Breakfast of Champions

If you live in the United States, you may have to “trust the Gorton’s fisherman.” But when you’re in Jamaica, there’s only one place you go for fried fish: your favorite shack at Hellshire Beach.

About a half-hour drive from the capital, Kingston, Hellshire is famous for the string of fish and seafood shacks that line its caramel-sand shore. The humble huts are open every day, but Sunday is when city-slicking Kingstonians flock, newspapers in hand and kids in tow, for this deep-fried breakfast feast.

Pick your just-caught fish Snapper or Parrot from the cooler as you enter; order up a plate of bammy (steamed or fried cassava bread) and festival (slightly sweet fried dumplings); then settle in for a lengthy-but-worth-it wait as the vendor cooks your meal to order. You can have the fish steamed, roasted in foil or stewed in a brown sauce, but I always recommend that first-timers choose the traditional fried. Cooked to perfection in a cauldron of bubbling oil until it’s crispy on the outside and flaky on the inside, a Hellshire-fried fish is worth every delicious calorie.