Jamaica Does Chicken and She Does it Well

As you may have all assumed, I ate my fair share of chicken in Jamaica. I had it jerked (several times), I had it fried, I had it blackened, I had it in a patty, and I had it stuffed. And not once was I was not disappointed.
Jerk chicken is amazing.

Now that that's out of the way we can continue.

I had it our first night in Montego Bay at a quaint patio restaurant called the Pork Pit. Picture 2 guys standing around a giant BBQ pit cooking up chicken after chicken along with many a piece of pork. I even ate the bride's sister's leftovers. Like we're talking picked the bones clean.

Yep, that good.
I had it again at the wedding when the bride and groom surprised us all with an 11 o'clock buffet or jerk chicken, pork, and shrimp. Thankfully I did not try the shrimp as it was reported (by several seperate sources) to have given people "runny tummy" syndrome the next morning due to it's very spicy nature.

Wedding jerk

Jerk chicken with rice and peas and roasted veggies at our last dinner in Jamaica

I also had jerk chicken from a vendor 2 or 3 times. Served with hardo bread - it's amazing. I want to try and make hardo bread. It's essentially white wonder bread but thicker and more dense and moist.

At the jerk vendor, getting hungry

The first night in Negril we went to a place called Alfred's for dinner and the promise of live reggae music later on. The blackened chicken was pretty tasty AND it was my first helping of rice and peas.

Blackened chicken, brought to you by Red Stripe Beer.


We also got pattie's a few times. Having sampled the beef. the chicken, and the veggie, I feel fairly confident saying that the chicken was my favourite, followed closely by the beef. The chicken was spicy which gave it the edge it needed.

Using cocobread to keep my fingers from burning off.

In Negril we went to this fantastic restaurant called Kuyaba. If you ever find yourself in Negril SEEK OUT THIS RESTAURANT!

I got the 'Bird of Paradise' which was chicken stuffed with cheese, carrots, and callalloo (a Jamaican spinach). Came with a baked potato and papaya. Yum.

Chicken was not all I ate however. You can't go somewhere and not try all (or as many as you can) of the local favourites.

oxtail (left) and curried goat (right), again brought to you by Red Stripe

Ackee and saltfish (breakfast food) with plantains, veggies, and fried dumplings. Ackee is a fruit but when you cook it it looks very similar to scrambled eggs. Tasty too. Not sweet like you might expect from a fruit.


I think that's it for today. I have a picture of festival too (which is similar to an old fashioned donut) but I'll save that one so as not to bombard you with pictures of everything I ate.

Honestly, this blog is my saving grace because it gives me a reason to take pictures of my food. Huzzah!

Having a picnic on the beach tomorrow with my lady friends - need to make a salad. Hope it doesn't rain. Fingers crossed.