Shelly-Ann Thompson, Freelance Writer
LEFT: The building in which Moby Dick began at 43 Port Royal Street. - PHOTO BY NASHAUNA DRUMMOND. RIGHT: Moby Dick Restaurant in downtown Kingston. - IAN ALLEN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
KINGSTON HAS always been a fast-paced city. The wharf from which agricultural produce like bananas were loaded and shipped; various piers and the large downtown Kingston marketplace have helped to keep the city buzzing in the early days.
Downtown Kingston, being the centre of commerce, also boasted some of the finest restaurants.
Restaurants have come and gone and although the jury is still out on which one was the first to open its doors, during Kingston Restaurant Week, which started last Saturday and ends this weekend, the activity will shift midtown to New Kingston - the current hot spot for business in the Corporate Area.
Miss Ivy Perry's Restaurant, Allman Town, where Michael Manley and others ate Johnny cakes.
It may be hard to believe that one of Kingston's most exquisite restaurants existed in the community we now know as Allman Town. However, Ivy Perry's Restaurant was a very popular spot for Prime Ministers and heads of government including the late Michael Manley and Hugh Shearer.
Buddy Pouyat, businessman, easily remembers eating at Ivy Perry's, located at 16 Prince of Wales Street in Allman Town. "It was just the greatest place; Ivy was the top person for cooking in Jamaica. On Fridays everybody was there - the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition."
The menu at Ivy Perry's, recalls Mr. Pouyat, mostly consisted of steamed fish, curried goat and Johnny cakes (fried dumplings). "Oftentimes Michael Manley and Hugh Shearer always left with a bag containing a Johnny cake," says Mr. Pouyat.
Ivy Perry was a Jamaican who lived for a while in the United States. When she returned to the island she started the restaurant in Allman Town.
The restaurant closed sometime in the mid-'80s after Ms. Perry developed an illness and could not sustain the business.
The Myrtle Bank Hotel and Restaurant, late 18th century to mid-1960s, on the south side of Harbour Street:
Famous for hosting dignitaries such as Errol Flynn and Queen Elizabeth I, the Myrtle Bank Hotel and Restaurant was an escape for the well-to-do.
Built by a Scotsman, John Gall, it first opened as a hotel at the end of the 18th century. It was a watering stop for sailboats and featured a turtle crawl. The hotel always had a restaurant and was very famous, especially in the 1940s and '50s for lunch. Lunch was referred to as smorgasboard.
With a world-famous lunch, excellent dining entertainment plus rooms for a stopover, the Myrtle Bank Hotel and Restaurant became a respite for the élite like the Prince of Wales and Graham Green, renowned author of Our Man in Havana, who mentioned the hotel and restaurant in one of his books.
The first Myrtle Bank Hotel was built of bricks with a U-shaped opening on to Harbour Street. The United Fruit Company, popular for shipping bananas out of Portland, rebuilt it in 1910. The hotel suffered two major catastrophes - the earthquake of 1807 and a fire, possibly electrical, as it was an old building. Then the Issa family, grandfather and uncles, bought it in 1943 during World War II.
While visitors dined the Jamaica Military Band often entertained them, and in later years Byron Lee played every Wednesday.
With the Waterfront Development in downtown the Government in the mid-'60s bought the hotel, and it was demolished. Currently, a road runs through where the lobby existed.
Moby Dick. Named after a whale, which is also the title of the book, Moby Dick Restaurant is probably one of the longest-serving diners in Kingston. Presently owned by the McBean family, Moby Dick was started by Bill Masterton in the early 1900.
Mr. Masterton, owned a bolts, nuts and welding establishment, Masterton Limited, on Hanover Street in Kingston. William Masterton says that his grandfather, Bill Masterton, a Scottish-descendant originally from London, came to Jamaica after World War I about 1919. Shortly after, the elder Masterton bought out his workplace, and renamed it Masterton Limited. Mr. Masterton's ownership of entities didn't end there.
Mr. Masterton then started Moby Dick, as a rest stop for his staff after a hard day at work. "He probably, too, wanted somewhere to eat, and since he was a marine engineer and boats came right into Kingston at the port and there was a shortage of places to stop for food, he decided to intertwine both, so it was a natural progression," Mr. Masterton said.
Bill Masterton died in 1973 and it's not clear as to how ownership of Moby Dick was changed. Nelso Lowe was also owner of the restaurant.
However, when Ms. Lowe died in a car accident in St. Thomas Clinton McBean and Morlyn Mangaroo-McBean bought the restaurant in 1985.
"All sailors came, ate and drank. It was, a place for all of them in the '50s and it has gained prominence since then," Mr. McBean said. He has been going to Moby Dick before his family got ownership.
The biggest change to Moby Dick by the McBean family has been its location. It is not a big move, as the original Moby Dick is right next door - 43 Port Royal Street - and now the entrance is at 3-5 Orange Street. Other changes have been to the menu, as the restaurant's curry is world-famous coming from from a mostly seafood and pork stop. "My husband said I had to sell pork, because it was a pork place, but being a Muslim I said no it's forbidden in Islam." After 18 months of renting the restaurant the McBeans decided to personally operate the restaurant. However, the decision to sell pork still posed a problem. Then I said "With Allah's (God's) guidance I told him let us change the menu and try curry goat and roti, and the rest is history," Mrs. McBean said.
The McBeans are training their daughters, Cherrida and Calema, to take over the business.
The oldest?
It would be difficult to determine the oldest restaurant in Jamaica. However, a few were found that dated back to the 19th century. The list includes:
Dairy Farmers: 1940s and '50s, on Half-Way Tree Road
Dairy Products: 1940s and '50s, Half-Way Tree Road
Rainbow: 1940s to the '60s, South Odeon Avenue, Half-Way Tree.
Monty's Inn: 1940s to 1960s, an all-night place on Old Hope Road and Oxford Road.
Bruce's Patties: Cross Roads
Wing Shim: close to Princess Street, downtown Kingston
Cathay: corner of Orange Street and Beckford Street
Campbell's Restaurant, King Street (might have been at the same spot where Woolworth's is today).
Kinky's: (partially a drug store/restaurant) and similar to a fast food joint with seats.
The Glass Bucket Club.
Arlington House: the corner of East Queen Street and East Street said to be where Sir Alexander Bustamante met Lady Gladys Bustamante
Gordon's Grocery: King Street, downtown Kingston
The Liguanea Club: still exists today in New Kingston
The Abbey Court Hotel Restaurant: Waterloo Road and Devon Road, one of the few restaurants that existed uptown back then.
Manor Park Hotel Restaurant: Manor Park.
