J erk chicken, jerk pork, fried plantains and – it goes without saying – ackee and saltfish are among the Jamaican dishes on the menu at recently opened Big Poppa's Jamaican and Caribbean restaurant.

But if the fare may sound like popular favourites for fans of island cuisine, the surroundings look somewhat different from most of the places where you're likely to pick up an order of saltfish and ackee.

Sunlight from high windows streams in on the modern red-and-cream decor in the high-ceilinged former bank building just north of Canning Circus.

Posters of 20th-century black heroes – Bob Marley, Martin Luther King Jr, Billie Holiday, Malcolm X – line the subdued red walls. Airy and spacious with plenty of tables, this could be a city-centre café specialising in continental cuisine.

Daniel Hines, who owns the restaurant with mum Paula Reid and wife Shantelle Simon, loves the little takeaways and tiny cafes that sell most Caribbean food around Nottingham and the country.

But he had different ideas for Big Poppa's.

"It's gone from just being a normal Caribbean shop to this," he says. "This is more where you come with your friends, for a night out with the missus, for business.

"We want to just raise the bar a bit."

A few English choices sit along Jamaican counterparts on the menu. Roast pork, chicken or lamb – all complete with gravy and Yorkshire pudding – are ready to go for someone who's not in the mood for boujous or jerk chicken with a side of yam balls.

The menu's transatlantic nature particularly comes into its own at breakfast, where Poppa's does something unique. They've got a full English – and next to it on the menu, a full Jamaican. Dumplings, plantains, hard bread, ackee and saltfish, and of course beans provide a unique alternative for someone looking for a morning gutbuster that's not so heavy on sausage, mushroom and tomato.

Later in the day, one special item is the jerk chicken burger, a creation of Daniel's devising (he's got other jerkburgers planned as well, and he intends to roll them out throughout the year).

But the kitchen is largely the domain of Paula, an experienced restaurant worker.

"Mum makes sure everyone does what they're supposed to in the kitchen," Daniel says.

For Daniel and the women in his life, the opening of the restaurant represents triumph at the end of a long road.

More than five years ago, Daniel was studying business and learning joinery. He had a plan.

He was going to learn joinery, make some money in the trade, and save up enough to open his dream business – a cafe. He reckoned his skills as a joiner would help him remodeling a restaurant building when he got one.

Then his plans were changed.

He was in a serious motorbike accident. He faced shattered bones, multiple serious injuries to the lower half of his body, years of surgeries and rehabilitation – and most importantly, no way for a formerly active man to get around and work.

Off work for several years, Daniel sat and planned his cafe. And as he planned it, it got more and more ambitious.

By the time he was ready to open Poppa's, his plans had grown to include the big, fully fledged café in Alfreton Road.

"If I'd have done this five years ago," he says, "this wouldn't have been what I would have achieved."

They haven't yet rolled out everything at Big Poppa's. They plan to have an alcohol licence by spring and are also going to add television for football and, this summer, the Olympics.

And after that ... well, Daniel thinks big.

"This is not where it ends," he says.

"When we get this all together, I want to go nationwide."

Big Poppa's across Britain? Don't put it past Daniel.

For now though, Big Poppa's is getting off the ground in Nottingham with the most surefire seller in its arsenal – momma's cooking.