Jamaica Observer Table Talk Food Awards judge for the parish of Manchester attorney-at-law and barrister Camille Shields presents her final three parish gems.

Simmer Down Eatery, located on the Wildwoods property, is fairly new, opening its doors in December 2014. Its slogan is ” Your favourite spot on the Hill”, and with nuff breeze blowing and comfortable seating, kids’ swings and see-saws, it’s really nice and relaxing even if you just want a drink. It’s a little haven tucked away from the hustle and bustle.

Simmer Down is on the way to Spaldings, between the Walderston square and Mt Olivet Church. The staff is very friendly and helpful and the prices comparable to other similar establishments.

But Simmer Down is an eatery, not a jerk restaurant, because it offers so much more than just your traditional jerk. There are many fusion dishes which are based on the jerk staples, such as creamy jerk pasta made with pork or chicken, and lots of local fresh vegetables. Super- delicious, this dish is one of the few jerk chicken Alfredo’s in which you actually taste the jerk, and they pile on the sweet peppers, carrots and seasonings in a very light cream sauce. Also, a must try is the Piggy burger made with jerk pork butt meat and veggies on a hardough bread bun from a local bakery. It’s so perfectly delicious in its simplicity. The pork burger is topped with Provolone or Swiss cheese, lettuce and tomato. All I added was some of their homemade pepper sauce. It was so juicy and delicious I couldn’t eat the homemade wedges on the side to spoil the taste.

They also do salads and wraps made with their jerked chicken, pork, lamb or rabbit. The jerk rabbit was tender and juicy and when I asked the manager how they got it to stay like that, he told me that all the meat comes from the owner’s farm. It turns out that the owner, a pig farmer, wanted to find an outlet for his surplus meat and voila! The eatery was born and has since branched out into other meats. He explained that the Kreng Kreng or the fire pit is based on a traditional application of smoke and fire commonly used to preserve meat and is a guarded secret.

Simmer Down is truly a breath of fresh air and well worth the 15 minutes’ drive from Mandeville or as a stop on the way to Ochi. It also currently offers an Oldies Sunday Lyme on the last Sunday of each month. Simmer Down open Mondays to Saturdays from 11:00 am until…

WILDWOODS SIMMER DOWN

Wildwoods, Walderston,

Manchester

Tel: 603-1805