June Plum
Wellingborough, Northamptonshire
Step in from an unremarkable town-centre street and enter a realm of joyous Jamaican music, colour and food. June Plum is as unexpected as it is captivating. Locals populate both ground-floor rooms of this vibrant enterprise, listening to the reggae soundtrack, drinking zesty rum-based cocktails (or equally tangy homemade soft drinks) and relishing the down-home, relaxed feel of the place. There’s a first-floor dining area too, also decked out in bright Caribbean hues, and a small backyard for summer visits. Fresh food presented with flair and cooked from scratch is the rule here, so you might have to wait a while for dishes to arrive. Appetisers include homemade sweet-potato crisps with a tasty jerk confit tomato and coconut dip, as well as slightly sweet flatbread, warm from the oven, with spicy whipped Hummingbird brown butter served in a coconut shell – although the highlight for us was a special jerk chicken and confit plantain patty (moreish light pastry, abundant flavourful filling). But nothing disappoints, from a main course of goat curry (tender, off-the-bone meat with potatoes in a mildly spiced sauce) to side dishes such as freshly fried saltfish fritters served with a zippy herb dip or blistered greens – lightly cooked broccoli and cabbage, dressed with jerk vinaigrette and ‘nooch’ (yeast powder) scattered on top like Parmesan. For pudding, a large portion of lovely moist sponge topped with candied carrot and generous cream cheese frosting was spot-on, although it was hard to refuse the offer of double chocolate-chip cookies – baked to order and seductively oozing warm chocolate. Prices are low for food of this quality, and there's a special 'Plummies' mini menu for the under-12s.
Dining Information:
Separate bar, Family friendly
31-32 Cambridge Street, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire NN8 1DW
01933 770300
