Jamaica Tours, Guides and Vacations

I love Jamaican food and we try to eat at a variety of places. I do however find myself eating at many of the same places sometimes and I have to force myself to try new places every once in awhile. This was not one of those times, I’ve been eating at Sweet Spice for a long time but I never took any pictures of my meals to share.

Our last trip there was a surprise visit and I was not planning on eating out that day. We passed Sweet Spice on our way home from Sav La Mar and I got a craving for a brown stew chicken with rice and peas for dinner. We pulled in and I placed my order and to my surprise my wife ordered an Oxtail dinner instead of her usual curry chicken.

I have eaten at many of the restaurants in Negril and sampled the curry chicken at most of them. Jamaicans love to eat chicken with the bone in and it’s not many places that make a boneless curry meal but Sweet Spice in Negril has what you’re looking for if you want meat and no bones on your plate.

I have had oxtail may times before. It was the Thursday special of the day at El Siboney Restaurant in Key West Florida where I ate lunch for years. The Oxtail I have had was prepared cuban style with black beans and rice and a nice tomato based sauce. The oxtail at Sweet Spice was done a little different but still very good. oxtail is a dark greasy meat with tender meat chunks on the tailbone. The tailbone has a jelly like cartilage that some dislike but it’s pretty good to me.

The Brown Stew Chicken at Sweet Spice is very good also as are all my meals at this great jamaican restaurant. Stop by Sweet Spice on the road to Sheffield near the Texaco station for some good jamaican food without the bones if you wish.

Jamaicans love their patty shops and Juici Patty is an islandwide favorite serving fresh hot Jamaican patty and coco bread meals to like half the country each and every day. I have seen the lines in a patty shop fill the entire store from 11am until 2pm each afternoon as Jamaicans file through in semi orderly fashion and place orders for a patty and a coke or boxed orange juice for lunch.

Patty shops usually offer spicy beef patties as their main choice but they also offer beef and cheese patties or curry chicken patties as well. Beef and chicken are the most popular patty but many shops also offer lobster, shrimp and soy patties as well.

Some patty shops offer more than just patties and Juici Beef is one of those. You can find a great selection of breakfast items including green banana porridge or maybe a peanut porridge either of which goes well with a cup of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee or an Orange Juice. Juici Patty also offers fried chicken and sometimes a soup of the day if things are busy.

If you travel to Jamaica and want to experience real Jamaican food then you have to stop in a patty shop and try a Jamaican patty or you’ll be missing out on the most popular meal in the country. Ackee and saltfish may be the official food of Jamaica but the patty man feeds the country.

Jakes Place is more to Treasure Beach than another bar and hotel on the beach. Jakes Place is more like an institution with a following of not only tourists from around the world but a great mix of locals as well. Jakes is without a doubt the hottest spot in Treasure Beach with much going on from breakfast in the morning to late night parties on the beach and dancing under the star lit skies of night. The compound is pretty large actually and covers the bar, 2 restaurants and 38 cottages that were created by theatrical designer Sally Henzell nestled just off the beaches of Frenchmans Cove.
Jakes is not a cheap place to stay in Treasure Beach and the rooms here will set you back upwards of $200 per night but you’re living in the lap of luxury in one of the most attractive resorts on the South Coast of Jamaica and amongst some of the best people in the world. The rooms offer the very best in amenities including the following:
Verandas with garden views or decks over the sea
CD players and CD libraries
Architectural details include Moroccan domes and arches
In-room safes and hair dryers
No in-room telephones or TVs to provide distraction
Wireless Internet access in main areas (dinning room, poolside, lobby, bar & games room )
Most of the residents of Treasure Beach are members of a few large families in the are and most everyone knows everyone as a brother, sister or cousin of some sort. You may notice some of the people around town have a unique look to them. You will see what are known as the “Treasure Beach Reds” which are red skinned Jamaicans with freckles, blondish hair, and green eyes.
Jakes is a part of the Island Outpost network of rental properties and attractions in Jamaica and owners Sally and Jason are supporters of a variety of not for profit organizations in Jamaica as well as socially responsible community based tourism and development. They are founders of Breds.org, a non-profit association established by local community leaders with the assistance of Peace Corps Volunteers in 1998 to promote Education, Sports, Cultural Heritage, and Environmental awareness in Treasure Beach. The term “Breds”, short for Brethren, is commonly used by locals hailing each other on the local fishing beaches. They get bonus points in my book for being one of the more socially responsible companies on the island.
Jakes is not the only reason people know about Treasure Beach but it certainly is the most popular. Many of the visitors to town are drawn in by the stories of previous guests about the best Jamaica vacations they have ever taken. Jakes has been the biggest draw in Treasure Beach for many years now and no visit to town is complete without dropping in for a meal, a drink and some good conversations with folks from all over the world.

