Jamaica Observer Table Talk Food Awards judge for the parish of Portland, Jon Baker, adds Soosoomba Vegetarian Restaurant and Scotch Bonnet Restaurant at Match Resort to his list of culinary gems.

Driving over from Kingston one crosses the proudly signed border into the parish of Portland in Dover. Portland is my favourite and, I feel, Jamaica’s most diverse parish, so this journey always gives me a thrill. I often think it should be made into the People’s Republic of Portland or at least be given some special individual status like California.

Passing through Buff Bay, through the twists and turns of Black Hill, Jamaica’s resident but sleeping volcano, you arrive in the small town of Hope Bay with its old, discarded railway station still standing but converted into a bar. You can sit and have a drink on the old platform and imagine yourself in days gone by waiting for your train to either Kingston or Port Antonio, watching the cargoes of banana or beef cattle passing through.

Just past the Hope Bay Police Station but on the left-hand side stands a modest one-storey building; freshly painted in pink-brown and with an extraordinarily detailed and resplendent mural on the side is Sista P’s ‘Soosoomba Vegetarian Restaurant’.

Sista P is a Rasta elder who has worked hard in the local community for years. She has produced the ‘Fiwi Sinting’ Roots and Cultural festival in the area for 24 years, the only festival of its kind celebrating traditional African heritage in Jamaica. Sista P approaches her championing of vegetarian eating and its dietary health benefits with the same vigour and selflessness that she does her festival; as she once said to me after being approached to hold her festival in Ocho Rios as a tourism-centric showcase, ‘We have ‘Fiwi Sinting”, they can have ‘fi dem ting.’ Sista P does not compromise especially with her cooking.

If you have never eaten vegetarian food, eat it only from time to time, or are already a full-time vegetarian, this is your food stop!

You can sit in the quiet, cool and peaceful restaurant or just grab a food box and drive on to eat this treat later; either way, the always regally dressed – in African robes – and with a smiling open face, Sista P will forward with your meal.

At this point I have to mention the cost of eating here, like Sista P’s welcome it is extraordinary – $400 for the full Monty! Last time I stopped I was sure I had misheard Sista P when I asked for the bill. Upon questioning, Sista P told me that this is her way of introducing people to the vegetarian way: make it affordable, something that can be appreciated by tourists passing through and locals alike give them something different but at prices they are used to for a box food.

Now compare the complexity of what one is served at Soosoomba on a daily basis: today we are served crispy fried vegetable split-pea balls, with a delicious fresh salad that includes a huge variety of beans and pulses, a bean stew, a chick pea mix, rice with gungo peas and, to top this off, what I could possibly describe as one of the most delicious and unusual delights I have ever eaten in Jamaica, fried Bammy with a home-made hummus. It was just incredible; I could have taken a whole plate of this away with me but that would have denied other diners of a sublime gastronomic experience.

I washed down this wonderful repast with a glass of freshly made tamarind juice, no added sugar, just as it comes sweetly tart and refreshing to the palate- the perfect drink for this meal. I could have had a small bottle of either star fruit, Otaheite or grape wine, but considering I still had to make it to a meeting I did not want to risk anything that might inhibit my performance!

The joys and benefits of eating this light and varied vegetarian meal are many: the fact that one’s body does not spend hours breaking down dense meaty substances or absorbing heavy fats go without saying, but also the happiness with which you eat your food at Soosoomba travels with you on the road, long after.

I leave towards Port Antonio with a sense of upliftment and calm. Maximum respect, Sista P.

Full platter $400

Tamarind Juice $150

Contact: 532-0723