Monday 23 June 2014

Jake & Humphreys Bistro

196 Peel Street
New Hamburg, ON

519-662-1143



In her opinion:
It's always nice when you can have an adults only dinner with friends who appreciate food as much as we do! This last Saturday was adult date night. After some thought, I remembered that I had been wanting to try Jake & Humphreys Bistro in New Hamburg for some time.

The restaurant is housed in a old red house on the main strip in New Hamburg. As we walked into the old foyer, we were greeted by our server who showed us to our table. The restaurant was filled to capacity. But it did not seem crowded or too loud. I liked the ambiance of the room the minute I sat down.

Our water glasses were filled right away. I decided to have a glass of Megalomaniac Homegrown Riesling.


This is a gorgeous Riesling. Not too tart with just the right amount of sweetness. This is the first white I've had in a while and it was really good. Our waitress brought over some house made whole wheat and focaccia bread along with olive oil and balsamic for dipping.





For my appetizer, I decided to go with one of the feature appetizers. Six beautiful raw malpeque oysters with house made seafood sauce.


The best choice I could have made and probably the highlight of my meal. Super fresh. Super sweet. The seafood sauce was also delightful with the right amount of kick provided by the horseradish. Excellent!

I was debating about what to have for my main. I finally decided to have the "Poached Chicken Breast in a Creamy Wild Mushroom Sauce". This was served with polenta and sauted vegetables.




The chicken looked bland on the plate...what did I really expect from anything poached? But the chicken breast was definitely moist and flavourful and the creamy mushroom sauce was really delicious adding the right amount of zing to the otherwise boring looking chicken! The polenta was okay...not super creamy. The sauted vegetable were excellent. Fresh and flavourful. Big shout out to the red cabbage which stole the show and I was a really good girl and finished every piece of vegetable on my plate.
I didn't leave any room for dessert.


Overall, a nice dinner...the company probably improved the experience by a lot but I would say that Jack & Humphreys is a good place for dinner with friends or for a romantic dinner for two.

  
In his opinion:
Every time I dine in New Hamburg I have a pretty good experience so I was expecting more of the same. I usually encounter great unpretentious food prepared with care and featuring a lot of local ingredients which puts the New Hamburg dining scene at par with other Ontario cities for local fare.

Jake and Humphrey's is your typical house adapted restaurant venue with a mix of charm and close quarters that add to the ambience and mystic of the experience. I ordered a Rickard's Red while browsing the menu, this was mostly because I did not recognize any of the featured craft beers explained by the waitress but I recall the list of availability seemed to be short.


For starters, I ordered the "Butter Seared Scallops with Julienne Vegetable Salad served in a sesame soy dressing". When encountering words such as butter sea scallops in the same phrase, it is hard to look at anything else and I was drawn to it automatically.

The scallops were seared to perfection and even the slight burnt marks on them didn't take away for their moistness and taste and it actually added texture. The julienne vegetable salad was arguably the best I have ever had and that's admitting that I'm not a huge fan of this salad usually. This dish was fresh, light and perfect for a hot summer evening in the country.


For my entree, I chose the "Braised Beef Ribs with Hoisin and Dark Beer Sauce". This dish was served with Fettuccine noodles contrary to the description on the menu that stated mashed potato. A vegetable medley rounded out the dish and did it in great fashion. The braised ribs were very flavourful and tender. The dark beer sauce acted as the coating on the meat and added both the flavour and texture.


As we were pretty full, we opted out of dessert but I must add that the options the waitress explained didn't seem to be calling my name either. As a nice touch, we received chocolate caramels with our bill.




The Good: Very good unpretentious food served in a cozy romantic setting.
The Bad: Service was a bit aloof.
The Verdict: Again the food speaks volumes in New Hamburg. Food selection was good and the food was well prepared and flavourful. A great place to visit and try some of the good dishes coming out of this kitchen.

I give it 3 1/2 Out of 5 Olives as rating





Jake & Humphreys Bistro on Urbanspoon

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