Call or email for assistance planning your trip: +1 (212) 203-0064 | reservations@moonjamaica.com
Shanty Man (9 a.m.10 p.m Sun.Fri., US$25) serves his own rendition of ital food out of a little Rasta-colored restaurant along the road between Papine and the Cooperage, just before the turnoff up to Skyline Drive. The menu features items like tofu, pumpkin soup, rice ’n’ peas, and sautèed ackee with potato and carrot.
Cafè Blue serves Blue Mountain Coffee and pastries and retails local sauces, candles, and soaps. Cafè Blue is owned by the Sharps, who own roaster and distributor Coffee Traders and offer tours of their farm, Clifton Mount.
Crystal Edge, located next door to Café Blue just below Irish Town, serves good Jamaican dishes at affordable Jamaican prices.
Strawberry Hill (appetizers US$1320, US$3050 for entrèes) has a varied menu of Jamaican and international cuisine and spectacular views from the wraparound porch. While it is by no means a budget eatery, the ambience will leave you with no regrets for having splurged.
The Gap Cafè & Gift Shoppe (cell tel. 876/539-1771 or 876/579-9526, 10 a.m.5 p.m Wed.Sun.) is a restaurant with indoor and outdoor seating serving a rotating home-style menu with items like curried goat, oxtail and beans, crab backs, and callaloo-stuffed chicken breast (US$10.5016). The restaurant boasts the most spectacular views over Kingston and St.
Yatte Man, or Blane "Smaker" Walker (10 a.m.8 p.m Sun.Fri.), a once up-and-coming boxer, sells delicious homemade fish, chicken, and ital (vegetarian) patties (US$1) from one of the stalls about three quarters of the way through the main drag on the left, before the road begins to rise again toward Newcastle.
Bubbles Bar (contact proprietor Reid, cell tel. 876/349-3484 or 876/773-1134), about halfway between Redlight and Newcastle, is the only watering hole around, selling basic supplies in addition to beer and rum. The bar marks the turnoff to Middleton down a poor road that falls sharply. The first hairpin to the right descends further toward the valley floor.
Karen’s One Stop (US$510), located just past the hairpin turn to the left, is the only place around to get Jamaican staples like fried or BBQ chicken, fish, calalloo, and rice ’n’ peas cooked to order any time of day. Karen also sells basic foodstuffs to area residents.
Mavis Bank is a sleepy village nestled in a river valley in the shadow of Blue Mountain Peak. Its principal economic foundation for the past century has been the Mavis Bank Coffee Factory, which keeps many of the area’s residents employed. The area is a good base for exploring the upper reaches of the Blue Mountains and for birding.
Mavis Bank Coffee Factory (8:30 a.m. oon and 13:30 p.m Mon.Fri., tour reservations recommended, US$8 adults, US$3.50 children) was established in 1923 by an English planter, Victor Munn. As the biggest coffee factory in Jamaica, it has been the economic foundation for the area since.
