New Jamaican restaurant opens up in Shelburne, offering jerk dishes

Written By Paula Brown

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A new restaurant has arrived in Shelburne bring a taste of the islands to
the community. 

Jamaica House Jerk, located in the Summerhill Plaza, opened their doors to the local community on June 22. 

“The turnout was good. We had quite a few people that came in so it was quite exciting” said Leisha Chin-Bramwell, co-owner of Jamaica House Jerk. 

For Chin-Bramwell's husband, Jermaine, opening a restaurant has been a long-standing dream. The steps to fulfilling that dream started when he started going to the Jamaica House Jerk location in Brampton. 

“He absolutely loved the food so he approached the owner about starting a franchise in Shelburne,” explained Chin-Bramwell. 

For two years the couple worked behind the scenes to prepare for the opening of the restaurant. Chin-Bramwell noted that they focused on closely collaborating with the original locations owners on how to make the restaurant successful within the Shelburne community.

“It was amazing actually because we're his first franchise,” said Chin-Bramwell. 

Jamaica House Jerk's menu is focused strongly on Jamaican cuisines and features foods such as curry goat, grilled oxtail, rice, pepper shrimp, a variety of soups and of course jerk chicken. 

“Shelburne has become a very vast multicultural environment,” said Chin-Bramwell. “Our restaurant is something different and has food that's really tasty.” 

While providing authentic Jamaican cuisines to the community, Chin-Bramwell also added that an important goal for them through their business is to give employment opportunities to locally youth – specifically the town's young black men. 

“It's a goal of mine because of the experience with our own children and having difficulties finding employment. We're trying to give young men as much opportunity as we can and given them the experience, they need in customer service as well as in a trade.” 

Jamaica House Jerk celebrated their grand opening on July 2.