Jerk Chicken
Properly marinated, properly hot. The dish the city measures others against.
Caribbean · Riverside
The Real Jerk
Forty years of Jamaican cooking on Queen East, still the standard
CaribbeanRiverside, Toronto$$Details being confirmed
The review
The Real Jerk has been cooking on the east side since 1984 and has earned the right to be the benchmark. The jerk marinade is the real thing, scotch bonnet included, and the kitchen does not soften it for anybody.
Jerk chicken is the order. Oxtail is the other one — slow-cooked to collapse, with butter beans and rice and peas underneath. Get festival on the side; the sweet fried dumpling is what the heat needs sitting next to it.
Honest notes: the kitchen slows down when the room is full, the popular dishes sell out on a Saturday, and it is not a quiet dinner. Go early on a weekend or accept the wait.
What to order
Oxtail
Slow-cooked to collapse, with butter beans and rice and peas.
Festival
Sweet fried dumpling. The correct thing to put next to the heat.
What works
- Heat is real, not decorative
- Portions are large and cheap
- A genuine piece of the city’s history
What doesn’t
- Kitchen is slow when full
- Popular dishes sell out on weekends
- Not a quiet room
Verdict
Jerk chicken, oxtail, festival on the side. Go early on Saturday.