Picture this: A colourful plate, reggae beats in your ears, and flavours that transport you straight to the Caribbean—that’s exactly what the Jamski experience is. Jamski is a Jamaican restaurant owned and operated by actual Jamaicans in Victoria Island, Lagos.

On a hot Saturday afternoon after spending hours on a football field, I was surprisingly in the mood to eat something different. My friend immediately suggested Jamski and raved about their vibrant decor and delicious food. I had never had Caribbean food so I was excited to explore Jamski and document my adventure.

Navigating the menu

There are two reasons why I really like Jamski. One is that they included pictures in their menu, and we’ll talk about the second one in the next section. There’s just something about getting to see exactly what you’re ordering beforehand, especially with cuisine that’s unfamiliar. I’m used to checking restaurants’ Instagram pages for pictures of their meals before ordering, so I was glad I didn’t have to do that here.

Jamski’s menu is strictly Caribbean food, but it’s pretty diverse too. There’s a lot more than the popular oxtail, curry and jerk meals on their menu. I considered ordering familiar meals like stir fry or a wrap, but what my friend and I really came here for was the oxtail. We also wanted to have a taste of something else, so their combo meals on the first page of the menu were perfect.

On that note, I ordered a medium portion of brown stew oxtail and jerk pork and my friend ordered the same, but curry goat instead of jerk pork. Both meals came with rice and peas and a side of fried plantains. We also ordered two beef patties to compare with the popular Nigerian meat pies and a drink called top-up Ginger beer.

The overall experience

The second reason why I really like Jamski is that apart from the food, other aspects of the restaurant take you back to Jamaica. From the Jamaican flag table mats and murals of Bob Marley on the walls to the Caribbean music playlist on repeat, Jamski really offers a slice of Jamaica in Lagos.

Observing that Jamski is owned and managed by Jamaicans gave me a sense of comfort. Like anyone would, I immediately became confident about the authenticity of the meal I was about to eat—just because I knew it had been prepared by someone who’s immersed in the culture. A woman took our orders and in about 20 minutes, a man served us our food. They were both extremely polite and concerned about how much we liked our meals. We loved that.   

Digging into the food

We got our beef patties almost immediately after we ordered them, and were told they were straight out of the oven. The patties were delicious and rich. The pastry was the perfect balance between crispy and moist, and the filling was spilling with hot and tender minced beef. I can’t remember the last time I had a Nigerian meat pie as rich as this, so the Jamaican beef patty won this race.

The brown stew oxtail was just as delicious as the patty. The oxtail was tender, spiced perfectly and drenched in the brown stew. The cut of pork I was served looked like pork belly, characterised by the layer of fat right over the meat. It wasn’t as tender as the oxtail, but the fork and knife I was given to deconstruct the dish still got the job done.

The curry goat in my friend’s dish was also spiced as perfectly as the oxtail. It wasn’t packed with curry as I usually find with other curry dishes, and it was spicy but not overwhelmingly so. The rice and peas had a slight coconut taste that reminded me of the coconut rice at Brisk Lagos (which I loved). 

The top-up ginger beer we ordered tasted more like those Ginger Up shots everyone drinks first thing in the morning now, and less like a cocktail. We couldn’t taste any alcohol in the drink at all, which wasn’t a problem. However, the ‘buzz’ took us by surprise on our way out of Jamski. It turns out that the drink was a bit stronger than we thought.

Overall, the food at Jamski was great. There was one downside though. The meat we ordered—the oxtail are curry goat—tasted fantastic, but there wasn’t a lot of it. We were served bony cuts and the jerk pork I ordered was the only fleshy piece of meat on our plates. Nonetheless, considering the rising cost of food in Nigeria and the price of this meal, I wasn’t too bothered about this.

Our roundup

Food – Everything we had was a hit. We would’ve loved our oxtail and curry goat to have more fleshy cuts though – 9/10

Drinks – The ginger in the top-up ginger beer was a bit too harsh and tasted like a ginger shot instead of a cocktail – 6/10

Service – Very polite and concerned staff – 10/10

Parking – Just 2-3 parking spaces in front of Jamski so you will most likely have to park on the street – 7/10

Overall Rating = 8/10

Damages

Curry goat & brown stew oxtail (medium) – ₦7,000

Jerk pork & brown stew oxtail (medium) – ₦7,000

2 beef patties – ₦2,000

Ginger beer – ₦2,500

Water – ₦500

Total (prices are VAT inclusive) – ₦19,000

If you’re ever craving Jamaican food in Lagos, Jamski is your best bet for the whole experience. From Jamaican staples like oxtail and jerk, to spicy beef patties that are probably much better than any Nigerian meat pies you’ve tasted lately, they’ve got it all. If you’re ever looking to recreate any of these amazing meals, Vendease is your one-stop shop for everything you need. Check Vendease out for affordable food supplies delivered to your door!