The Jetty Restaurant – Review

Admittedly I am a bit sniffy about hotel restaurants usually, that may be because the fanciest hotels I tend to stay in have a Harvester attached. The one time I did stay in a nice place (Naming no names but it’s in Newport and Obama stayed there once) the food was pretty shonky and I was glad I wasn’t paying for it. I have previously reviewed Hotel Du Vin and I LOVE that place, I still think about their cassoulet and steak tartare and regularly recommend it to couples looking for a fancy feeling meal without the pomp.

I had heard good things about The Jetty, the restaurant that’s part of the Harbour Hotel so was happy to accept popping in and seeing for myself what they were doing. The restaurant specialises in seafood, which is something I am keen to try more of with an open kitchen, comfy high backed sofas instead of chairs which thankfully had a cushion for me to sit on so I didn’t feel like Moleman at the table.

 

Lobster Mac and Cheese Special

 

The menu focuses mostly on seafood with plenty of the usual suspects to keep anyone not keen on the fruits of the sea happy. As you can see on the menu below the place isn’t cheap but they do offer and very nice looking early bird menu that works out around 3 courses for £15.

 

The Menu at The Jetty Resturant

For starters, we decided to try the monkfish cheeks and the crab on toast and enjoyed a nice glass of bubbly whilst we were waiting. The starters arrived pretty quickly and we were impressed with the presentation, it seems everywhere is using Churchill crockery at the moment and I am desperate to have some of my own! The crab was a little underseasoned but otherwise, I really enjoyed the mix of white and dark meat and the fact it wasn’t overdressed which resulted in a lovely light starter. My friend’s monkfish was the absolute star of the show however, the batter cheeks were light and crispy and the kasundi sauce was incredible! Kasundi sauce is flavoured with Indian spices and straddles sweet, spicy and sour, I will be looking to make this sauce at home and smothering it on everything.

 

Crab on toast starter

 

For main I decided to be brave and go for the whole fish (which on the day was sea bream) with a shrimp brown butter and my friend had the chicken with lobster sauce. We decided to split some fries and the special which was a lobster mac and cheese. We also opted for a bottle of the house white to accompany the meal.

 

Monkfish cheek starter with kasundi sauce

 

Again the food was beautifully presented and prompt. My fish came with a modesty lemon over his wee face that made me laugh and was sat on a bed of gorgeous fresh vegetables that included courgette, mange tout and kale. The grilled lemon that accompanied the dish just made everything sing and I couldn’t help running my finger over the charred, exposed flesh for the smokey and tart flavour. The fish was delicate and flakey

 

Sea Bream with brown shrimp butter and modesty lemon

 

The chicken and lobster dish was also very good, the chicken was a little on the dry side but the charred pak choi and large grilled prawns that it came with made up for it. The lobster sauce was sweet with plenty of lobster flavour which we both loved dragging our fingers through (we don’t fare well in nice places). The mac and cheese was a surprising success, I was worried it would far too rich but actually the sauce cheese sauce was light which allowed the chunks of sweet lobster stirred through it to shine. The herby crust really finished the whole thing off too.

 

Chicken, prawn and lobster dish

 

We went for pudding after realising there were some decent light options (we were pretty darn full) and ordered the lemon tart and a lemon meringue sundae. My tart was full of sweet zingy lemon flavour with a decent pastry base and the raspberry coulis was served without any extra sweetness, a perfect compliment. The sundae was generous with frozen limoncello, sweet curd and crunchy meringue, my friend couldn’t finish it but we had feasted!

All in all we really enjoyed the meal at The Jetty, the service was faultless, the food was delicious and the atmosphere was lovely. The menu is a bit out of my usual price range but if you were looking for a central restaurant that has plenty of seafood options on offer I would highly recommend, or try the fixed price menu and splash out on an oyster or two with the money you’ve saved.

You can find The Jetty online here.

*I was invited to come and try the al a carte menu free of charge, this has not affected my review and The Jetty did not see the review before it was posted*

 

Couldn’t resist the cartoon fish skeleton picture