Queenie’s

Bar Bar Food Booze Cocktails Eat & Drink Jamaican Pub Bistro

Jackie McMillan
February 12, 2014

Pulling into The Forresters on Friday night, the place was rammed. Luckily my intention was traipsing up the stairs to Queenie’s, their Jamaican-inspired domain. Cute-as-a-button waitresses wearing eclectic combinations of braids, hair wraps and tropical shorts were quick to make us feel at home. One explained the menu thusly: “Basically anything with the word ‘jerk’ in it is good.” Ergo BBQ Jerk Corn ($8) coming right up! Arriving liberally coated in coconut, my dining companion dubbed it “the Jamaican lamington”; however a squeeze of lime took it from sweet to savoury, with three exotic tableside chilli sauces completing the journey from mild to wild. One Coconut Daiquiri ($16) in, we decided to do drinks with food, rather than dinner per say, embarking upon a series of snacks from tasty Plantain Fritters ($9) with curry mayo to Prawn, Mango and Ginger Bammies ($7). They’re flat cassava flour pancakes, which advance Sydney’s taco-craze in a (faintly) new direction. Sunset Sangria ($20/jug) with vanilla, ginger beer and spiced rum proves remarkably better for the cultural meddling. It carries us through a generously battered basket of Coconut Soft Shell Crab ($16) with Hotstepper sauce. Sean Paul Ceviche ($17) with scallops, avocado and black bean puree on wacky pappadums help put out any remaining fire in your hole.