Name: Mahoe
Address: 11-11A Bow Lane, London, The City, EC4M 9EE, UK
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7489 9895

I can’t believe I have walked past this treasure so many times without noticing it before. Despite having spent much time in Barbados in the past I took along my Trinidadian friend (who is an amazing West Indian cook) last night to give me an “expert” opinion. We had a fabulous time – it’s like a little sunshiny piece of your Caribbean holiday right there in the middle of the City!

On the corner of Queen Victoria Street and facing the Mansion House tube exit the Mahoe has a couple of tables outside and a small hall with stairs leading downstairs – there’s a couple of ornaments, the odd ship and some notices. Don’t take any notice of these – the menus need updating anyway - be brave and walk down the stairs. And this really is a bar-restaurant rather than a café as it’s signs suggest.

You enter a smart, relaxing, cosy and modern angular space – with a reasonable bar area offering some room for dancing (with a late licence on Fridays and Saturdays until 1am apparently it gets pretty busy here) and nice modern dark wood tables and chairs in the restaurant area. In the evening it is obviously popular with those actually from the Caribbean – but there are also small and larger groups of people who appear to be from the numerous nearby offices. Even the Caribbean Tourist board has given its blessing to the place….

We scanned the menu while singing along to some Stephanie Mills, Betty Wright, Marvin Gaye and even UB40 numbers – although as the evening wore on the music took more of a latino/salsa beat.

The Blue Mahoe is the national tree of Jamaica – and some of the dishes are presented on a block of this wood. My friend even commented on the simple, modern and elegant white crockery for the other dishes. But the drinks and the food span all of the islands – and the new chef has introduced a French Creole element.

Anyway, the walls are a subtle shade of lime green at the top – which is a nudge to the Caribbean – with a lower refined mushroom colour that complimented the dark wood furniture. Really smart. There are a few small pictures around the walls with images of chattel houses and markets. But this is not an over the top Caribbean tourist trap – it is tastefully modern like the best places there. And it would be an interesting choice for a business lunch – smart environment, good interesting food, beautifully presented and flawless service. And discrete.

Getting into the swing of things I selecteda rum punch (£8) – and wow was it strong! But delicious. My friend opted for a virgin version of the Jamaican Mule which features ginger and lime. Later on I tried a mojito (£7) which was good but not a patch on that rum punch. Of course there is also wine available although the choice is limited – but there is a range of champagne – some of them fairly serious.

Whilst there are items on the menu that are more main stream we decided to sample the Caribbean dishes. For my starter I had the guava jerk chicken which arrived on one of the wooden blocks and was a generous portion of five expertly cooked wings smothered in a sweet sticky and spicy sauce. We were impressed. My friend thoroughly enjoyed her potato and salt cod fritters – which means that they really were good. At this point our gaze was drawn to the girls at the next table who had chosen one of the sharing platters – it looked good although we wondered whether they would be able to manage a main course as well.

For my main course I chose the curried goat (£14.95) which took my back to my youth in West London. The meat was tender and I was surprised at how much I liked the accompanying coconut and sultana rice. We both felt that the chef could have been a bit bolder with the heat level of the curry though. She tucked into swordfish supreme (£15.95) which was beautifully cooked and presented on a neat bed of yam and sweet potato with a tomato concasse in a lemon chilli butter sauce. She has vowed to make the yam and sweet potato mix at home – hopefully, I will be invited there to try her version as this one was excellent. Whilst the portions were generous and we had more than enough to eat, we couldn’t resist requesting a side of fried ripe plantain (£3.75) which had been cooked in its skin and was perfect.

“The living is easy” is the theme of the restaurant – and I have to say I agree. It felt like I’d been on holiday for the evening – I was full of authentic tasty Caribbean food, pleasantly tipsy and practically danced down the road on my way home humming some of the tunes. What a wonderful change from the usual Italian/French/Asian fare in the Square Mile!

Mahoe

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