All About Kingston
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Kingston's eateries, mostly centered in the New Kingston and Half Way Tree sectors, are plentiful, and for relaxing, open-air dining, especially after a busy day of meetings or sightseeing, New Kingston has some rich pickings. There are reasonable lunchtime choices downtown, and elsewhere anything from small jerk bars, where you can try out the island's spicy barbecued specialties, to up market seafood restaurants. Variations on Jamaican Cuisines are on offer in many establishments, but you will also find good Asian, Middle-Eastern, vegetarian and fast food restaurants, the latter, springing up around the Parade area and in the shopping malls.
On Knutsford Boulevard, you can find lots of vans selling a satisfying lunch for around US$2.50, and for classic Jamaican fast food, try Mothers, Tastee, or Island Grill. Their takeaway patties, or in the case of Island Grill Jerk Fish, make a great change from burgers (branches across that island).
Here's just a sampler of a few of Kingston's most interesting restaurants, by district.
Downtown
The inexpensive Bench & Bar Restaurant is a magnet for office workers seeking good breakfasts and lunches. Lasagne and kebabs meet with curried chicken and steamed fish, with daily specials costing around USD 6. The owners also run the famous Blue Mountain Inn out of town in Mavis Bank.
The Ocean Restaurant is an unpromising-looking cafe facing the sea, but handy for lunch after a trip round the National Gallery of Jamaica. Very affordable dishes include chicken, goat and fish curries and steamed fish. Expect to pay around USD 3.
Uptown
Chelsea Jerk Centre is a mecca for jerk dishes. This popular shack has spicy chicken and pork specialties doused in hot pepper sauce for around USD 3.
The Grog Shoppe, located in an old brick warehouse on the grounds of Devon House, offers a feeling of Port Royal in the 1680s. Cocktails are exotic and colorful (many people just come here to drink), and dishes include ackee crepes, suckling pig, Jamaican hotpot and callaloo as well as steaks and Blue Mountain burgers, with prices starting from USD 6. Try and get a table outside under the mango tree. Jazz is played on Tuesdays.
Devonshire Restaurant, also on the grounds of Devon House, is a smart restaurant in a cool, elegant setting. The best tables are located on the verandahs overlooking a forest of greenery. Dishes are fairly costly, and feature continental specialties with Jamaican accents, such as cream of red snapper chowder and tropical conch curry with mango, papaya and jackfruit.
At the Hot Pot, behind the Wyndham Hotel, you can sit at wooden tables under awnings in a courtyard and try out Jamaican favorites like xxtail soup, goat curry, bammy and stewed beef.
Indies Pub & Grill is an easy-going establishment popular with the after work crowd and New Kingston business lunchers who favor simple dishes like chicken, fish & chips and pizza. Inside it looks like a traditional English pub, though there is room to dine outside too.
Red Bones offers top notch Jamaican nouvelle cuisine in a lovely garden setting and trompe-l'oeil decorated dining rooms. Jamaica's in-crowd are regulars here, keen to try out imaginative dishes like drunken cod fish and herbed chicken and listen to blues music.
Akbar is Kingston's best Indian restaurant, with pleasant atmosphere and fabulously decorated interior.
Out of Town:
Jamaican born chef James Palmer presides over Strawberry Hill, part of Chris Blackwell's up market resort retreat. Palmer's signature is modern Jamaican cooking, and he even stages cooking courses. You dine either in the atmospheric colonial style dining room, or outside on the terrace. Sunday brunches feature jerk lamb with roasted garlic guava glaze, jerk pork, ackee and salt fish, fried bammy and more. Evening meals might include starters like Angel hair pasta with grilled jumbo shrimps, and such entrees as curried goat roti with mango relish or baked yellowtail snapper with lemon butter sauce.
Blue Mountain Inn is a romantic four-room oasis half way up the Blue Mountains, with a superb dining room run by the charming, hospitable duo, Ilean and Malcolm McInnes. There are four tiny dining areas to the taverna, including a roadside café and garden area with mountain views. Main courses feature dishes like Yallas River Shrimps with crayfish sauce, and Blue Mountain tree tomatoes.
BARS Kingston offers a good selection of cafes and hotel bars in the uptown district. Traditional bars are generally one-room affairs, reserved primarily for local men, where cheap rum is the order of the day.
Recommended outdoor venues include Peppers (31 Upper Waterloo Road), a popular bar attracting the after-work crowd and which also serves jerk pork and chicken; and Carlos' Café (22 Belmont Road), very much an in-vogue meeting place.
Elsewhere, try the Jamrock Sports Bar & Grill (66 Knutsford Blvd), which stages a happy hour. Popular with the in-crowd, this sophisticated joint features wall-to-wall TVs, and loud music.
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