The Jack Sprat Cafe on Jack Sprat Beach is an excellent place for lunch or dinner when you visit Treasure Beach. They offer good food at great prices in one of the most picturesque environments around. We arrived just before evening as the sun was setting on us and the colors of the beach and sky were simply amazing. I don’t think it comes through in web ready photos just how beautiful it really was.

The menu is pretty simple and they specialize in fish served either as brown stew, escovietch, fried, curry, steamed or grilled with bammy and your favorite cool beverage. They also offer lobster, shrimp and conch grilled, curried, garlic and creole style rounding out a nice seafood menu. The evening specials for our night there were a delicious conch soup and seapuss (octopus) served with rice and beans.

The kids were hungry so we took advantage of their lunch menu and grabbed a simple pizza and some sodas. I did order a bowl of the conch soup though as already mentioned it was delicious. They put a lot of spice and flavoring in their conch and the meat is ground fine so the flavor permeates the broth better. It was an excellent bowl of conch soup and only $150 jamaican dollars or about $2 US. The pizza set me back $600 for a large one topping cheese and the kids were pleased with it.

You can literally walk right out onto the beach from the cafe and there are showers available to cafe clients so you can spend a day at the beach and shower for the price of a great lunch. Next time I’ll try to make it for the Sunday Fish Fry held each weekend where you can eat fresh fried fish to order and watch locals play a game of dominos or bingo. They also sell Devon House “I-Scream” and lots of other snacks, cakes and treats. Jack Sprat Cafe and Beach are an excellent and affordable way to spend a day in Treasure Beach on a budget without missing out on anything.

View more pics of the sunset at Jack Sprat Beach in our photo gallery right here!

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We stopped in for dinner at Blue Horizon Restaurant for some jerk chicken in Negril recently and it was a nice experience overall. The Authentic Jamaican food was good and the place was beautiful and all for us to enjoy. Not a single customer in there either time we went. Sometimes thats nice but other times its not. I was a bit surprised with our first bill and we spent a bit more than I thought we should but thats how things go in Jamaica sometimes. I should have asked how much my dinner was costing me if I was worried about it. I think I paid like $600 Jamaican for a nicely dressed jerk chicken quarter and some rice. The place is nice but not that nice really and for a better value I could have gone to Jennys just a short walk down West End Road.

Blue Horizon is probably much nicer for a romantic dinner for two on the Cliffs in Negril or a small gathering of friends at the bar for some Red Stripes and a cool sunset. I don’t think we’ve had a romantic dinner since my first son was born and my kids are both picky. The menu is thin during the summer I guess because we only had a couple of choices for dinner. My thoughts are it is a much better choice for dinner during season when the restaurant is in full gear and the Jamaican chef has more food to cook. During the slow summers it is sometimes hard for all of these restaurants to keep stocked and ready for the occasional customers fancy.

Like I said the food was fine but the best thing here is certainly the view. Looking out over the cliffs from this high up and watching the sunset as you eat dinner is super sweet and makes for a relaxing evening and good time no matter what. If you’re looking for a nice place to eat in Negril and a nice romantic evening then surely consider Blue Horizon Restaurant for a laid back relaxed good time and good food.