Pumpkin Soup
Spiced Roots

Spiced Roots

64 Cowley Road, Oxford, United Kingdom, OX4 1JB

Steak • Vegan • Caribbean • Vegetarian


"I've been going to Oxford for 3 years now and in that time to be frank struggled to find a decent go to restaurant. I can now say with delight i've found my destination. I present SPICED ROOTS a little caribbean culinary gem. The fresh perfectly cooked food is absolutely delicious and gives off that home cooked by mummy vibe and is beautifully presented. The chilli and garlic prawns had my eyes closed Mark Weins style (if you know you know) so juicy with an incredible depth of flavour, the Trini doubles not only were seasoned to perfection they left you wanting more and the Jerk chicken spring rolls were an absolute triumph. For mains we had the ackee and callaloo Jerk Tempah (vegetarian) and the Jerk chicken. Both came with rice peas, plaintain and salad. Not only were the portions huge the flavours of both dishes were just mind blowingly delicious. Then we embarked on dessert and had the beautiful spiced rum cake and a selection of 3 home made ice creams namely Coconut, Guinness and the old Caribbean favourite Rum and Raisin, all recommended by the owner. It's at this point I feel compelled to speak about the rum raisin ice cream. I've eaten this ice cream on numerous occasions at numerous locations in Jamaica over my many years and I tell you no word of a lie this was hands down the best rum and raisin ice cream I've ever tasted, it literally left us speechless. So to summarise, this place has great food, great music, great service and a wonderfully charming owner who's totally invested in serving great, incredibly tasty, authentic Caribbean food clearly prepared with love. What more could you ask for. Fair to say it was meant to be. Uncle Jay."

Mango Room

Mango Room

71 Camden RoadNW1 9EU, London, United Kingdom

Fish • Jamaican • Caribbean • Vegetarian


"After reading the reviews online my partner decided to bring me here to celebrate my new job. First impressions were bad, it’s extremely deceptive compared to how it’s pictured on the website, it’s very dark and gloomy, there was no obvious sign outside, especially as we came in the dark so we drove past it twice. The sign outside could do with some light decor. Prior to coming to Mango Room my partner called to book the table and informed them of my new job celebration and had asked the waitress if she could make the table look somewhat fancy/different to the other tables as a surprise for me in which she agreed to doing. When we arrived he asked her where the table was and she said “pick whatever table you want” meaning she completely disregarded his request. After receiving the menu that was broken and looked extremely cheap and flimsy for the prices they charge, I also realised the food was very overpriced. I asked the waitress for the set menu and she said that only gets provided for groups of people over 10. It didn’t state that on the website and can be misconstrued as false advertisement. I can not believe for one small portioned size jerk chicken it cost £13 alone you then have to pay extra for a side which is around 3.50 4.00. When reluctantly ordering the food which was Jerk chicken rice peas, we also requested coleslaw and dumplings, the waitress replied “we don’t do coleslaw or dumplings here, the owner doesn’t like it” ... it’s not about what the owner doesn’t like it’s about your food audience. How can you run a Caribbean restaurant without coleslaw or dumplings? It’s key in West Indian food. I found that to be very obscured. The waitress then said “it’s fine dining, we don’t do that here”... I did not know consuming dumplings and coleslaw meant it was not fine dining. Whilst waiting for my food, I asked for some water the waitress brought out a jug of water which seemed to have a booger stain on the side, very very off putting. When the food eventually came out in which waiting time wasn’t long because the restaurant wasn’t busy, the plates were extremely hot, it seemed as though the chef just reheated/microwaved the rice and peas causing the dish within itself to be piping hot to the point where I couldn’t even hold it and had to messily dish out the rice myself with the small spoon provided. The rice and peas were extremely overcooked and stodgy, there was hardly any gravy with the jerk chicken. The jerk chicken was undercooked, had no flavour whatsoever and did not fall of the bone with basic sweet pepper slice and red onions for decoration. The plantain was extremely undercooked, very burnt on the outside and tasted wet, clumpy and soggy on the inside I’ve never tasted plantain so renk. The waitress did give us complimentary tulip glasses of champagne, which was nice. My partner did say that he enjoyed his curry goat which was very tender, he had that with plain rice. Overall I feel this restaurant is extremely overrated, extortionate and wouldn’t recommend this to anyone. The only pros were the company I had and leaving. I would’ve much preferred going turtle bay, the atmosphere and decor is so much better and you get your monies worth. Turtle Bay is extremely commercial so this is a huge compliment to them as I’m not too fond of them either."