Coconut Bar & Kitchen

You'll smell the jerk spices before you even spot the entrance on St Mary's Butts. This Caribbean spot has carved out a proper niche in Reading's dining scene, serving up authentic island dishes that don't mess about with watered-down flavours. The curried goat is particularly good, and their cocktails – heavy on the rum, naturally – are mixed with the kind of care that suggests someone actually knows their way around a proper punch recipe. What sets this place apart is how seamlessly it transitions from afternoon dining to proper evening drinks. By Thursday night, you're looking at a buzzy crowd that spills over from the Oracle crowd, all here for the late licence and that reggae soundtrack. Weekend service runs until 2am, making it one of the few decent spots in town where you can grab both dinner and carry on the night without having to trek elsewhere.