JAMAICA PATTY Co. has been providing an education in real Jamaican patties since opening in Covent Garden in 2014.

Delicious, thick yet delicate pastry wraps with mouthwateringly chunky fillings are made with authentic ingredients and cooked to secret recipes handed down the generations in the beautiful island.

And while many food and retail outlets have suffered during the COVID pandemic, this family firm has been expanding, opening a second shop in Liverpool Street last year.

The Voice caught up with Theresa Roberts, the indomitable Jamaican-born business woman behind the distinctive
bright stores that have been visited by the likes of singer and presenter Mica Paris, and ex-boxers David Haye and Chris Eubank.

Roberts came to the UK in the 1960s to join her parents and remembers how much she enjoyed real patties. “In Jamaica I used to live on patties and coconut water, and when I came here I felt passionate about showcasing this part of my culture.

“When I was a little girl growing up in Battersea, my father used to make them for us and it was almost like a gourmet-style patty. So that’s what I wanted to bring back.”

The two London restaurants cater for the ‘grab and go’ market, but they are also notable because they are the only Caribbean food chain in central London, a city where Caribbean people have lived in numbers since the Windrush ship landed in 1948.

As well as serving delicious patties, their menu also includes Tortuga rum cake and Blue Mountain coffee. And, being in central London, it was inevitable that Roberts would link with the Get Up, Stand Up musical at the Lyric in Shaftesbury Avenue, supplying 200 patties for their premiere.

Roberts is passionate about patties, hers in particular. She said: “My patties are different from everyone’s. I want to elevate the patty.

“You know, everybody always sees it as something that people put on a hot plate and microwave, but it’s so much more than that.”

She explained that the patty originated when Cornish people brought the pasty to Jamaica, which “we made better”.

Roberts has two other passions, Jamaican art – she sits on the board of the Edna Manley Arts Foundation – and her property portfolio. She is excited about a forthcoming exhibition of Jamaican art to showcase in Liverpool later this year, and publication of a book on the subject.

And she had some words of advice for anyone thinking about entering the food retail
business.

“If you’re really interested in doing something, you have to be sure your food is authentic and good. And you have to work hard to get anything – it’s not easy.”

Visit jamaicapatty.co.uk for more information.