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All Egypt Aswan King Jamaica Restaurant and Cafe
AO Edited Gastro Obscura

King Jamaica Restaurant and Cafe

This eatery is emblematic of the connection between Jamaica and Nubia.

Aswan, Egypt

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About

Picture this: You’re drinking fresh hibiscus juice in a restaurant overlooking the water while jerk chicken sizzles on the grill and a reggae track plays. You feel like you’re in Jamaica, but you’re not. You’re in Aswan, Egypt, dining alongside the Nile River.  

King Jamaica Restaurant serves a fusion of Nubian and Jamaican cuisine. Nubians, an indigenous population in Southern Egypt, are descendants of one of the world’s oldest civilizations, and their food is a historic art. Even so, Nubians hold a close connection to the African diaspora, and cross-community migration influences the region’s food and culture.

Notably, Rastafarianism and reggae, popularized by Bob Marley in the late '60s and '70s, motivated a generation of Nubians to connect with Jamaican culture. Today, in Aswan, it's common to see Jamaican flags flying at half mast on boats traveling down the Nile. Marley's music continues to reverberate throughout the city, and restaurants merging Jamaican and Nubian flavors have become a marker of cultural continuity. 

King Jamaica, owned and operated by Aymen Jamaica, is a premiere example of this cross-cultural collaboration. Aymen’s grandfather lived in Jamaica and brought back recipes and stories about his time there. Aymen, a Nubian chef who lived in Australia, returned home to open up a restaurant true to his grandfather’s vision. Today, King Jamaica is both a restaurant and a community center, where artists from across the African diaspora perform, mingle, and eat. The menu includes camel-meat tagine, a Nubian delicacy paired with jerk chicken off the grill, as well as stuffed pigeon and fresh hibiscus and mango juices made with locally grown fruit.

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Know Before You Go

King Jamaica is on Elephantine Island, a Nubian village on the Nile off the coast of Aswan. Take a private boat or a public ferry. Boats leave the dock every 15 minutes.

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Added By

Omnia Saed

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kitconn

  • kitconn

Published

May 13, 2022

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King Jamaica Restaurant and Cafe
Elephantine Island, Sheyakhah Oula, Aswan 1
Aswan, 81111
Egypt
24.089325, 32.89101
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Nearby Places

Nabta Playa Stone Circle

Aswan, Egypt

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Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Aswan

Aswan

Egypt

Places 4

Nearby Places

Nabta Playa Stone Circle

Aswan, Egypt

miles away

Unfinished Obelisk

Aswan, Egypt

miles away

Tombs of the Nobles

Abu AR Rish Qebli, Egypt

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Aswan

Aswan

Egypt

Places 4

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