reviews

The Jamaica Observer, "From Negril With Love," February 2010
"Chef Kevin Broderick of the Rockhouse boutique hotel, Negril, and newly opened Pushcart Restaurant & Rum Bar shared a series of recipes sprinkled with just enough seduction to leave you and yours in the mood for love."

The Jamaica Observer, "Rockhouse Hotel's New Restaurant is Now Open," March 2009
"Rockhouse introduces a new restaurant and bar called "Pushcart" located right next door at Pirates Cave. A "Pushcart" is used for street vending and provides the inspiration for the new menu which is drawn from the street food of Jamaica and the Caribbean. Guests indulge in "peppered shrimp" inspired by roadside vending in Middle Quarters, St. Elizabeth where they rush your car with flavourful hot peppered shrimp in clear plastic bags; or "fish with bammy" like that of vendors in Port Royal; and "homemade jerk sausage" made famous by Jamaica's 'jerk centre' at Boston, Portland. The menu features other traditional Jamaican home cooking favourites such as "curried goat", "oxtail", and local desserts sure to satisfy any sweet tooth.

Pushcart also features an open kitchen design evoking the Jamaican street food experience, an excellent rum bar, and phenomenal sunset views. The Pirates Cave location has a rich history including being the location of two famous movies. In the 1950s the Jules Verne classic '20,000 Leagues Under The Sea' was filmed in the cave below the new restaurant. In the 1970s the Steve McQueen classic 'Papillon' was filmed on the cliffs where the star actor jumped off to make his escape from Devil's Island. Pushcart will complement the Rockhouse Restaurant which continues to provide a more refined Caribbean epicurean experience.

Rockhouse is consistently ranked one of the top resorts in voted at both Conde Nast Traveler and Travel & Leisure Magazine as one of the top 25 Hotels of the Caribbean. The objective of the Rockhouse is to responsibly and sustainably balance the interests of all parties: giving guests an amazing vacation experience, making the staff partners in the success, taking care of the environment, while putting back into the community through the Rockhouse Foundation. The development at Pushcart is consistent with our hire local, promote local and buy local philosophy in support of sustainable tourism."

The Sunday Observer, Jamaica, "Tunning Wutless at Rockhouse," January 2009
"Usually I love Kingston between Christmas and New Year's, but this past season the entire scene was just too somber and distressing. It was stressing me out. My antidote? I fled to Rockhouse in Negril for isolation. My brother called to ask me what the hell I was doing by myself at Rockhouse. Absolutely positively nothing, but it got me out of my year end slump.

The place was luxuriously rustic, which is rustic for people who do not like real rustic but just want the place to look rustic (like Jakes) but have air conditioning, fans, easy walking paths, minimal bugs and full- pressure showers and toilets. Rockhouse delivers in spades. The stone, wood and thatched roof buildings fit seamlessly into the rock cliffs. The meandering dense green path around the property gives a sense of personal privacy and of being deep inside a tropical paradise forest. Yet Negril is only a few steps outside.

I got a villa right next to the ocean. The villas had an easy, open feel with the large glass picture windows and louvres impeccably designed for great cross-ventilation. You can be inside, even snug in bed, but you always feel like you are outdoors. There are a few simple, light colored wood furnishings which adorn the octagonal room. The centerpiece is the four-poster bamboo bed that is cleverly canopied with a mosquito net which truthfully I did not need. The pièce dé resistance of the room, though, is the outdoor shower under the thatch roof at the back of the villa.

But the real secret of Rockhouse is that sound; the sound of the sea constantly beating against the rock which reaches deep into the recesses of your consciousness and says, "Slow down, stop, and breathe."

I woke up every morning just before dawn to sit on my balcony listening to this meditative rhythm. I loved hearing the "pristine cove" each morning before seeing it. At these moments, I rediscovered the Jamaica of my imagination. "No problem mon" is still alive in some corners of the island.

