The Humble Gourmand

The Landing is a fantastically quaint boutique hotel with a delightful restaurant overseeing the bay at Harbour Island. It hits pitch-perfect with relaxed and elegant fare.

The menu uses Australian and Thai flavors to highlight the freshness and flavor of seasonal, local ingredients. Chef Ken Gomes (an Australian himself) has been featured as a guest chef at the The James Beard Foundation Celebrity Chef Tour in New York, but in his own kitchen he turns out a wonderfully balanced menu.

The location couldn’t be more perfect – the porch and courtyard have an ocean view that look over waves gently cresting on the pink sand beaches, and the downtown location offers lots of opportunities to watch visitors and locals gather down by the pier and cruise around in the golf carts that are the island’s main mode of transportation.

Inside, the restaurant and hotel have a classic, crisp, décor that manages to be elegant without being stuffy or intimidating. Pictures of the owner’s family decorate the walls of the bathroom, which is simultaneously heart-warming and off-putting, and the bar area encourages you to take a seat on the sofa to drink and chat til dawn – and then sleep there til noon.

The Thai beef salad was light with a bit of spice, a perfect appetizer after a day at the beach. The chilled beef was soothing but not boring and the Thai flavors added dimension to what could have been a standard starter.

The main courses feature lots of fresh fish and seafood, but the star of our evening was the Angus Tenderloin Steak with sweet garlic butter, sautéed spinach, and clever “potato stacks” – potatoes sliced to chip thickness but fried in a “stack” so the outside was crunchy but the inside had the texture of a fry. My lovely and very manly dining companion was made speechless by the steak – he actually used the word “succulent,” which I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone use to describe red meat, and he’s been lobbying for us to try making the potato stacks at home ever since we returned.

The local lobster was incredibly rich. Having grown up in Maine, I love lobster — but it takes a lot for me to be bowled over by it. This one succeeded. Served out of the shell and drenched in butter, this Caribbean cousin was sweet and smooth, with very little of the saltiness that I often find in my New England favorite. While the green beans were fresh and light, I felt a side with some kick would have enhanced the mellow lobster; perhaps something again with a Thai influence or some curry pepper.

While we only got to taste these two main dishes, just by looking around at the tables next to us we were able to decide that on our next trip to The Landing we must try the Spicy Thai Green Chicken Curry and the Grouper Fillet with Red Thai Curry.

The dessert we chose was certainly a crowd-pleaser: Belgian chocolate pudding served warm with vanilla ice cream. Let’s just say there was lots of dish-scraping and contented staring off into the night sky. The pudding was made with a very dark chocolate, so though it was rich and intense, it was not overly sweet.

The Landing is definitely worth the splurge, and it’s a great place for a vacation evening “date” as it hits both romantic and relaxing tones – plus, as my boyfriend said, “The portions were so much bigger than all the other expensive restaurants you make me take you to!” If that’s not an endorsement I don’t know what is.