The Island Spice of Negril, Jamaica

Having gone to Jamaica several times prior to my most recent trip, I’ve been fortunate enough to experience some of the benefits of staying with family: free room and board, great laughs and amazing home cooked meals. However, the luxury of having home cooked Jamaican meals wasn’t included in the price I paid for the all-inclusive resort on my most recent trip.

My friends and I arrived at an all-inclusive resort in Negril Jamaica, notorious for their beautiful pristine beaches. It wasn’t long until I took my first bite of the resort’s jerk chicken, which by all means wasn’t bad, but certainly lacked the immense flavor that embodies Jamaican cuisine; that I realized I may have to venture off the resort to truly get the authentic taste that I was craving for. Fortunately enough, there are numerous places in Negril where you can experience authentic Jamaican cuisine and all reasonably priced.

Having become friendly with some of the employees on the resort, they gave us the names of a few local food spots not far from the resort. The first doesn’t have a name, but the employees assured us that if we wanted amazing seafood we simply needed to walk on the beach along-side the resort. There we would find locals selling and cooking fresh on the spot. 

They were right, all it took was a five minute walk near the beach and we discovered local fishermen offering to catch and cook red snapper, lobster, crabs or shrimp. For $15 US dollars my friends and I each got a full lobster that was cooked, seasoned and buttered on a grill, served with hard dough bread and fried sweet plantain. The lobster was absolutely delicious and I couldn’t complain about the price.

If you’re feeling adventurous and want to experience club life in Negril, there are numerous hot spots to visit to experience some great music and people. But if you’re feeling a little hungry after a night of dancing you can always find at least two men cooking some amazing jerk chicken outside the club. For $5 US dollars my friends and I each had two large thigh pieces of jerk chicken with hard dough bread, and personally eating jerk chicken is a great way to end any night.

Sips and Bites was another great place to eat, recommended by another employee on the resort. The restaurant was 10 minutes away and the food was well worth the commute. Our taxi driver was also kind enough to wait for us until we finished eating our food. Although small in size the restaurant packed a huge punch in flavor and aroma. The smell of oxtail, curry goat and ackee and salt-fish filled the restaurant. For me this was heaven.

Ultimately sometimes to experience meals authentic to a country it requires you to be a little spontaneous and venture off the resort; and although these places may be small in size the flavor is huge in comparison