Mille Fleurs Offers Birdwatchers Great Epicurean Rewards

Birding tours can be exhausting. One would think finding bright red or yellow birds should be easy, but in Jamaica’s profusion of flowering trees, they become cryptic!  Birders love the challenge, but what better way to rise to the challenge than to have rewards?  Returning to Hotel Mocking Bird Hill, we often run upstairs before going to our rooms – yes before a shower – to read THE BOARD, posted daily in their Mille Fleurs restaurant.  To keep pace with their creative chefs, the hotel can’t keep a menu current, so daily dining options are posted on an old-fashioned chalkboard. We read; we study; we retire to our rooms to freshen up, and return to enjoy a fresh fruit or coconut water drink mixed with Appleton rum ahead of our night’s indulging.  Ah, sweet life of the Caribbean!

We love taking birders and naturalists to Jamaica. The daily rewards here of fresh, creative food are a big part of our tour experience.  At Mille Fleurs, the food is infused with goodness, not only in its skillfully crafted mix of flavors, but in its pathways to our tables. Hotel Mocking Bird Hill makes every effort to support the local economy and the various small producers & farmers that they buy from as they create their menus. If food can feel happy this does: organic, local, healthy, not pretentious, and yes, loved. If we feel pampered, so do the vegetables on our plate. A measure of the owner’s generosity is finding recipes for our favorite dishes on their website. As we write they have these currently featured:

Starters: Brie with Tamarind Sauce | Ackee Soufflé | Carpaccio of Paw-Paw, Otaheiti Apple & Cho Cho

Soups: Coconut and Garlic Soup | Peanut Soup | Tomato & Sweet Potato Soup

Mains: Chicken in June Plum Sauce | Mocking Bird Poached Fish | Ital Rundown

Dessert: Orange Custard with Wild Orange Liquer

The food can speak for itself.  Appetizers: plantain rolls stuffed with callaloo and tamarind, banana guacamole, spicy shrimps with gungo peas and red onion salsa; soups: coconut, lime and crayfish, pumpkin and lobster bisque, sweet potato and wild hook; main dishes: jerk-spiced pimento-crusted tofu, aubergine in Red Stripe beer batter on sweet pea puree, callaloo and feta stuffed chicken, coconut-fish baked in banana leaves; desserts: soursop sorbet, guava crème brulee, pimento coffee custards and otaheiti apple tarts – to mention a few of your choices!

Reservations: 876.993.7267.

The Epicurean Birder is a product of Naturalist Journeys, LLC, a birding and nature tour company based in Portal, Arizona, offering tours worldwide. A signature of the company is their pursuit, in addition to nature, of local foods and local eateries. Join them in Jamaica March 31-April 6 in 2012, beyond that contact them for current itineraries.

Photos: courtesy of Hotel Mocking Bird Hill, the header for the Mille Fleurs restaurant page.

Tags: Best Restaurants, Bird, Birding, Hotel Mocking Bird Hill, Jamaica, Jamaican Cuisine, Mille Fleurs, Naturalist Journeys, Nature, Tour, Travel