Mashup, Cardiff Jamaican restaurant review

*This restaurant is now closed*

When I heard that the sadly departed Jerkit had been resurrected as Mashup, a Jamaican fusion restaurant, I was a little bit worried. In fact, I had nightmarish visions of Jerk bolognese and saltfish sushi.

Thankfully, Mashup’s menu is dominated by traditional Jamaican dishes and there’s just a scattering of Cuban, Spanish and American inspired food. Also, Mashup’s owner is the former head chef of Jerkit. 

A cool corona (£3.40) and a good mojito (£4) with a decent hit of lime and mint kicked us off.

Starters were very good. A crisp, flaky pastry patty (£2.50) was filled with deeply spiced minced lamb with a good biff of chilli and a drizzle of jerk sauce.

A soft and crunchy quesadilla (£6) was filled with tender chicken and oozy cheese. It was topped with a vibrant tomato salsa with a good poke of jalapeno and sliced spring onions. 

Golden salt fish fritters (£3) were filled with a subtly flavoured and smooth but slightly claggy filling. 

The fritters were elevated by a good dip in some smoky homemade jerk sauce and a fiery homemade hot pepper sauce. Jerk aioli was also tasty but too thick to get out of the bottle. 

Onto the main event, a whole jerk chicken (£16) that was split into two and coated in a potent rub that hummed with allspice, spring onion and chilli. The meat was pleasingly tender with just the right level of char on the skin. 

Rice and peas were decent – the long grain rice was flecked nicely with kidney beans but could have been a touch softer. 

Finally, fried plantain (£2.50) were soft and sweet but lacked crunch.

I really enjoyed Mashup’s Jamaican food; I hope it sticks around longer than Jerkit did.

Disclosure - I booked my table at Mashup through Kukd.com, a table reservation and takeaway booking platform. Kukd provided my meal free of charge. 

The Details:

Address - Mashup, 22 Crwys Road, Cardiff CF24 4NL