Arbor Restaurant The Green House Hotel Grove Road Bournemouth 28th April 2018

The Arbor is a 2 AA rosette restaurant and heading up the team is Head Chef Andy Hilton, who uses local and sustainable ingredients.   The restaurant is open all day, offering everything from coffee and pastries, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner.

I contacted The Arbor regarding my food allergies and suitability of their current vegan dishes, which were all fine apart from soy in the spring roll dish.   Chef suggested he prepare a separate soy free version of the dish specially for me, now that is what I call customer service.

I was impressed to find clearly labelled vegan options on the menu, not some token gesture, but well thought out creative dishes, with a brief description to wet the appetite.

Equally as impressive was the clear labelling of vegan friendly wines and a good selection of wines too, how I wish other places would follow suit.

We arrived on the night and had a drink in the cosy bar and were then shown through to the lovely circular dining room, with a lovely table in the window.   I ordered a bottle of the Domaine de Bellemare Picpoul de Pinet, a favourite wine of mine and this was a cracker, certainly worth trying if ever on a wine list.

My starter of crispy spring roll, coconut and lemongrass broth with satay sauce, was a picture on a plate with such beautiful presentation.   The flavours were gorgeous, with a hint of chilli in a very light broth, the crunch of peanuts and packed with flavour, I could not fault the dish.

Main course was lemon and spinach falafel, chickpea tagine and sundried tomato houmous and as the photos show, an equally gorgeous looking plate of food as the starter.   The flavours married so well together, perfect spicing in the tagine, the warmth of cinnamon, creamy houmous and delicious chargrilled vegetables made for a fabulous dish.

I could not resist gooseberry crumble, gooseberry sorbet and toasted granola for dessert and I was not disappointed, it was a perfect end to a perfect meal.

Dinner at The Arbor is the best meal I have eaten in a long long time and knocked into a cocked hat everywhere I have dined recently, including lunch at one Michelin Star Northcote Manor at Langho.  Andy Hilton and his team are producing such interesting vegan dishes, that diners around us were choosing them, because they sound so fantastic.   I wish The Arbor was near home, I would be a regular visitor, especially as they also host vegan tasting menu evenings, with matching wines.

The Arbor Restaurant is highly recommended.