For a quick, cheap lunch in Downtown Tampa you’ve definitely got your share of options. And, while most might think an area like Downtown is riddled with nothing but high end or chain eateries, there are definitely a few gems if you look close enough. One of these is definitely the Jerk Hut which serves up a variety of Jamaican cuisine well worth the often low price tag.
The Jerk Hut sits near the corner of Twiggs and Tampa Streets in Downtown Tampa with a decidedly unflashy location that melds well with the grittier aesthetic of the city. Don’t be fooled though. Like a number of its hole-in-the-wall type brethren in Tampa, the Jerk Hut knows it’s the food that carries the business, not the décor or flashiness.
Jerk Hut’s ball game is Jamaican food, an often overlooked cuisine style that, as the name implies, heavily involves the process of ‘jerking’. Jerking is a unique method of preparation that involves marinating a variety of meats in indigenous Jamaican spices like the fiery scotch bonnet pepper, scallions, thyme, and allspice before slow cooking them over charcoals.
When it comes to these proteins, The Jerk Hut serves up a variety of jerk chicken, pork, curried goat, and much more alongside sides including rice and beans and steamed cabbage.
For prices around $6 to $8 for a standard plate, this isn’t a bad deal. Jerk pork comes in big chunks and doused in their special jerk sauce. The taste is familiar, almost like the sliced pork you’d find at a takeout Chinese joint, but much more complex. You can feel the heat of the Scotch bonnet, but not to the point where it’s overbearing the other assortment of spices. It’s familiar, yet exotic enough to differentiate itself from other run of the mill pork dishes.
Chicken fared pretty much the same way; big chunks of juicy, skin still on chicken with that recognizable jerk flavor permeating each bite.
The rice was a tad underwhelming with red beans that could’ve used a little more time in the pot and rice that wasn’t bad, but fairly run of the mill and uninspired.
If you’re still hungry, pick up one of their Jamaican beef patties for a whopping $2. The seasoned beef packed inside the questionably orange-tinted puff pastry might look like something you’d whip up in the microwave after a night of ten too many drinks, but man, it’s tasty, trust me.
Overall, the Jerk Hut is a solid destination for a no-frills, get in get out lunch in Downtown Tampa. Their originality shines with their unique preparation and the price tag alone makes it a low-risk venture that will, in all likelihood, keep you coming back for more.
