The fastest man in history has added another accolade to his property portfolio by bringing a taste of the Caribbean to London in the form of his first restaurant here, which he has called Track & Records.
Usain Bolt is no stranger to the restaurant industry and already has 3 other restaurants under the same name in his homeland based in Kingston; another in Ocho Rios and the third is located on the coast in Montego Bay.
Bolt explains, “London is very close to my heart having won so many Gold Medals here in the 2012 Olympics and I’m eager to share the taste of Jamaica with London town”.
The cuisine is a mix of authentic Caribbean flavours such as a 24hr marinated jerk chicken, fried fish, plantain, salt fish fritters and cassava prawns, all traditional Jamaican dishes of which Usain is a huge fan and grew up on.
He goes on to say that “there’s a growing number of Caribbean restaurants in Southwark, Clapham, Hackney as well as East and North London too, but nothing of any significance in the City of London near the Square Mile” which is his reason for opening in this particular location".
Located in Middlesex Street near Liverpool Street Station, the restaurant opened on the 10th October with a celebrity line-up of guests including Emeli Sande and Idris Elba.
The restaurant also boasts an extensive selection of over 100 rums, which, of course are Jamaican, or from other islands in the Caribbean.
Added to this is also a huge cocktail menu offering traditional cocktails as well as signature cocktails unique to the venue and it’s surrounding area.
The most popular being the 2012, which is made with Appleton White Rum, Bacardi 8yr old rum, pineapple and limejuice, cinnamon syrup and passion fruit pure.
The venue is set over 2 floors, upstairs is the restaurant and downstairs is a lounge bar with a dance floor, booth seating, sofas and a DJ booth featuring DJ’s every weekend playing a soundtrack of reggae and other world beats creating a Caribbean party vibe for up 250 people.
Other finishing touches include a huge stop-clock showing Bolts 100m and 200m world record times.
Bolt adds, “I really wanted to create a bit of Jamaican fun for the British public with food, drinks, dancing and some sport thrown in for good measure which I hope will appeal to everyone”.