Where to Find the Best Jamaican Food In Miami

Greater Miami and Miami Beach is home to a melting pot of Caribbean cultures, and that means plenty of incredible Jamaican cuisine. From old-school cafes to modern speakeasies, fast-casual joints and authentic bakeries, there’s a wide range of options to explore Jamaican food in Miami.

Whether they’re serving Jamaican patties, a heaping plate of curry oxtail with rice and peas, callaloo or even Jamaican-Chinese fusion cuisine, here are some of our favorite places for the best Jamaican food  in Miami.

Clive’s Café

A Miami classic for Jamaican cooking for over 40 years, Clive’s Café is a down-to-earth restaurant behind a Bob Marley mural façade in Little Haiti. Here, traditional Jamaican dishes like jerk chicken, brown stew and oxtail take center stage.

This is where you go to dig into mile-high plates of curry goat, cow foot, conch stew and callaloo, served with two sides, including rice and peas, steamed cabbage and mac and cheese. Savor your plate, sip a Red Stripe and enjoy the reggae music coming from an old-school radio at this lowkey cafe.

Jrk!

If you’re on the go in Downtown Miami, Aventura or Dadeland, stop by Jrk! for Chef Wayne Sharpe’s fun, fast-casual take on Jamaican dining. The menu centers around customizable bowls, from classic jerk chicken to Blue Mountain curry chicken, jerk shrimp and oxtail, with a rice and peas base.

You’ll also find a vegan option made with quinoa, plantains, crispy yuca and pineapple-mango salsa. Douse it with one (or more) of the house-made sauces, like the Rude Boy, the spiciest of all, made with scotch bonnet. They also serve Jamaican patties with beef, jerk chicken and a vegan option.

Mangrove

Beyond the inviting façade of Jrk!'s Downtown Miami location, another world awaits when you discover its speakeasy-like sister restaurant and lounge, Mangrove. Here, Chef Sharpe has created an immersive, high-energy space to enjoy not only the food and drink of Jamaica, but also the music. 

The menu is a modern, upscale twist on classics from the island, including jerk chicken skewers, curry oxtail, whole snapper and Da’ Traditional Plate, which includes a jerk chicken thigh, rice and peas and plantains. With plenty of creative rum-based cocktails, the restaurant transforms into a lounge for late-night revelry, with DJs spinning Jamaican dancehall music and reggae until late.

Dukunoo Jamaican Kitchen

In Wynwood, Dukunoo Jamaican Kitchen invites you to “come fi di food, stay fi di vibes,” dishing up authentic Jamaican food alongside live music in an airy, industrial setting. 

Start with “Likkle Bites,” like the Saltfish Frittaz, then move onto “Bigga Plates,” like the Lik Yuh Fingas Oxtail served with broad beans and rice and peas, or the Rastaman Pasta made with ackee, callaloo, shrimp and roasted red pepper. Meaning “sweet thing” in a West African dialect, Dukunoo knows how to do dessert: a slice of Caribbean rum cake drizzled with powdered sugar cane and topped with ice cream is hard to resist.

Jamaica Kitchen

Located in an unassuming strip mall in Kendall, Jamaica Kitchen is a family-run restaurant and staple of the community since 1976. Helmed by wife-and-husband duo Cheryl and Anson Chin, they hail from Chinese immigrants in Jamaica and cook up both authentic Jamaican cuisine and their own special blend of Jamaican Chinese food. 

Featured on Guy Fieri’s hit Food Network show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, this once-hidden gem is now a local institution. From curry chicken and oxtail to Chinese roast chicken and jerk pork fried rice, Jamaican patties and boiled dumplings, Jamaica Kitchen is unique fusion cuisine that you simply have to try.

Trelawny Spices

One of Miami’s newest destinations for Jamaican cuisine comes from a food truck in Palmetto Bay. Trelawny Spices has swiftly become a go-to for heaping portions of mouthwatering Jamaican classics. We’re talking succulent jerk pork and chicken, seafood platters with Jamaican-style snapper, shrimp, sweet corn and fresh veggies, and a creamy Rasta Pasta with jerk chicken. It’s Jamaican comfort food at its finest.

One Love Jamaica

Situated in South Beach, inside the Lincoln Eatery food hall, One Love Jamaica is a fast-casual joint dishing up the flavors of the Caribbean. You’ll find all the Jamaican classics here, from jerk and curry chicken to braised oxtail, BBQ beef and sweet island shrimp, all served with your choice of two sides, from rice and peas to sweet plantains and steamed cabbage. It all adds up to a hearty meal and makes for a perfect Lincoln Road shopping break that will transport you to the islands.

Hammond’s Bakery

Swing by family-owned Hammond’s Bakery in Miami Gardens for your fill of Jamaican patties and freshly baked Caribbean pastries. Made with flaky, buttery pastry dough, Jamaican patties are stuffed with beef, chicken, veggies or ackee (a lychee-like fruit) and saltfish here.

You can also take home delectable pastries, cakes and breads, like plantain tarts, guava and cheese pastries, cinnamon rolls, pineapple upside down cake, bread pudding and coco bread. Hammond’s also serve a full breakfast, lunch and dinner menu with all the classics, from brown stew chicken to curry goat and roti.

B & M Market

A Little River staple since 1980, B & M Market is a grocery store with counter service offering must-have traditional Jamaican and Caribbean dishes. Drive down 79th Street and you can’t miss its red, green and yellow exterior with the menu hand-painted in giant letters out front. 

Dishes are served until they run out, so get there early for the jerk chicken, oxtail stew, buttery ackee and saltfish, rice and peas, fried chicken and curry goat, plus homemade ginger beer.