As the name would indicate Natalie’s was the restaurant in the Camden Harbor Inn.  The fine dining restaurant is under Executive Chef Jose Ochoa who actively tries to highlight the bounty of Maine’s harvests.  Inside the white cloth-covered tables are set with padded armchairs surrounded by windows with views of the gardens and water.  There is also terrace dining outside.  It has an elegant feel with wood floors , lots of flowers, music in the background and attentive service.  Open daily they offer an a la carte menu and two tasting menus.  We chose the lobster tasting and started the meal with both of their local oysters and a Vesper classic cocktail.  It was a lovely evening with the staff friendly and helpful and the tasting with good pacing and portion control.

Set-up

 

Food

We started with a selection of oysters and the Vesper cocktail from Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale 1953 novel, which contained vodka, gin, Lillet blanc and lemon peel.  The oysters came with a trio of sauces – pink peppercorn migonette, fermented jalapeno, and horseradish topped cocktail sauce.   I liked all 3 of the dipping options on the nicely shucked oysters.

 

An amuse bouche was lobster wrapped in cabbage with lime, ginger pepper and shallot seasonings.  It had excellent flavor with a little kick.  The sweet lobster was well enhanced with this mix.

 

Bread service started with whole wheat sourdough and rye slices of bread and 2 butters – brown butter and ramp butter.  Both breads were good as were the butters with a slight preferance for the brown butter.

 

Lobster tail meat was in a tartlet topped with caviar for the start of the tasting.  Seasonings included chervil, lemon jelly and fresno pepper gel.  The tartlet shell was not completely crisp which gave it a tad less texture but the flavor combinations were quite good.

 

Tortellini filled with ricotta were surrounded by peas in lobster consommé and topped with a lobster claw.   This one had milder flavors but the peas were very good.  The pasta was cooked nicely with an overall good assessment to the dish.

 

A second bread service this time brought a honey glazed dinner roll.  This was doughier bread but very buttery and tasty.

 

The bigger claw was on kelp, morels, asparagus, peas and mint in a beurre blanc sauce.  The lobster meat was very nice here as was the bisque below it.  I did not care for the kelp flavor – it was too strong for me and dwarfed the other ingredients.   The morels here were quite small but well matched in size with the asparagus pieces.  Pushing the kelp aside made this one work for me.

 

Sweet mango granite was a palate cleanser.  It had a good strong flavor and was very cold but I found it odd to have at this point in the meal rather than after all the savory courses.

 

Lobster was around a cream fraiche bisque and beside a mix of fiddleheads and caramelized leeks.  Here the bisque was made with coconut milk rather than cream to make it lighter.  Both pieces of lobster were divine with the vegetables and sauce.

 

Rhubarb ice cream was beside yogurt layered with hibiscus gel and almonds and frangipan cake.  A tuile gave it crunch.  The rhubarb ice cream was good and mixed with the other parts – it was overall nice.

 

After a moist towel scented with clove and anise to clean the hands a last treat of  rhubarb and lemon pâte de fruits.