The Harbourside Restaurant is one of two eateries in this Milsom owned hotel in Harwich. Harbourside is a fine dining venue that emphasises local produce, including the famous local seafood.
The building is a traditional Victorian seaside affair with plenty of whitewash and calming colours throughout. The standard of décor and furnishing is high throughout, setting the scene for a lovely dining experience.
The menu does contain predominantly local seafood, but there is a smattering of other dishes on there if the fruit of the sea isn’t to your taste. We did want to sample some of the local delicacies, so ordered a mix of what was on offer.
We started with Harwich lobster and shellfish cocktail and smoked haddock and chive fishcakes. The cocktail came with a Marie Rose sauce and was a modern take on a prawn cocktail. The lobster was of course a more refined taste than prawns.
The smoked haddock and chive fishcake was lovely and light. It was well-seasoned and freshly prepared. It was delicious.
“The Harbourside Restaurant emphasises local produce and delivers a solid dining experience.”
Main course consisted of a chargrilled Dedham Vale sirloin steak and ravioli of roasted squash with parmesan. We also had sides of buttered new potatoes and purple sprouting broccoli.
The Dedham Vale steak was divine. The meat was rich, dark and very succulent. While the fish dishes looked lovely, there’s nothing like a high quality steak to make a meal and this one delivered.
The ravioli of roasted squash and parmesan came with a cumin veloute and pine kernel tuile. The flavours were very earthy and were lightened considerably by the parmesan. The cumin livened things up a bit and added a real character to the dish.
For dessert, we had a baked egg custard tart and a wild Amazon chocolate fondant. I’m not sure how else you make an egg custard other than baking it, but the end result was nice. It was light, sweet and very flavoursome.
The elaborately named wild Amazon chocolate fondant was exactly what you want from a fondant. It was warm, rich, gooey and had lashings of rich chocolate flavour.
Our meal was excellent. The service was good, the ingredients fresh and prepared and seasoned perfectly. We loved it.
The Bill: £56 per person