As the dawn broke, I would walk over to the restaurant for Blue Mountain Coffee and fresh orange juice. I would then walk back to a deck chair that was perched out on a rock in front of my villa. Again seduced by the sound and lulled into an early morning nap.

On waking, I would then head back for a proper breakfast just before 9:30 am. I alternated the ackee and bammy or the full house omelette with a side of bacon. This was my big decision of the day. Yes, there are plenty of options available for breakfast, but why make the mental effort of taking on too much choice so early in the morning. Keep it simple!

At various points during my getaway friends would try to entice me to come to Mobay. Sure I always said yes but then I never actually left the property.

One leading Mobay socialite called one morning with news that there was some hot naked bodies who had just checked in at Hedonism II that I should come and check out- an offer that I would normally jump at, yet I did not move. One of my favorite Kingstonian artists mentioned the Rebel Salute Concert in St. Elizabeth which also sounded like a great plan. The day came and went and I could not move.

Every time someone called to ask what I was doing I was embarassed. Nothing, absolutely nothing. Half-heartedly I was trying to read The Kite Runner and some new magazines but I only managed a few pages here and there.

Rockhouse exerts some kinda Jamaican obeah that lulls you into stillness and will not let you go.. Rockhouse can tun people wutless. By day four, I was not even shaving or bathing except in the sea. Just rinsed and off the saltwater and kept going.

You do have to be a pretty good swimmer to brave these waters. Rock swimming is not like the usual Jamaican beach swimming. There is no easy shallow end that you gracefully go into from the sandy beach. You jump right into the deep waters from the rocks and on some days the waters can be rough so you have to be careful. I am a pretty good swimmer and so did not really mind. There is something invigorating about that kind of swim.

I had the majority of my meals on the property so I ended up trying most things on the menu. It is a potpourri of interesting fare which never became boring. I was actually quite happy to eat in-house day and night.

Lunch at the Fin Walled Pool Bar meant Tony and some seriously succulent grilling. I don't know what culinary magic they are concocting, but it is one of the best pool menus I have ever had. The food is cooked to order and so it is a little slow in coming, but it is so delicious that you do not mind the wait. Jerk sausage with shrimp kebob became my staple.

For dinner, the ambience at the Restaurant is superb. Indoor-outdoor seating with a view to die for and all very well priced. The soups were always good with the right amount of substance for starter soups filled with heartwarming flavor. And the specials were indeed always quite special and interesting. With fare like watermelon ribs (mouth-watering and dropping off the bone) one evening and jerk fusilli the next, the chef shows a real talent for international cuisine with Jamaican flavors. This is not easy to pull off, but they do it night after night with great consistency.

Seafood bisque, blackened mahi mahi, grilled tuna (best I ever tasted in Jamaica), spicy chicken fusilli with light cream sauce (one of my favorite things on the menu) and on and on. I cleaned up my plate each evening like an orphan in a home.

There are a few disappointments on the regular menu like the starter salad, shrimp linguini and curry chicken, which are quite bland. And really unfortunately for single-dining wine lovers, the wines by the glass are rancid. I eventually found a tolerable Pinot Grigio, but their entire wine by the glass offering has to be rethought.

On the other hand, the wine list by the bottle is quite good, filled with some high quality, affordable wines, but since I was by myself most evenings I did not want to descend full-fledged into alcoholism by having a full bottle.

But the real downers are the desserts which all have the same 'bready' consistence with no intrigue of flavor. Even the ice cream is kind of blah, more icy than cream. The one notable exception is the banana bread which is different than you would imagine (less banana-ey) but addictively delicious. Eventually, given the mediocre line-up, I just stopped ordering dessert. Probably better for the waistline at any rate. Strangely, there is also no espresso/cappuccino to end the meal, which is odd for a place with this kind of cosmopolitan menu. It was sorely missed by several guests.

Yet with all that, this is still one of the best restaurants in Jamaica. It certainly held my culinary interest for many days straight.

