One Love Cuisine
Now open in the food court of the Fox Run Mall in Newington, One Love Cuisine (50 Fox Run Road, Newington, 319-8161, onelovecuisinellc.com) features a wide selection of Jamaican meals often combining local flavors and ingredients. Owner and chef Rohan Tomlinson is originally from Negril, a small coastal town in western Jamaica. He moved to the United States about a decade ago, first to Florida before later coming to Maine, where he worked directly under Portland-area chef David Turin. In 2019, Tomlinson opened his first One Love Cuisine location in Sanford, Maine, where he currently lives, before moving all of his operations to Newington a few months ago. One Love Cuisine’s buffet is often refilled several times a day, with traditional meals that include jerk chicken or pork, curry chicken or goat, oxtail and beans, and escovitch kingfish, which is fried and marinated in a vinegar-based sauce with vegetables and spices. A separate menu of items cooked to order is available too, like jerk wings, burgers or chicken breasts, fish and chips, lobster macaroni and cheese, escovitch snapper, and jerk or mango mayonnaise lobster rolls. Also inside the Fox Run Mall is a new convenience store that Tomlinson runs, where you can purchase a variety of Jamaican and American products, from jerk seasonings and sauces to coffees, teas, cheeses, snacks and canned meats and fish. The Scene recently spoke with Tomlinson about some of his favorite items and what you can expect when you visit One Love Cuisine.
How long has One Love Cuisine been around?
We started here in the food court on May 8, after [being open for] two years in Sanford, Maine. In New Hampshire, as I understand, there were no Jamaican restaurants around. Most of our customers were also coming from New Hampshire, so we moved to be closer to them.
What makes One Love Cuisine unique?
The flavor. … We try to combine and infuse a lot of New England dishes with Jamaican flavors, like with our jerk lobster roll and our mango lobster roll.
What is your favorite thing on your menu?
I’m a fish guy. I love the escovitch snapper, which is on our cook-to-order menu.
What is something that everyone should try?
There are so many things on the menu that stand out. … The oxtail is to die for, and the lobster rolls that we do are also really good if you want to try something a little different.
What celebrity would you have liked to see ordering from your restaurant?
I’ll go with Bob Marley. We have a big picture of him in the restaurant.
What is an essential skill to running a restaurant?
Customer service, standard quality and cleanliness.
What is your favorite thing about being on the Seacoast?
The beach and the sea, and smelling that sea breeze. It reminds me of being back home.
— Matt Ingersoll
Photo Credit: Curry Shrimp from One Love Cuisine.
