Keith Lee rates ‘Nevin’s Jerk’ 8 out of 10 at food fest in Tokyo

Mixed martial arts competitor turn influential food critic Keith Lee shared a video clip of one of his many food jaunts.

Lee was in Japan this go-round and stumbled upon a Jamaican-owned food truck at the Salsa Street Festival 2024, a local cultural affair in Ueno Park, Tokyo.

‘Gots to do that, that’s mandatory,’ he said as he saw the sign for Nevin’s Jerk. According to Lee, he’d met Maika Cooke at a 7-Eleven previously and was later invited to the festival.

He did, however, appear pleasantly surprised when he saw Cooke a second time serving patrons at her family-owned food truck.

The Nevin’s Jerk family (L-R) Maika Cooke, Cyorakiti Takeda, Simply Sango, and Isaiah Osei-Baidoo posed for a photo at their food truck in Tokyo, Japan during another street fair. (Photos: realshot_masato/via Instagram)

Soon after, Lee tucked in a serving of brown stewed chicken, curried chicken, jerked chicken, rice and peas, and later washed it down with sorrel juice and guava juice, in that order.

Now, there’s an ever-growing number of Jamaicans living in Japan, so it’s not surprising that Jamaican food is available so far across the globe.

The mother-daughter duo of Maika Cooke and Cyorakiti Takeda, principals of Nevin’s Jerk, welcomed Lee with open arms, fed him, then graciously accepted his offer to ‘tip ¥100,000 (approximately JM$106k).

This is the norm for Lee after he enjoys his meals at any of the countless eateries he's dined at.

It took some negotiating as his meal only cost ¥12 (approximately JM$12.80) and tipping is not a common Japanese custom. But they obliged and accepted the gift.

An elated Takeda shared a post to her Instagram with the caption: ‘Keith told me that Nevins food is delicious. He tried Nevins’ food and said it was delicious.'

Keith Lee has approximately 16.6 million followers on TikTok. His Nevin’s Jerk post has already amassed over 1.8 million views in a day.