Thursday Food had a whale of a time on the first night of Screw It! One of the Jamaica Food and Drink Festival’s (JFDF) interactive nights out. As soon as the event wrapped promptly at 8:00 pm, we perused the festival’s calendar and noted the second staging. The opportunity (finally) came on Friday, December 3, and the second time around was just as good as the first. It wasn’t a repetition of same; why would it be? This is, after all, the award-winning JFDF. The chef line-up and cocktail offerings were different. Jamaica Pegasus Executive Chef Mark Cole and Fromage Bistro co-principal Lisa Chin had guests seeking seconds and thirds.

Chef Cole made crispy fried salt fish with curry-flavoured octopus, spicy basil pumpkin syrup and organic greens; grilled lamb chops with caramelised grapes and onions with herb grilled asparagus and spicy pumpkin syrup potatoes; and grilled shrimp with papaya salsa, jerk mayonnaise, whipped goat cheese, and candied bacon on melba toast served alongside a coconut vodka shooter. Chin meanwhile got patrons in the holiday entertaining spirit with an array of moreish canapés — duck wontons with pickled plum-gochujang mayo; oxtail puffs with chevre, merlot onions, and date chutney; and crispy salmon crackers with truffle crema, Scotch bonnet crisps, and jackfruit coulis.

For cocktails, the Select Brands team created Watermelon Coolers and Sparkling Moscow Mules, both made with Absolut vodka and classic Beefeater Gin and Tonics. Here’s a photographic tour of last Friday’s goings-on.