Beachfront Meal on a Kingston Harbour Evening

Another day with too many tasks and too few hours and just at the end my luv wanted to eat some Port Royal fish but after seeing two customers late in the afternoon I was looking for somewhere near to Half Way Tree. Our final appointment for the day was in the car park at York Plaza so I suggested the Golden Bowl Restaurant on Cargill Avenue. She would have none of it “No! I don’t like the way Chinese prepare fish.”

By then I knew I was running out of options and out of a happy wife. Suddenly she proposed a compromise. “Let's go to Jolly’s”

You see my favourite fish place in the Kingston Metropolitan Area was Jolly’s on the Port Henderson Road in Portmore; hers was Gloria’s at Port Royal. In the middle of afternoon we would have ended up in Port Royal. But Mandeville was a 2 hour drive due west. Time, direction and logic was in the general direction of Portmore.

Jolly’s was just one minute away from the Portmore Toll Plaza. It was hard by the beach with a view across of Kingston harbour all the way to Port Royal.

Just that you had to slow down and bear the honking of horns because Jolly’s had this interesting entrance that you could mss so easily. Today I slowly approached and darted in as quickly as a somewhat sluggish in tight manoeuvres Diesel engine Toyota Land Cruiser can.

We have not yet installed a turbo cooler so I allowed the engine to idle for a few minutes while beloved went inside the restaurant to order the fish. “Remember fried plantain for me!”

Right away I notice that there were very few patrons and an unpleasant odour jumped at me which announced that that the sewage system was playing up. As soon as I locked the door and walked toward s the beach I saw a man with a shovel trying to release the contents of an open drain into the sea. Had no interest in losing my appetite so was not too keen on researching whether or not the stink manhole had any direct connection with the barefoot guy with the shovel. I tried to dismiss the interesting engineering and began to click away on the Blackberry Curve.

Jolly’s offers la fresco seaside dining thirty feet from the frothy waves. Two men sat at a beach front table. Inside the bar a young woman dined and chatted with the female bartender.

Patrons may dine in the enclosed dining room or enjoy the open sky above.   We stayed inside today, what with the unfortunate engineering playing on the senses.

Similar to Little Ochie Seafood Restaurant in Alligator Pond in Manchester you ordered your fish straight from the freezer, it was weighed, you then decide the menu.  Today we were having Brown Stew fish with steam crackers and fried plantain.

The fish was served with okras and vegetables.   Wife had none of the side order so I ate all of the fried plantain and steam crackers.

Wife expressed her delight with the fish.  I ate slowly, stopping to take pictures for this hub.

A small container ship crossed the harbour in the dusk.  We talked of harbour pilots and shipping.  A much larger cargo vessel appeared and followed the same course.  Lights glowed on what appeared to be multi-storied decks, evoking dreams of cruise ship romance.

I proposed the fantasy of stopping at a guest house to share some erotic moments but she just wanted to eat and drive home. “I find my bedroom more exciting,” said she. 

Patrons started to arrive and by the time we were done all the tables on the beach front were occupied as reggae music thumped from large speaker boxes.