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New Summer Menu: Five of the best

Here at Arbor, Bournemouth’s latest 2 AA-rosette restaurant, we have launched our summer menu. Our kitchen team have been scouring Dorset and the surrounding counties to find the very best seasonal summer ingredients.

There are too many exciting new dishes to mention, so here we will highlight just five of the superb fresh foods that are making an appearance and which for us spell Summer with a capital S!

South Coast Crab 

Not only is it one of the most sustainable of shellfish – brown crab from the south-west is rated as a “fish to eat” by the Marine Conservation Society – it also has the most fantastic flavour when cooked super-fresh. For summer Chef has flavoured it with chives and simple seasoning and encased in super-fine homemade pasta to make a single perfect raviolo, served with earthy girolle mushrooms and broad beans. Summer on a plate!

Pink Fir Potatoes

At its finest in the summer months, this late maincrop variety produces long, knobbly, pink skinned tubers with butter yellow, waxy flesh and a distinctive nutty flavour. For our summer menu we are cooking them in duck fat and serving with juicy Pork Neck from our favourite Crooked Soley pigs.

Courgette flowers

You’re unlikely to find these bright-yellow edible flowers at even the poshest supermarkets because of their short shelf life – for best results they need to go from stem to stove within a day or two. For our new menu we have picked the most perfectly fresh specimens, filled them with creamy  Rosary goats cheese mousse, chopped walnuts and lemon zest, dipped them in a light tempura and deep fried them. Served with silky spinach pasta tossed in a bold walnut and rocket pesto, they make a delicious and dramatic vegetarian main course.

Grilled Baby Gem Lettuce 

Yes, you can grill lettuce! The trick is to retain the shape while imparting a deliciously deep, smoky flavour.  It makes this ubiquitous summer leaf so much more than just a crunchy base for a summer salad – it suddenly becomes a star in its own right. For this summer we have taken one of our alfresco favourites, Chicken Caesar, and given it the Arbor treatment to make it so much more than just a bowl of salad: confit chicken meat is set in a mould with tarragon and chives then served with the lettuce, crunchy anchovy croutons and delicious Old Winchester cheese, a great English veggie alternative to Parmesan. A refined version of a classic summer dish.

Gooseberries

A quintessential summer treat, we have taken these deliciously tart, pale green globes and turned them into a smooth, tangy gooseberry curd. Added to sticky, spicy ginger cake and a smooth, mild banana sorbet, these most unassuming of fruits really pack a punch on our summer dessert menu!

To reserve a table, either in our dining room or al fresco on the Green House lawn, call 01202 498900 or book online.

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