Award-winning Wellingborough restaurant launches new menu with a unique twist on Jamaican food

An award-winning Wellingborough restaurant has launched a new menu that takes Jamaican classics and gives them a fresh twist.

A menu tasting event at June Plum in Cambridge Street was held on April 5 that showed off some of the new dishes – and the Northants Telegraph went along to see what all the fuss is about.

Jodi Murdoch, the owner of the restaurant said: “I’ve actually wanted to do this for some time, and with Christmas, short staff, and everything else we’ve been through it’s been tough.

“I love to eat what I call a ‘dippy dinner’ where you can eat, share with people, and you can try loads of different stuff.

"We’ve made the menu the core of what we do, so the classics like curried goat, jerk chicken, homemade patties, rotis, things like that, but we’re going to do really interesting specials which is where we do fusion things.

"That’s how I love to cook, using other cultures with what we do.”

The establishment has been the talk of the town’s eateries in recent months and years, even recently scooping up the prize for Best Takeaway in the East Midlands at the 2023 Just Eat Restaurant Awards.

Among the tasting options on April 5 was charred broccoli with jerk vinaigrette, dragon braised oxtail roti, jerk buttermilk fried wings and goat and plantain arancini.

The full menu includes Jamaican staples like saltfish and pork belly as well as sides like fried dumplings, sweetcorn fritters and blistered greens.

Chef and owner Jodi grew up in Jamaica and went to a culinary school in Miami before coming to the UK soon after university. After spending time in pubs, restaurants and hotels, Jodi was given the freedom to bring her own dishes to the White Horse in Tilbrook, Cambridgeshire. Once settled in Wellingborough, the opportunity to open a food trailer presented itself before finally opening June Plum in 2018.

Over that time the chef’s influences have expanded hugely, and the mixing of different cultures and ideas has made the menu stand out in a busy street that’s littered with fantastic dining options.

June Plum’s new menu is hoping to break down barriers to a world of Caribbean cooking and culinary practices, showing Wellingborough locals that Jamaican food can be as accessible as it is delicious.

Jodi added: "I’m hoping it will be less intimidating for people who haven’t tried Jamaican food before.

"We have things [on the menu] that are quite familiar, we have a separate burger menu, things like mac and cheese, fried chicken, and loads of stuff for vegan people and coeliac people as well.

“We’re hoping that it’ll be less intimidating and more people will want to just come and try.”

It may have been another grey day in Wellingborough, but the new menu launch at June Plum reassured visitors that there is a little piece of paradise on Cambridge Street.