanted all vegan accompaniments and pointing out all the plant-based options. And there were indeed plenty of them!
Despite not having a clue what breadfruit is, I ordered the breadfruit curry. It turned out to be quite potato-like, which can only be a good thing. It was a really delicious dish with a nice bit of heat – I really needed that cooling vegan coleslaw on the side (they have both vegan and non-vegan coleslaw, I believe, so do specify when you order). The rice and beans were nice too.
Dr HH got the jerk jack fruit, which was quite a thin sauce poured over some nice tender jack fruit. It was really tasty and he liked the seasoning, though he felt that the thinness of the sauce meant that the flavour wasn’t that evenly distributed. We would both happily order our dishes again though.
We also got a couple of these teeny sweetcorn fritters, which were a very pleasant bite!
All in all, there was really flavoursome food and friendly service, and the set-up was quite shack like! I was pleased to see it was a popular option with local workers – I daresay the city centre location doesn’t hurt. I’ve seen quite a lot of Caribbean stands at vegan festivals and food markets in London, but I believe this was my first time actually tucking in. And clearly, I’ve been missing out!
Did everyone know about breadfruit except for me? What are your top vegan Caribbean finds?
Herbivores' Heaven 
I’ve only tried breadfruit when I was in Jamaica I haven’t seen it available in the UK but I loved it!
I was very impressed with breadfruit – they had empty tins of it as cutlery holders on the tables, so you might be able to find some if you have a local Caribbean shop?
The little fritters are darling. I’ve never had breadfruit!
They were the perfect size for pecking!
I’d never heard of breadfruit before, but it sounds great, and the coleslaw is such a pretty purple!
Usually I don’t like coleslaw, but it was so pretty I had to try it!
Wow you are pretty lucky to eat breadfruit! I’ve never seen it at a Jamaican restaruant here in the states, which I am pretty sure we have a larger Jamaican population here than England. Maybe I am wrong. Anyways, I am always dreaming about checking out the Ital all vegan Jamaican restaurants in NYC one day. If you want to learn about the breadfruit they did an episode about it on Food Stuff/Savor:
https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/how-stuff-works/foodstuff/e/55324919
There is quite a big Caribbean community in the UK, so maybe that’s part of the reason. Thanks for the link, I’ll check it out!