New Glastonbury bakery-cafe offers flavors of Jamaica
On first visit, Nyam Bakery Cafe isn’t easy to find. The address, 628 Hebron Ave. in Glastonbury, is a tall building full of corporate offices. But you’re in the right place. Nyam is on the first floor. Since June, Kleon and Alwyn Clarke have been serving breakfast and lunch to employees in the building and anyone else who wanders into the elegant lobby.
The Clarke brothers, natives of Spanish Town, Jamaica, infuse the flavors of the island into their morning and afternoon offerings, just as they have done for years at Hartford and Manchester farmers markets. Even the name of the cafe is a Jamaican flourish.
“In Jamaican patois, nyam means ‘to eat’,” said Kleon Clarke. “We want to show our culture.”
Alwyn Clarke said the two are a good team. “He is sweet and I am savory. He does all the baking, the bread and the pastries. I do the lunch specials and the sandwiches.”
Coco bread — traditional Jamaican bread made with coconut milk — is the basis for all the breakfast and lunch sandwiches at Nyam. They make it in five varieties: classic, grain-and-seed, roasted corn-honey-thyme, garlic-peppercorn and veggie-herb. More varieties may be coming. “We’re always trying to figure out new flavors,” Kleon Clarke said.
The breads also are sold by the loaf and as rolls, for $8 to $9, as well as cakes, sweet loafs, buns and scones, for $7 to $12.
Kleon Clarke said he and his brother weren’t even thinking at first of opening a sandwich restaurant. “We would just sell the bread for people to take home to eat. Like in Jamaica, everybody who wants a snack eats a beef patty and some coco bread,” he said. “But it’s such a good basis for a sandwich.”
They were approached at a farmers market by the building owner and decided to jump at the chance. They opened in the building and were an immediate success.
“Since COVID, the people here have had no space to get together for two years. And when they came back they were eating from vending machines,” Alwyn Clarke said. “The first week we were here, people came in and said, oh my god, thank you for coming here. They even took the vending machines away.”
In the morning, the brothers make a variety of coco bread-based breakfast sandwiches with eggs and cheese, meatless or with bacon, sausage or turkey. They range in price from $3.49 to $5.99, with an upcharge for extra meat, egg or cheese. Side dishes range from $1.49 for toast to $4.49 for a fruit cup.
Lunch sandwiches, also coco bread-based, are BLT, grilled cheese, tuna, beef, veggie, chicken salad and turkey, most of them $7.59 except for the grilled cheese at $5.59. At lunch, the brothers also make a weekly special, at $12.99, with rice, veggies and fried plantains. This week’s special is a spicy citrus chicken. The two varieties of patties, both meatless, are veggie ($3.49) and spiced beef alternative ($4.49).
Alwyn, the “savory” brother, has a way of making even an average egg-and-cheese breakfast sandwich sing with flavor. He calls it “Momentum Spice.” “It’s a spice blend of familiar herbs and spices. It was formulated over the years. It brings a flavorful heat,” he said.
The cafe also sells pound cake and rum cake ($4), carrot sweet bread and coconut milk-raisin buns ($3.50), and a variety of vegan cookies ($3), including one with that “momentous” flavor, the “dark chocolate heat” cookie.
The Clarkes’ mother, Rachael Hyman Clarke, makes the Jamaican fruit punch and the hibiscus-sorrel punch ($2.99-$3.49).
Nyam Bakery Cafe is open Monday to Friday 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. until September, when the hours expand to 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more, visit nyambakery.com.
Susan Dunne can be reached at sdunne@courant.com.
