FOOD REVIEW: The View Tasting Menu at Harbour Heights Hotel

The View restaurant at the Harbour Heights Hotel promises diners a wonderful culinary experience befitting to the hotel’s elegant venue overlooking the stunning Poole Harbour. Promoting classic and contemporary cuisine, The View celebrates local, seasonal food with bold flavours and modern accents. Total Guide to Poole’s expert food blogger Kate Silverton recently visited to sample Head Chef Simon Braz’s tasting menu.

Venue

Harbour Heights benefits from its elevated position on the exclusive Sandbanks peninsula. It is a real hidden gem, tucked amongst the trees, with the most spectacular sweeping views across Poole Harbour and beyond. 

Harbour Heights is part of the prestigious FJB group, a collection of 4 seaside hotels and offers boutique and stylish surroundings, paired with panoramic outlooks across the bay.

The hotel has many different dining options, all showcasing the views, including the large terrace, with multiple tiered seating areas, perfect for enjoying a glass of champagne or a bite to eat from the light bites menu. 

Ocean Palace offers an array of tasty Asian dishes, authentically cooked in the on-site Chinese kitchen whilst The View restaurant offers diners a classic and contemporary dining experience, celebrating local and seasonal food. 

Food & Drink

We arrived slightly earlier than our reservation so we could enjoy a pre-dinner drink in the classy nautical-inspired hotel bar. I was keen to try one of the Harbour Heights' famously-recommended cocktails. 

The cocktail menu has a wide selection of classics, such as an Old Fashioned or a Bloody Mary along with more modern favourites such as an Espresso Martini or a Mojito. I thoroughly enjoyed an Aperol Spritz, served over ice in a tall balloon glass, garnished with a slice of juicy orange, the perfect aperitif. In contrast, my husband had a refreshing pint of Camden Hells lager. 

Our tasting menu was an incredible 9 courses split into different sections ‘From the Farm’ ‘From the Sea’ and ‘From the Land’.

*Homemade bread rolls served warm- seeded, cheddar & onion, black treacle & rye. 

These were all delicious, especially when served with the most amazing kinds of butter- yeast butter, which had a distinct Marmite tang and a beef dripping butter which reminded me of a Sunday roast dinner, both delicious & made a great change to everyday butter! Served on the side was little tapioca crackers, served with smoked cod roe emulsion, brown shrimp & basil-these were insanely tasty, a great sign of how good the rest of the meal would be! 

*’White Onion & Parmesan Soup’ with a truffle dressing. 

I didn’t realise how tasty onion soup could be! The soup was sweet, creamy & very moreish. 

*‘Local Scallops’ with wild mushroom, black garlic & chickweed served with a chicken broth. 

This dish was presented beautifully, showcasing the delicate scallops and the broth was light but full in flavour.

*’Beetroot’ with horseradish snow, linseed cracker & grain mustard. 

This was another stunningly presented dish. This dish was colourful & the perfect combination of a variety of sweet beetroots with the heat of horseradish cutting through the sweetness. The linseed cracker added texture to the dish & height to the presentation.

*’Turbot fillet’ smoked haddock chowder & spring vegetables. 

Easily was one of my favourites of the evening. The turbot was cooked to perfection. It was flaky & meaty with a golden top, served in a wonderful rich chowder, bursting with smoked haddock flavour. The spring vegetables were also perfectly cooked. A great dish for spring, light but also rich & delicious. 

*’Venison Saddle’ celeriac dauphinoise, onion marmalade, pickled pear & parsnip. 

I wouldn’t normally have ordered this meal, but I very was pleasantly surprised! The venison was cooked superbly, a little pink & very tender. The celeriac dauphinoise was a big hit with both of us, a sweet, earthy flavour that matched the richness of the venison well. The sweet marmalade, parsnips & pear were all delicious & again, the sweetness was a good balance with the venison. 

*’Warm Carrot Cake’ cream cheese parfait & candied pecans.

Simply sublime. I adore carrot cake & this was a modern, contemporary take on the traditional favourite. 

*’Matcha Cheesecake’ black sesame & lychee sorbet. 

This was my husband’s favourite dish of the evening. The lychee sorbet was divine, sweet, perfumed & very refreshing. The cheesecake was all the things a cheesecake should be, but with the added slightly bitter flavour of Matcha. It had a distinctly Asian feel and all the flavours worked in harmony with each other. The dish, for a dessert, wasn’t overly sweet, a good way to end the meal if you don’t enjoy overly sweet dishes.

*’Petit Fours’ we ended our wonderful meal with 4 handmade chocolates served on white & milk chocolate soil. 

Not only didn’t these look very pretty, but they also tasted beautiful, rich & decadent. 

We opted to have wine paired with our tasting menu, which we thoroughly enjoyed. Having our host for the evening-Florbela chose wine to accompany each course, took the decision out of our hands & meant we got the perfect wine to complement each dish. 

Paired Wines-

*Drifting Chardonnay, USA- Soup, Scallops, Beetroot dishes

*Picpoul de Pinet, France-Turbot dish

*Feudi Salentini 125 Primitivo del Salento, Italy- Venison dish

*Moscat, Italy- Carrot cake & cheesecake dishes

Summary

I don’t know if I can put into words how much we enjoyed our evening at The View… But I’ll try…

This tasting menu was simply one of the best meals we have ever experienced. We will be talking about this occasion for a long time to come, desperately trying to explain to friends & family, just how fabulous it really was. 

My husband & I have a real passion for all things food & drink related. We really enjoy eating out & trying dishes we wouldn’t be able to cook ourselves at home. The joy of a tasting menu, is you don’t really know what to expect & may surprise yourself by sampling dishes you may not normally have ordered! 

It was a pleasure chatting with the kitchen & front of house team after our meal (The View features an open kitchen) who all said what a joy it is to be back open serving fantastic food & seeing guests enjoy themselves. The passion they have for the hotel was clear to see & shows in the food & the service we received. 

There were a couple of little touches that we appreciated that sometimes go unnoticed in a restaurant, we really enjoyed the choice of music and the volume it was played at was just right, this created a lovely atmosphere. A meal can be ruined when the music is so loud you have to shout to the person next to you or if the music is very quiet and in turn guests are afraid to talk too loudly! 

I liked that guests were seated fairly spread out in the restaurant, giving people space to enjoy an intimate dining experience. I also adored each and every plate that the dishes were served in, they had been carefully considered to compliment the food and added to the presentation well. The service was also spot on, Florbela was efficient and professional, whilst also being warm and engaging. The perfect host.

The View is a very smart restaurant, serving high-class food & drink in a wonderful setting, but somehow still manages to have a relaxed vibe and is not stuffy or pretentious, therefore making this a must-visit for a special occasion or simply to enjoy a delicious meal. 

Kate Silverton

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