Harbour City Bar & Grill, Delta Halifax

Rebecca: One of the perks of attending university away from home is that when your parents come to visit, they take you out for delicious food. My dad was in town for the night and because he stays at the Delta Halifax quite frequently, they sent him a $200 gift card to their restaurant in the mail. Luckily, he decided to share it with us. The restaurant is called Harbour City Bar and Grill, and it definitely deserves more than a “hotel restaurant” reputation. The food here was delicious, local, and artfully presented; it was, however, quite pricey. Without the gift card, we wouldn’t have opted for such a luxurious meal. But hey, since our meal was free, there were no holds barred - hopefully making for a great blog post!

Ben: For our appetizers we got two orders of Goat Cheese to share ($8 each). This is much more than crackers and cheese - warm goat cheese on maple-pecan crusted sourdough toast on a bed of greens with rhubarb compote piled on the side. While they may not have been as conducive to sharing as we may have hoped, we were quite happy. The star was actually the rhubarb compote, which I would eat by the spoonful if given the opportunity. In addition to this, I was a pig and ordered French Onion Soup ($7). While not made the traditional way with Gruyere, it was nonetheless rich and satisfying; at this point I was already beginning to fear I had ordered a bit too much.

We had already begun eating it at this point.

Dangerously cheesy.

Rebecca: At this point we had ordered so much food that our server realized we meant business. At fine dining restaurants, servers will often alert the chef of any big spenders or VIPs in the house, and the chef will prepare small, ornately presented bite-size dishes for the table called Amuse Bouche, or in France, Amuse Gueule. In French, this means “to amuse your mouth” or “to amuse your throat”. As you probably guessed, we were falsely assumed to be big spenders (our server didn’t know about our gift card yet) and we received three poached salmon Amuse Bouche. The bite-sized amount of salmon was served cold over a bed of pickled pears and microgreens. There was some type of raspberry coulis on the side as well. Yum!

Our bouches were amused.

For my entree, I chose the Chicken Supreme ($25). I really enjoy chicken stuffed with things, as you may remember from our Bicycle Thief review. The portion of chicken was huge, and it was stuffed with Oka-Pancetta cheese. It was delicious, but I must admit that I still preferred the dish from Bicycle Thief. Anyway, the chicken was free-range, local, and it was very good. Also, it was my first time trying risotto. I would describe risotto as fatter-than-normal rice served in a creamy sauce. This risotto was a mix of creamy and tangy, due to the Dijon mustard in the sauce. There were a few vegetables served on the side that were crispy and flavourful. I was so full after our appetizers and Amuse Bouche that I could barely finish the dish - I wish I could have been more hungry! 

"Who made this risotto? It's cooked puuufectly!" - Chef Gordon Ramsay

Ben: I got the Digby Scallops ($26), served on a bed of vanilla risotto with vegetables on the side. Thankfully this was a smaller portion than Rebecca’s, or I definitely would not have finished. The scallops were wonderfully moist and perfectly seasoned, but what stood out most for me was the risotto. I was suspicious of the idea of vanilla risotto at first, but it’s sweetness made it the ideal companion to the scallops. I want more.

Yup, those are scallops.

Rebecca: Despite being incredibly stuffed, we couldn’t pass up dessert. During a previous visit to Harbour City, a server recommended the Parade of Sail to my dad and told him that it had won first prize in a Halifax-wide dessert competition. We decided to go with three Parade of Sails and they did not disappoint. The best part was the perfectly formed cheesecake dome, with a light and crispy praline crust, dense filling that almost bordered on being mousse, and a thin covering of dark chocolate. There was a thin, sugary cookie that resembled a sail stuck into the dome. On the side, you had a scoop of local-made Dee Dee’s chocolate ice cream and two small peanut brittle squares. The base was so crispy and light, and the actual cheesecake part was melt-in-your-mouth velvety smooth. I’m not even a big chocolate lover, but I loved this dessert. Harbour City Bar and Grill, teach us your dessert making ways! 

So, so good.

At the end of the night, we spent just over our $200 mark. It was a great meal and a very enjoyable night overall. If you’re staying at the Delta Halifax, and want a nice meal, there is definitely no need for you to look elsewhere - Harbour City is great. If you’re not staying there, you may want to stick to your favourite tried-and-true restaurants if you’re heading out for a more expensive meal. We still recommend this place though. And thanks, Dad!