Kimos

Dalston’s main thoroughfare is today awash with dimly-lit basement bars and coffee shops selling fair trade mocha-frappuccino-lattes for a small fortune. Travel north up this road until it becomes Stoke Newington High Road and the same mix of nouveau riche establishments start to become interspersed with the more humble Jewish bagel shop, Turkish supermarket and Poundland. Then there is Kimo’s, a restaurant with a sleek, wine bar sort of appearance offering Caribbean food.

Upon entering, Kimo’s is more nightclub than eatery, with loungey black leather sofas and a bar to one side, however a long rectangular table set up for the £15 all-you-can-eat buffet gives the game away. Most of the tables are towards the back; brightly painted portraits adorn the walls and a gargantuan flat screen television hangs up high; all makes sense after learning that Kimo’s does in fact become a late-opening club on Friday nights with music that includes “anything from Lady Gaga to Beanie Man”.

Night time shenanigans aside, the dumplings and salt fish are beckoning. Large, fleshy salt fish fritters are paired with sweet chilli sauce, however the briny deep fried fish requires no condiment. The ackee and saltfish is a similarly robust marriage of flavours: soft egg-like fruit with salty fish, slithers of sweet onion and peppers, and to top it all it comes with two warm deliciously fluffy dumplings.

A boney chunk of white fish has been roasted till the outside is just about to crisp and doused in a mildly piquant sauce; velvety oxtail meat falls off the bone and the accompanying butterbeans sit happily in a thick peppery sauce. Unbelievably, none of these dishes costs more than £6. Even the dessert – a rich cheesecake made with sharp rum and sweet raisins - is a success, despite having been warned that sweets are not an integral part of a Caribbean meal. Beats Dalston’s organic cafes hands down.