Momma Cherri & The Caribbean Kitchen

What could be more fun than a pop up hosted by the irrepressible Momma Cherri. This time popping up in the smart surroundings of Red Roaster in St James Street. And this time she brought along chef Chrissie Ranx from The Caribbean Kitchen, a whole lotta soul in a bowl was the promise and that promise was more than delivered. This was a feast of food, fun and great music. I dined alone so I could quietly sing along to classic tracks from my youth without disturbing anyone. That said I was sat close to table of nice people who chatted to me along the way.

Now Momma C is a feeder and so it seems is Chrissie, this was BIG food, generous and tasty and pretty soon my table was laden with delicious dishes.

A seafood bisque arrived and was everything I wanted from that dish, rick and creamy with plenty punch. A salad of black eyed peas and corn was refreshing and a bowl of hard dough bread and cornbread perfect for mopping up. I love cornbread and was fascinated by the slightly sweet hard dough, a new one for me.

Next a plantain and mango salad. Now plantain can be awful, I mean really awful, hard, dry and tasteless… but when it is as good as this, well you then realise why it is so well loved. I must ask Momma C how to recognise when it is ready to eat.

Hot wings next, big ones and fiery too, slippery and meaty and sharp, a sharpness softened by a blue cheese dip, I wolfed them down and then spent some time licking my fingers clean and mopping the sauce from my moustache.

It wouldn’t be complete without the next dish of curry goat and this was excellent, the meat so tender, the sauce so rich and just the right amount of chilli heat and a kick of cinnamon I think. It came with rice and peas which for years I thought meant garden peas, how sheltered a life I led in Lancashire as a boy.

If reading this is making you feel full then brace yourself, we’re not there yet. Out came a sausage and chicken gumbo, and a generous bowl full too, smokey sausage, tender chicken in a lovely gloopy stew, time to use more of that hard dough bread even though I was getting rather full.

I had accepted at the start a nice frozen cocktail but by this point I need a glass of Coke, I don’t drink a lot of booze these days but wanted something with a fizz and the sweet drink works so well with spicy food. And I bet by now you are thinking it’s all over… well think again.

Out came pork ribs, sticky, sweet and falling from the bone, I loved them but put them to one side for they were fast folllowed by Chrissie’s famous jerk chicken. Now this iconic dish can be great and it can be as dry and tough as old boots with an overriding taste of burnt, yes it needs that gentle smokey edge but not so much so that it masks all else. Chrissie’s was perfect, waves of spice, succulent and truly delicious.

I should have stopped there, and in fact I did bring half the jerk chicken and two ribs home in a box, a perfect lunch the following day.

And did I stop? No of course not, with eyes bigger than my belly I devoured a peach and mango cobbler with cream and waddled home in the cool night air.

Momma Cherri is an icon, a fun loving ball of energy with a laugh that puts a smile on on your face and food that puts a gentle fire in your belly. Chrissie is a wonder in that kitchen and I hope to eat more of her delicious food very soon.

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Instagram: chrissieranx