Chillin’ reopens on Musgrave Avenue with signature feel, menu
Published:Thursday | February 22, 2024 | 12:07 AMShanel Lemmie/Staff Reporter
In August 2023, Chillin’ Restaurant and Bar closed its doors temporarily. Now two months into the new year, the Jamaican food hotspot is back and at a new home. Reopening their doors at 3 Musgrave Avenue in Kingston, proprietor P.J. Wright explained that the Holborn Road location was always a temporary home for them.
“We originally started out at the Serengeti up by the Hope Zoo,” he began, “but unfortunately, during the pandemic we had to make a move to what was supposed to be our express location for lunch on the go, that we ended up turning into our [dining restaurant],” he trailed off.
“Out of COVID we kind of had to be a little resilient and turn what was to be our to-go location into our full dining experience. So now we are back to our full dining experience in our new home and we are ready to be Kingston’s dining room.”
Now on Musgrave Avenue, Wright says he is excited to reacquaint his old customers with the brand, while inviting new ones into the family. Definitely nervous about the sudden closure of the Holborn Road doors, Wright explained, “One of our big issues was, we knew that we were reopening but we didn’t know how soon we were gonna get to reopen.”
He continued, “What we hoped was that we would close down and then just start back a marketing plan to get it back open, but we found that it worked out. We want people to rediscover Chillin’. So the way how persons felt about Chillin’ Serengeti, feeling like it was their little getaway spot, they had a little space there that even if they’re there no one would realise that they are there. It was their go-to for a drink or for a full meal. That’s kinda what we’re doing now, where it is that we are having them rediscover their Chillin’ experience. So we’re not going hard on the publicity and the marketing out there to say ‘hey, we’re back open’ and doing any grand launch or anything like that. We’ve been here, it’s just a new location and we feel like the persons who love the brand, they love the idea of it being their place and they’re kinda just falling back in love with it.”
Styled as the food hub of returning residents, Wright says they are starting out slow and steady.
“Right now we are only open from four till 10, so we’re starting out in the evening. Because we want to bring back that dining experience, we decided we didn’t want to get clouded by what people were getting used to with the box lunches. We started out for these two weeks getting persons to just come in, see how they like it, see what they would recommend that we can improve on, and that kind of stuff. And more, just get them falling back in love with the location that they liked Chillin’ at. It’s genuinely been good, persons like the location. They like the convenience of the space, ample parking, the layout is nice and obviously, the food is back on track and back on point and persons are loving it.”
With no changes to menu, Wright says he is not keen on fixing things that aren’t broken.
“Good Jamaican food is always a winner. Our superstar is our curry goat and our oxtail. We have additional things like our spinoff of like curry goat spring rolls, but at the end of the day, our focus is on good Jamaican food.”