Staff at the new restaurant, Uncle Mike's Jamaican Patties, opened in Shanghai, China, March 17. The Jamaican-owned eatery sells patties, Jamaican and Caribbean dishes.

A new Jamaican-owned restaurant, called Uncle Mike's Jamaican Patties, is now serving up the popular meat pastry and other Jamaican and Caribbean staples in China.

Owned by a firm called Tradersco, the restaurant opened for business March 17 in Shanghai as the first Jamaican eatery there, said a release from the one-year Caribbean Association in China (CAC).

Uncle Mike's also offers jerk, curry goat, rice and peas, festival, peas soup, and oxtail "while adding a few innovations to the menu with its rasta wrap and reggae rice," says CAC publicist, Charmaine Clarke.

The restaurant is located in the Food Inn Building, said to be a high-traffic shopping area in Pudong province.

Consultant to Tradersco, Dr Nicoleen Johnson, who helped establish the business in Shanghai, said reception to the restaurant has been good.

"Most customers are simply curious to know about Jamaican and Caribbean food while others who are already familiar with our cuisine, are ecstatic to know that it's now available in Shanghai," said Johnson who is also CAC's president.

Jamaican and Chinese nationals inside Uncle Mike's Jamaican Patties restaurant.

business@gleanerjm.com