I have heard many good things about the relatively new and extremely popular Brian Lara Rum Eatery. Brian Lara is a Caribbean restaurant and bar based in Linden, Johannesburg. And yes, it’s true you need to book in advance to get a table over the weekend.

After a short wait, I managed to get a table for lunch on a Sunday afternoon. Brian Lara’s menu is concise and filled with authentic Caribbean meals such as jerk chicken, salt and pepper squid, crab curry and of course cocktails. I was served little crunchy chip like bites as an appetiser. These chip like bites were served with a sweet fresh tomato salsa and they were delicious! For starters I ordered the sweetcorn fritters which were served with a spicy relish. Loved these sweetcorn fritters! For my main I ordered the barbeque basted beef rack of ribs. This was a generous 800g serving; I would know because I can eat ;-) The meat was soft and peeled off of the bone with ease. Really great quality and great tasting ribs. I also tried some of the crab curry. This was a mild yellow coconut curry served with rice. It was really well presented. This dish even came with genuine crab crackers so you really feel like you’re eating in the Bahamas. The curry was well flavoured and really tasty. I caught a glance of a drink at the table next to me and had to order the same. It was a pina colada served in an actual pineapple! A really good pina colada at that; definitely made me feel like I was holidaying on a beach island.

Brian Lara Rum Eatery has a lovely setting and the Caribbean vibe is definitely real. The service was decent considering it was such a busy Sunday. I’m glad I gave them a try. I look forward to coming back again sometime for the amazing beef ribs and some great cocktails!