From Restaurant Week to Table Talk, to Food Festivals popping up in every parish - Jamaican foods continue to delight
Persons often ask, 'what brings your guests to Kingston and to Neita's Nest?' After all, they know that the typical visitor wants sun, sea and sand, the trilogy which is supposed to keep them at the more famous north coast destinations. Well, besides weddings, funerals, birthdays, graduations, Test Cricket, Champs (our 102 year old high school track and field meet), high school reunions and the fact that our world-reknowned Reggae started right here in Kingston, many just come with an open and enquiring mind as to what our capital city has to offer. And rightly so!
The reasons this year have been even more varied: business consultancies, research for doctoral theses, honeymooning, bird watching, visa renewals, diplomatic work and, more recently, foods. A group of six friends, from Aruba, India, US Virgin Islands, US mainland and Jamaica, tagged along in support of two of their work colleagues on a food exploration/vacation, or shall we say, an R&D tour for opening a Jamaican restaurant in Mexico.
What a great idea, I thought! So, to add value to their brief visit to Kingston, I invited my cousin, Nevada, a foodie and judge for the Annual Table Talk Food Awards, to have a chat with them about the range of restaurants and street food locations they must check-out. We also shared with them the host of annual food festivals and events which take place throught the year; enticing them, of course, for a return visit.
Had they known this before, they may have timed their visit for the annual Restaurant Week celebrated islandwide in November.
The reasons this year have been even more varied: business consultancies, research for doctoral theses, honeymooning, bird watching, visa renewals, diplomatic work and, more recently, foods. A group of six friends, from Aruba, India, US Virgin Islands, US mainland and Jamaica, tagged along in support of two of their work colleagues on a food exploration/vacation, or shall we say, an R&D tour for opening a Jamaican restaurant in Mexico.
What a great idea, I thought! So, to add value to their brief visit to Kingston, I invited my cousin, Nevada, a foodie and judge for the Annual Table Talk Food Awards, to have a chat with them about the range of restaurants and street food locations they must check-out. We also shared with them the host of annual food festivals and events which take place throught the year; enticing them, of course, for a return visit.
Had they known this before, they may have timed their visit for the annual Restaurant Week celebrated islandwide in November.
Whether you Nyam & Scram, or idleawhile, 2013 Table Talk awardee, Marchabella Bistro & Cafe is a sure stop for Restaurant Week, and for many weeks after.
Then again, there is always something going on somewhere on the island in any given month. They can schedule their next visit for the Yam Festival in Trelawny, the Boston Jerk Fest in Portland, the Seafood Festival in Port Royal, the Breadfruit Festival, the Ackee Festival celebrating our National Fruit, the Westmoreland Curry Festival celebrating our Indian heritage, and the periodic Farm to Table dinners in the bread basket of Jamaica, St. Elizabeth. And the list goes on...
Kingston Kitchen in the Hope Botanical Gardens in the newest food event, and is growing in popularity. The Jamaica Epicurean Escape of 2012 is worth repeating. with the hallmark of them all being the Style Observer Table Talk annual food awards in May, which just celebrated its 15th year with launching a similar event in Trinidad and Tobago.
Kingston Kitchen in the Hope Botanical Gardens in the newest food event, and is growing in popularity. The Jamaica Epicurean Escape of 2012 is worth repeating. with the hallmark of them all being the Style Observer Table Talk annual food awards in May, which just celebrated its 15th year with launching a similar event in Trinidad and Tobago.
Restaurant Week's Savoury participant, Guilt, in Devon House
