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3 Dives Jerk Centre
It's no small tribute to 3 Dives that its jerk overshadows its reputation for lengthy waits (sometimes over an hour). Fortunately, the chefs are more than happy to let you peek into the kitchen, where there's bound to be a pile of super-hot Scotch bonnet peppers threatening to spontaneously combust, and you can sip cheap Red Stripe on the cliffs at the end of a small garden. This is also the site of the annual Negril Jerk Festival.
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Angela's
This upstairs restaurant with a veranda overlooking a slice of the beach features excellent Italian food from a menu divided into pizza, pasta, salad, chicken and fish. Among the highlights are the pollo marsala, jerk salmon and lobster fra diavolo.
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Bourbon Beach
Though it's best known for its live reggae concerts, those in the know swear by its jerk chicken. The sauce is thick and paste-like, and well-complemented by a Red Stripe as you wait for a show.
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Cosmo's
A steadfast beach favorite with three thatched bars and dining areas near Long Bay Beach Park. Conch is the specialty here, whether steamed, curried or anchoring a hearty soup. Your host, Cosmo Brown, is also universally saluted for the pot of curried goat or oxtail that is perpetually simmering on the back burner.
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Da Gino's
Host Gino Travaini proudly serves fresh pasta and homemade bread plus delectable Italian fare in a secluded beachside garden setting with four open pavilions. Specialties include seafood linguine, scaloppini and lobster. Reservations recommended.
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Erica's Place
This simple shack noted for its lobster has a long history of serving good, cheap Jamaican fare. The stewed chicken is highly recommended.
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Gambino's Italian Restaurant
This highly ranked restaurant spread across a capacious deck on the sand serves a wide range of pasta and other Italian classics, many seasoned with Jamaican spices. The fettuccine with lobster is good enough to distract you from the noise drifting over from Margaritaville next door.
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Hunan Garden
For a filling meal, head to this candlelit option serving a wide selection of Chinese dishes such as sliced duck with ginger and scallion. Call ahead for take-out.
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Hungry Lion
Renovated in late 2007, this brightly painted spot serves intricate fare from a changing menu of mostly fish and vegetarian dishes, like a vegetarian shepherd's pie or quesadillas stuffed with shrimp and cheese. The alfresco rooftop dining room is tastefully decorated with earth tones and original art. The music is trancelike, and the bar serves an extensive menu of cocktails and juices.
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Ivan's Bar
Although the service can be a little bewildering, there's no doubt about the food at Catcha Falling Star's restaurant overlooking the sea. Papaya Ahoy is an excellent 'boat' of papaya filled with shrimp or snapper drizzled in a coconut sauce. Coconut pimento chicken and Caribbean crabcakes also hit the spot.
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Jamaica Tamboo
Near Kuyaba, this is a bamboo-and-thatch two-story restaurant (lit by brass lanterns at night) with a varied menu that includes a breakfast of 'pigs in a blanket' (pancakes and sausage) and a fruit platter with ice cream. It also has snack foods such as deep-fried lobster niblets, sandwiches and pizzas.
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Kuyaba on the Beach
The name means 'Celebrate!' in the Arawak language, which is exactly what happens here each evening at sunset. This perennial beach favorite is well loved for its thatched open-air restaurant and heaps of ambience. The lunch menu features burgers, kebabs and gourmet sandwiches, plus superb pepper shrimp. For dinner the changing menu offers a wide range of pasta dishes, a great pepper steak, or the Cuban crab and pumpkin cakes with papaya mustard.
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Le Vendôme
This formal French restaurant is living proof that gourmet cuisine can also be healthy. Take your table on the terra-cotta terrace with a pleasant garden view and choose from classic French dishes like duck à l'orange and escargots Burgundy style, or regional creations like baked snapper, all prepared with locally grown vegetables and spices. There's a daily five-course gourmet dinner - or curried goat if you prefer Jamaican fare.
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Lighthouse Inn
Aka 'Busha's Place,' this recommended eatery features splendid appetizers such as mozzarella with tomatoes, goat cheese and olives. Meals are prepared with a European touch and include an excellent seafood fondue, lobster in curry, and red snapper stuffed with callaloo. The lively tropical decor is enhanced by candlelight.
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Lobster House
Renowned for its pink gnocchi in a parmesan cream and its signature lobster dishes, this congenial outdoor spot's brick oven has brought it the status of best pizzeria in town - if you need proof, try the Queen Aragosta pizza with lobster tails. Many, however, come for a cup of what is arguably the best espresso on the island, made from the proprietor's vintage 1961 Faema espresso machine.
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LTU Pub
Providing a perfect setting for a sunset dinner, this small clifftop open-air bar and restaurant features an eclectic menu with Jamaican dishes, delicious creations like chicken with callaloo and cream, an array of steaks and burgers, and quite possibly the only schnitzel in town. Just south of Rick's Café, it's a favorite haunt of expats and their local friends.
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Mi Yard
This economical choice provides a good breakfast spot with omelettes, ackee and saltfish and other hearty fare. Later in the day - and all night long - the classic Jamaican menu features fish and chips, brown-stewed fish and fried chicken. Dine in the garden or on a shady patio.
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Miss Brown's
Two kilometers east of the roundabout, this place serves 'mushroom daiquiris,' mushroom omelettes and mushroom tea. Be warned - they're hallucinogenic. It also serves well-priced standard Jamaican dishes.
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Norma's on the Beach
The Negril branch of Norma Shirley's celebrated Jamaican culinary empire, this Norma's seems to have escaped the hype surrounding her Kingston flagship. The 'new world Caribbean' food at this stylish beach restaurant is just as adventurous. Expect to find the likes of lobster, Cornish game hen, jerk chicken and pasta as well as tricolored 'rasta pasta.' Lunches are more burger and tuna-melt oriented.
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Rick's Café
You'll join the touristy throng at this ever-popular West End institution. The somewhat pricey menu features steaks, fresh seafood and Cajun fare. The loud music precludes an intimate meal, but if you're in the mood for a party - or a dip in the pool between courses - this place fits the bill. While you eat, local divers try to outdo each other from the 10m-tall cliffs.
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Rockhouse Restaurant & Bar
Lamplit at night, this pricey yet relaxed cliffside spot boasts outstanding nouvelle Jamaican treats such as vegetable tempura with lime and ginger, specialty pastas and daily specials like watermelon spare ribs and blackened mahi-mahi with mango chutney. At very least, you should stop by for a sinful bananas Foster.
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Royal Kitchen Vegetarian Café
This welcoming roadside I-tal eatery is popular with local Rastafarians and those who come to collect their pearls of wisdom. The fare - strictly vegetarian - is served on simple tables where you are sure to make friends with inquisitive passersby. The juices are especially good.
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Selina's
An outstanding breakfast spot that enjoys many repeat customers for the callaloo and cheese omelettes, banana pancakes, killer smoothies and hand-roasted coffee. The lunch menu features salads and burgers, though the pièce de résistance is the cheese and vegetable quesadilla. Sundays see a jazz band that draws a mixed crowd of locals and visitors.
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Serious Chicken
Aptly named, this friendly roadside spot is devoted to the bird, serving it up in salads, stews, curries and barbecue dishes in a thatched hut. You can't go wrong here, and if you stick around at night you're bound to be invited to join a game of dominoes.
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Sips & Bites
This large, welcoming open-air restaurant serves classic Jamaican fare including oxtail, curried goat, brown stew lobster and conch steaks. Wash it down with the day's special natural juice. Starting bright and early, hearty Jamaican breakfasts are served.