The staff to guest ratio is very good, so you always feel like there is someone at hand to help. They like working at Rockhouse and it shows in their attitude, professionalism and genuine friendliness. They are clearly very engaged with the guest experience. These guys may have discovered something about hotel management that feels less like good training per se and more like personal pride in the workplace. I can't quite put my finger on it, but somehow they seemed to have captured the very essence of Jamaican warmth as the staff makes you feel like you have been invited into a friend's home. Even the man who manages the yard would proudly talk to me about what was being done with the property and how amazing it is to see the place built up from out of the rock. I can see why they have so many repeat guests.

Two service quirks that jarred the luxurious wutless living. The deck chairs on the rock are little slices of heaven but you will drop dead from thirst or hunger out there before you get a drink or a snack. I know they lose money on this because my bar bill would have been much higher had someone been plying me with liquor on the deck chairs. That being said, there is also real value in just being left alone.

Secondly, no matter where you are swimming- and there are several places to hop off into the sea - you are forced to walk to the pool to get a beach towel, which feels like an interminable journey (actually its only 5-10 minutes, but still). It does not take operational genius to realize that there should be several points for beach towel pick up and drop-off if there are several points where guests can be swimming. How about towels at front desk or at the restaurant or, heaven forbid, delivered to your villa each morning? There is yoga every morning on the pool deck from 8:00 am to 9:00 am to invigorate the body and senses. This is the perfect preparation for a day of nothing else. There is no TV in the room, which you only miss on one day and then never again. Why disturb the important daily routine of napping next to the sea sloshing against rocks for news and artificial entertainment?

I did manage to do a few of the spa treatments. It is a small but exceptional set-up: a lovely setting with a robust but manageable set of spa offerings. All the gals there were really very warm and skilled. I did a deluxe pedicure which rejuvenated my tired yam foot dem. The technician was so sweet when she said "you have nice feet." Lies and flattery will get me every time. And truthfully, they did look a whole lot better when she was done. I also did a ginger and lemongrass exfoliation which got rid of a few centuries of dead skin. Who knew soft and supple could still live under cruff and crusty? Rockhouse spa technicians showed me the light!

Between 5:00 pm and 6:00 pm each day is sunset happy hour at the Rockhouse pool. A couple of times I invited friends to come by and only half-hoped that they would show up as I wanted to minimize any exertion of effort to do anything too stressful like talking.

A few of friends from Mobay did eventually show up and, for the most of the evening, I was on the floor with laughter as I always am when I mix Mobay crew with liquor. I caught up on who in Mobay is now sleeping with whom and who catch their husband doing what. Mobay women are a feisty funny lot. This was the perfect way to spend my getaway: lyming and laughing. I think people laugh more in Mobay and Negril. Kingston has lost its sense of humor.

In addition, the Rockhouse guests are also quite attractive and open. So if you are looking for some discrete foreign dalliances where nobody can carry yuh business a street, it is a good place for that.

Negril feels different than the rest of the country. The vibe is so relaxed. There is no real tension or anger. It is a very good town for the Kingston crowd to come and chill out. And I cannot Rockhouse wutless living enough.

It is shockingly affordable for what you get. Basic rooms during high season can run you US$160 a night and the villas on the water will set you back around US$355 to US$425. There is accommodation for every budget.

During my longish sojourn there, I did not see any other Jamaicans staying in-house, but we were definitely showing up occasionally for dinner nearly every night.

My 2009 resolution is to become one of Rockhouse's most frequent guests. I suppose I should have bigger ambitions but right now I cannot think of any other. I have already staked up several Rockhouse nights and sunsets in 2009 and I am due back at the resort with some friends from America later in the year. There is a brand new casual restaurant and sunset bar at the east end of the property being opened which will soon be in full swing. Think zinc roof with chicken, cool beer and wutless living cocktails. I cannot wait! Mark my words, dem a go tired fi see mi face! I have found the perfect West Coast oasis when Kingston is sucking salt! Rockhouse take me away!"