Strawberry Hill, a smattering of luxury villas in the Blue Mountains owned by Chris Blackwell, the British music producer who helped introduce Bob Marley to the world.Nikolas Koening/Supplied
Beside the Flora River in Jamaica, 20 minutes north of the Bob Marley Museum, Ramo Edwards keeps an eye on the restaurant he built during the early years of COVID-19. It’s called Pretty Close 876 (because it’s pretty close to Kingston), and guests who sit beside the gurgling brook on this cloudless afternoon, perhaps nursing a Red Stripe, are welcomed with a “sip,” Edwards’s name for his homemade vegetable soup. The dish consists of scallion, pepper, thyme, Scotch bonnet, leaf of life and coconut milk, ingredients the entrepreneurial Rastafarian sourced himself on his property.
“People love that natural cooking,” says Edwards, whose restaurant has neither ceilings, floors nor menus and provides intrepid diners with US$35 five-course vegetarian meals, done in the Ital style developed by Rastafarians. He keeps the coconuts cool in the river. The cod is fresh from the sea. And guests, between courses, are invited to follow his dogs upstream to one of his properties’ many waterfalls. The experience – eating fish by a stream in the forest – is singular. If granted a wish, it’s where I’d host Anthony Bourdain.
“I love where I live here in Jamaica – look around you,” says Edwards, roasting plantains and simmering stew. “It’s a gift to share my home with the world.”
I had a memorable meal at Mystic Thai, a Kingston restaurant that opened two months ago and is owned by Kareena Mahbubani.Ben Kaplan/Supplied
Edwards’s home is at a unique intersection of warning and growth. Kingston is investing in culture, and I visited the country on what would have been Bob Marley’s 79th birthday, days before the opening of One Love, a biopic about the iconic singer now playing across Canada. Shortly before my trip, however, the United States issued a Level 3 travel advisory, writing that violent crimes here are common. Canada also has a travel advisory for Jamaica – stating that travellers must “exercise a high degree of caution” – same as it does for France and Britain (though not the U.S.).
Obviously, the warnings didn’t stop me. I travelled the island from Port Royal to Gordon Town, Montego Bay to New Kingston, Ocho Rios to Bull Bay, and experienced only friendliness. I often explored with two women, and none of us ever felt ill at ease. I visited two cannabis dispensaries with packed restaurants and a free reggae festival in a park.
I had a memorable meal at Mystic Thai, a Kingston restaurant that opened two months ago and is owned by Kareena Mahbubani.
“This is the market to be in,” Mahbubani says, adding she seats up to 300 people a day at the Asian fusion restaurant. Her partners include Adam Stewart, chairman of Sandals, the multibillion-dollar resort company, and she runs a second location in Montego Bay. On the night I visited for fried okra, Mahbubani told me neither restaurant has ever had a fight on the premises.
“Can you imagine metal detectors in here? No, man,” Mahbubani says.
The official numbers reflect the same reality: Crime in Jamaica was down 11 per cent in 2023. Prime Minister Andrew Holness, stunned by the recent American travel advisory, told Travel Weekly that crime was at a 22-year low.
“Far from a travel advisory, we’re seeing more Americans and Canadians leaving the all-inclusives to get a real feel of this soulful country,” Mahbubani says.
Ramo Edwards, who runs the outdoor restaurant Pretty Close 876,Ben Kaplan/Supplied
“People come for music and culture – food is part of that,” seconds Volae Williams, the award-winning chef at Kingston’s ROK Hotel. When Williams started cooking at all-inclusive resorts in the country he yearned to innovate Jamaican cuisine. At Palate, the hotel’s fine-dining restaurant, he has complete creative freedom and changes his menu daily. He serves jerk lamb and oxtail fettuccine. His snapper and salmon are never frozen. His yam risotto is the type of fusion dining that’s changing the way tourists eat here.
“You don’t leave a pretty dress in the closet,” Williams says. “You don’t cook in Jamaica without natural ingredients.”
You also can’t experience Jamaica without paying homage to Bob Marley. For me, that meant recording a cover version of his Three Little Birds at Tuff Gong, the famed studio that the singer’s family now owns. Recording a Marley song, which all visitors to the studio can do, feels phantasmal after capturing the energy of the island. It’s like taking slap shots on Wayne Gretzky’s home ice.
After my warbling, I ventured to the Bob Marley Museum at 56 Hope Road, site of his one-time home and of his 1976 assassination attempt. Poking around, I spotted the bullet indentations on the wall. The scene brought the near-mythic performer back down to earth.
Later that day, still following the songwriter’s path, I went running on the public Bob Marley Beach, tucked away in the parish of Saint Andrew, and apparently one of his favourite spots. I enjoyed the tunes a DJ was spinning music as I jogged past on the black sand, and I noticed there was less pot in the air than at Trinity Bellwoods Park near my home in Toronto. This made me both happy and sad.
I travelled the island from Port Royal to Gordon Town, Montego Bay to New Kingston, Ocho Rios to Bull Bay, and experienced only friendliness.Jamaica Toursim
Before leaving, I checked out Strawberry Hill, a smattering of luxury villas in the Blue Mountains owned by Chris Blackwell, the British music producer who helped introduce Marley to the world. This is where Marley stayed after the shooting, and where small cottages are still available at US$310 a night for March break. I stood on the balcony of Gong villa, where the singer recovered, 3,000 feet above the Caribbean Sea. I gathered stones around the property, a memento for my kids that I’ll share with them after we see the film.
More than 377,000 Canadians went to Jamaica last year. And by 2025, in time for Marley’s 80th birthday, there’s hope for 500,000 Canadians to visit the country.
Edwards is confident they’ll show up: “Everyone knows Jamaica, loves Jamaica, because of Bob Marley, but also because what comes from Jamaica comes from the soul.”
Special to The Globe and Mail
The writer was a guest of the Jamaica Tourist Board. It didn’t review or approve the story prior to publication.
If you go
November to April is the busy season. Bring a charge card and U.S. cash to spend. Also, note that cannabis and mushrooms – but not edibles – are legal in Jamaica.
GETTING THERE
Air Canada, Flair, Caribbean Airlines and WestJet fly directly to Kingston from Toronto. Sunwing flies direct to Montego Bay from Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa and St. John’s.
WHERE TO STAY
Rooms at Chris Blackwell’s Island Outpost suite of three properties, which includes Goldeneye, where Ian Fleming created James Bond, start at $566. Visit islandoutpost.com.
WHERE TO DINE
Pretty Close 876 requires a reservation. Follow them @prettyclose876 on Instagram, and reach out through private message.
Mystic Thai, both in Kingston and Montego Bay, requires reservations. See mysticthaijamaica.com.
The Bob Marley museum.Jamaica Toursim