Jamaica Best Dining Bets

•Jasmine (Montego Bay; tel. 876/953-2800): At the Ritz-Carlton Rose Hall Resort, this small, intimate restaurant offers grand service and vibrant international dishes illuminated by candlelight. It's the most romantic place to dine at the resort.

•Sugar Mill Restaurant (Montego Bay; tel. 876/953-2314): Located at Half Moon, this is the top restaurant in Montego Bay. The chef's smoked marlin is without equal, and he makes the island's best Jamaican-style bouillabaisse. Guests dine by candlelight indoors or on an open terrace.

•Norma's on the Beach at Sea Splash (Negril; tel. 876/957-4041): Widely acclaimed as Jamaica's finest woman chef, Kingston's Norma Shirley has brought her recipes to Negril's Sea Splash Resort. The Jamaican and international food here is the finest on Seven Mile Beach, and Norma gets the best produce from local vendors.

•Rockhouse Restaurant (Negril; tel. 876/957-4373): Perched above a rocky inlet, this restaurant serves terrific cuisine, such as smoked marlin and peppered pork with yams.

•Bloomfield Great House (Mandeville; tel. 876/962-7130): Once part of a coffee plantation, this restaurant today serves one of the island's best-orchestrated menus -- everything from smoked marlin with black caviar to the best pasta dishes in this part of Jamaica.

•Evita's Italian Restaurant (Ocho Rios; tel. 876/974-2333): Evita (actually Eva Myers) is a local culinary star, devoting at least half her menu to pastas. Her recipes range from the north to the south of Italy. Try snapper stuffed with crabmeat or lobster and scampi in buttery white-cream sauce -- all washed down with a good Italian wine.

•Mille Fleurs (Port Antonio; tel. 876/993-7267): In the Hotel Mocking Bird Hill, this restaurant is terraced and perched 180m (600 ft.) above sea level with panoramic views. People come here for the delectable food, which has been praised by Gourmet magazine. Opt for coconut-and-garlic soup or the fish with a spicy mango-and-shrimp sauce.

•Redbones the Blues Café (Kingston; tel. 876/978-6091): In a former Spanish colonial house, one of the most elegant restaurants on the island is the setting for a refined Jamaican cuisine of artful preparation and unexpected flavors. Ever had shrimp, lobster, and salmon in a creamy coconut sauce?

•Norma's on the Terrace (Kingston; tel. 876/968-5488): Kingston's Norma Shirley, the island's foremost female restaurateur, serves up a nouvelle Jamaican cuisine without equal in the area. Try such Jamaican specialties as chowder with crabmeat, shrimp, conch, and lobster, or grilled smoked pork loin in a teriyaki-and-ginger sauce.

•Strawberry Hill (Kingston; tel. 876/944-8400): This is one of the best modern Jamaican restaurants, tucked in the Blue Mountains. Even if you don't stay at this exclusive resort, try grilled fish with jerk mango or grilled shrimp with fresh cilantro in its restaurant