Bluejay Cafe London — Restaurant in London

Long standing legends for this high street!

I have been an on and off regular here over the years and the only thing stopping me from dining here all the time is the fact I have moved away from the area and cannot indulge in such a big breakfast everyday.

The ambience and energy here is always so lovely and the food is always served plentiful in portions and piping hot! It’s been a rare occasion where my meal hasn’t been caressing the edge of the plate because the chef has made sure to cover every inch of ceramic!

The dining area is always clean and ready for seated guests. Depending on the day of the week it gets so busy that you have to make sure you leave early to secure a seat. Either way, I seldom see anyone leave without their food as most will happily settle for a takeaway order!

The bookshelf and notice board is always full and updated regularly so that customers are able to engage with other local business or feed their minds. I previously picked up a book to enjoy with my breakfast and this sparked some friendly discussion to add to a pleasant experience.

I highly recommend the breakfast here but the lunch meals are also very popular. There is always a tray of fresh banana or saltfish fritters and some variations of cake if you’re after small nibbles.

I often ate here in the years prior to eating plantbased and it brings me so much joy to say that I have been able to continue enjoying the food here despite changing my diet preference!

The hosts are key, familiar faces to the local community and you can taste the years of experience in the food. You can expect all traditional meals ranging from curries to hard food to ital and more!

On occasion, they offer seasonal drinks including alkaline summer water and teas!

The founders of this business deserve so much more recognition as they have become a household name in the Croydon borough. If you visit here and fall in love with the food - I encourage you to please give them their flowers. Or you can celebrate their contribution to the community by trying one of their recipes from the cookbook : Belly Full by Riaz Phillips.

If you think this review is biased and not as big of a deal as I’m making it - just Google this cafe’s name alongside...

I popped in on saturday as I was passing (I usually order on-line). I immediately felt as if I had been transported back 50 years and was in my parents dining room on a sunday with relatives visiting. The atmosphere was warm, cosy, very busy with lots of diners sitting eating and chatting away. The word unpretentious springs to mind, what a fantastic place filled with people of all ages and nationalities, it was wonderful. The tempature was warm, toasty and cosy and after ordering I spent time looking at all the photographs wonderfully framed and hung. I felt such a warm sense of community, wow this place has really achieved something special. I have always found the service to be polite, professional and efficient. Coupled with all that, the food is fresh, beautifully cooked, well packed & presented and taste stunning. No grease, not too much salt just pretty perfect. I made my usual large order and kept adding to it each time the lovley patient gentleman asked if there was anything else. The patties are beautiful, the pastry is light and flakey and the filling very tasty. I ate at "The Good Front Room" in the Palm Court restaurant at Langhams Hotel a few day before and speaking to Chef Dom i can honesty say that it's the ambiance of BlueJay Café that he's missing. I love BlueJay Café, it's not your regular Westindian Food stop. It's so much more. I wish it were bigger, I'd love to hire the restaurant and host family celebrations here. It really reminds me of my childhood when my mum use to cook up a storm in readyness for visitors with all those wonderful aromas wafting in from the kitchen and the hustle and bussel and the carribean accents. Love the vibe, great place wonderful owners. Chef Dom, pop down there and experience a...

I found my visit to the Blue Jay restaurant as being a bit of a disappointment. The food was not authentic and true to the Jamaican tastes I grew up with. To be honest, I could only be fair, to give this restaurant a feedback for them to improve themselves. Where can I start,

The starters: dumplings were big and overly fluffed with baking powder that left the inside not well cooked but quite doughy in texture.

The salt fish. Flitters was bland not very well seasoned and and very little salt fish inside the flitters.

The main: The curry goat was lacking the true authentic spices that makes your nose run and the lick your lips effect, the curry was brutally missing the scotch bonnet spicy tastes of which curry goat should have the flavours were not there and seem as though the flavours were wash away pretty disappointed.

The steak which was meant to be peppered was that of brown beef stew, it was over power be thyme and no cracked black pepper as you would have on a nicely peppered steak, again a big disappointment.

Then lastly the chicken wrap was not too great, the flavours was not there and there was a big chunk of bone in the wrap which lodge in my tooth nearly breaking it out. To be honest the only thing I truly liked was the coleslaw salad which tasted like it had a hint of mustardy taste.

I am truly sorry for this review, hopefully there is some improvements in the future. But for now if you can not bring the heat to the Jamaican authenticity of foods that you cook stay out the kitchen. Because Jamaican foods is about heat and aromatic flavours, that makes your nose and mouth run water, this did not happen to me so hence the review and the...