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Red Stripe Meets Street Food Saturdays By The River

Published:Thursday | December 5, 2019 | 12:00 AMJessica Harrison/Gleaner Writer
Pick your flavour!
Any one in the mood for jerked fish?
Chef Walker-Barrett ensures that everything is done just right.
Fish and bammy? Absolutely!
Check out the shrimp and lobster pasta!
If your tray wasn’t full, you certainly missed out
Bradley
pork, turkey neck and pig’s tail. All jerked and topped with various flavoured glaze.
Jerked pork, corned bread and picked cabbage went down well with the watermelon Red Stripe.
Tiana Chung
Garfene Grandison poses with his tray full of jerked goodies.
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Saturdays levelled up when Red Stripe decided to join Simone Walker-Barrett, chef of 20 years, for her month-end ‘Street Food Saturdays’ food-pairing initiative. Tucked away in Mount James, St Andrew, just 30 minutes from Manor Park, this hidden gem boasts a cool, shallow river where patrons are invited to kickoff their shoes and dine, while enjoying the rushing stream of Jamaican bliss over their feet.

“As a lecturer at the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at the University of Technology, research comes with the territory. I did a paper on the preservation of our traditional methods of cooking, that is charcoal or wood fire,” she explained. Along with feeling the need to put the research into practice, her husband encouraged her to cook for the general public thus the birth of Street Food Saturdays almost five years ago.

With 20 years of experience under her belt, Chef Walker-Barrett decided that a food-pairing experience would be a fantastic idea since we are beer people. “The food is spicy and smokey, so [it] goes well with beer and wine that has a strong wine background.” she said. The menu included items such as jerked fish, scallion-ginger crab, sorrel-glazed pig’s tail, guava-glazed turkey neck and janga soup. The dish that stole hearts this past Saturday was the lobster and shrimp pasta. Made with smoked Gouda, Red Stripe, cream cheese, garlic butter shrimp – both with and without the shell – and topped with a big fried lobster split down the middle. It sent our taste buds into a seafood frenzy.

“All the meat was seasoned tender and juicy. Sitting in the river was such a nice touch. Definitely worth the drive ” shared @wongagyal blogger, Tiana Chung.

Paired with Red Stripe’s new watermelon-flavoured beer, the pasta and the scenery of the river on a hot Saturday afternoon was nothing short of refreshing and heavenly.

jessica.harrison@gleanerjm.com