A Boozy Sunday Brunch at Summerhouse at Harmony Hall
A Boozy Sunday Brunch at Summerhouse at Harmony Hall
Located in Harmony Hall on the border of Ocho Rios and St. Mary; Summerhouse Jamaica is a cozy eatery serving a scrumptious fusion of Jamaican and International delicacies to satisfy even the most difficult of tastebuds.
Summerhouse offers a unique dining experience paired with a contemporary approach to traditional local cuisine; all while being tucked away in the serene and tranquil countryside.
Personally, I love a good brunch outing. It have something to do with stepping into adulthood and getting older but many of us tend to move away from nights out on the town and going to clubs/parties and move more towards birthday dinners and even more so brunches to celebrate life events. This time our journey to Summerhouse was on behalf of my good friend Sasha to celebrate another year of life around the sun.
How To Get There
You can get to Summerhouse a few different ways but for this journey we headed there via the Edward Seaga North to South Highway. Heading towards Ocho Rios from Kingston is fairly straightforward via the tollroad. The trip is approximately 1 hour long to get to the end of the toll road.
At the round-a-bout at the end of the toll road, take the second exit and head towards Ocho Rios. But if you’re coming from MontegoBay side then iit's the first exit.
The trip to Summerhouse is approximately half an hour from here (traffic depending). It's a fairly straight road with no turn offs and you can use Google maps to help you. You'll pass many tourist attractions like Mystic Mountain & Dolphin Cove. You continue passing the town and the plazas on either side. And just keep continuing straight ahead. Coming from Ocho Rios, HarmonyHall is on the right hand side of the roadway. There is a decent sized sign indicating your destination so look out for that.
The Experience
Harmony Hall is housed in a spacious 19th century estate house with a lush garden that provides a stunning backdrop for intimate get togethers, romantic meals, and special celebrations.
Also housed on the estate is a clothing boutique on the upper floor and a gourmet specialty store on the ground floor. The Summerhouse restaurant is also located on the ground floor and verandah encompassing majority of the space.
In recent years, Summerhouse has become a preferred Sunday Brunch destination to escape the hustle and bustle pulsation of the Kingston City life for the quiet serenity of the countryside.
Our reservations were made for 11:30 am and I’m pleased to say that we arrived on time. Well at least half of our party did. We left Kingston in separate vehicles and the second part of our convoy arrived a little bit later than we did, although still in decent time.
When we arrived, we found there was a decent sized parking area and best yet there was even a shaded spot to place our car. We were greeted by really friendly staff members who guided us to our seating but not before santizing our hands on entry.
The available seating options were inside by the bar, outside on the verandah or under the gazebo by the garden. For this celebration, we were seated under the garden gazebo (most likely due to our larger group size) which gave us a marvelous view of the property.
Since we were the earlier set of our group, we used the time to scope out the grounds and really get a feel for the space. We perused the menu to make our selections, we salivated over the mangoes on the tree wondering when they’ll be ready for eating, we swung on the outside swing seat and of course we used the time to shoot Instagram worthy shots and reels/tik toks for our social media pages.
Personally, I found the ambiance to be elegant yet quite mellow and soothing. The setting was truly comfortable and the perfect place for some relaxed conversation while enjoying a decent meal.
When our full complement arrived, it was finally time to make our orders before heading back out to take more pictures. What’s a birthday brunch without some group photos and individual photos with the birthday girl hmm?
The Food
If you've been following my blog or have read any of my previous restaurant reviews then you know I’ve become a bit more critical of restaurants of late. I find a lot of restaurants are so focused on ambiance and making the place social media friendly that oftentimes food quality drops. So although hopeful, I always go to new restaurants a little skeptical. So preamble aside, let’s get to the food shall we.
Brunch is served as a 3 course meal with a selection of foods for appetizer, main course and dessert.
For appetizer it’s an ensemble of house selected delicacies served buffet style. For our meal we got ackee & saltfish fritter balls served with a spicy dip, cinnamon raisin rolls with cream cheese frosting and scotch bonnet cornbread with tomato butter and parmesan. We also got served sherries pumpkin bisque with brown butter breadcrumbs and parmesan.
The bisque is given to us individually but the other appetizers are served in different dishes and displays for us to make our own pairings and selections. If my calculations are correct (and i’m sure they are) there was only enough for each person to get a serving of each item so unless a member the party didn’t want a particular item, you could only sample each item once.
I think my favourite of the appetizers was the cinnamon roll. Overall I think the appetizers were all fine but if I had to choose, I’d go with the cinnamon roll. Was it the best i’ve ever had? No. But it was a great compilation of flavours and I definitely could have done with another one. The saltfish fritters was a fun little addition but honestly it wouldn’t be as good without the dipping sauce which was divine in my opinion.
I don’t think I can fairly judge the bisque however because I spent so much time outside getting content that by the time I came back it was a bit cold. I do think it could’ve been a little more spicy regardless.
For our main course, there was a pretty good selection of Jamaican breakfast, continental breakfast and different lunch options.
It seems like we all had similar appetites because a few of us ordered the same things. For my choice I picked the seafood rissotto. I think it’s time I admitted to myself that I’m not a huge fan of risotto. Now hear me out, this was a well made and tasty risotto. The flavours were wonderful and I got a decent amount of shrimp which is always a win in my book and yet I didn’t love it. I couldn’t finish it and I think it’s because deep down I don’t love risotto. Plus, I think it was my second pick because my original choice wasn’t available so I was already a little disappointed. Other than that, the serving size was decent and I never heard anyone complain about something lacking in their meals so I'd say that there was general satisfaction all around.
We ended the brunch with our choice of dessert. Menu items included apple berry crumble, brioche bread pudding, passion fruit creme brulee and chocolate mousse pie.
When I originally viewed the menu, I zoned in on my perfect dessert…. Carrot cake. I absolutely looooove carrot cake, especially with cream cheese frosting i’m literally salivating thinking about it. But, unfortunately there was no carrot cake available. I felt like flipping over the table… lol not really, but I did feel a bit disappointed.
So after going over the dessert list again, I settled on the apple berry crumble which tasted delectable. I think for a first runner up, it wears the crown pretty well. A perfect dessert to end the brunch festivities. I will say that the apple was completely overpowered by the berries but honestly I didn’t really mind because of how scrumptious it was.
Summerhouse was also wonderful enough to give my friend Sasha a beautifully decorated ice cream-fruit bowl as we sang happy birthday. I love when restaurants do gestures like this to make guests feel welcomed and celebrated. It really adds a special touch to the experience.
To wash it all down we ordered our share of drinks. Honestly, I can’t for the love of me remember what I ordered. It may have been a strawberry daiquiri. Either way I remember it was tasty and not too strong, the perfect combination for brunch.
In terms of cost, the brunch was $55 usd at the time of visiting with drinks coming at an additional cost. This worked out to a little over $11,000 jmd when all was said and done. I’d say the price isn’t too bad considering we got three courses. Although portion sizes could be a little bit better.
Overall Rating
Overall I think it was a wonderfully delicious Sunday outing. The ambiance felt upscale and sophisticated yet still serene and relaxing. The food was good. The staff was awesome. I would say it's a solid 7.5 out of 10 experience on the delectable-experience scale. I would probably venture back and try their lunch or dinner menus to give the palate a different experience.