I had been to Harbinger once before on my first trip to Des Moines Metro opera and we tried to go last year, but they had a power outage as we arrived, and we had to dine elsewhere. We returned this year and while temps were close to 100 outside, the A/C was working fine, and the power was ON!
We sat down and ordered the TOM YUM MARGARITA with Blanco tequila, Galangal, Lemongrass, Lime, Lime leaf and Thai Chili which packed a punch with alcohol and its yummy spice rim as well. We loved the smooth tequila with the hints of spice. We moved on to a bottle of Verdicchio di Matelica "le Salse" from Belisario which was great with all our veggie dishes as harbinger does specialize in that!
Our servers Grace & Mustafa were superb. Grace oozed excitement and was a truly bubbly personality helping us with choices at every move and Mustafa warned us not to miss certain dishes. There were many to choose from and we opted to pick the ones we wanted rather than go with a heavier tasting menu which had scallops and wagyu as well as all the veggie dishes.
We chose several dishes to share to start and GREEN BEANS TEMPURA were the first to arrive (all fotos on FB) with a light batter, fried to perfection sprinkled with prawn dust and chili oil and served with an XO mayo dipping sauce--a must for anybody coming here. HAKUREI TURNIPS are served shaved raw and cooked in this quasi-salad with local miso, puffed rice, a smoked confit egg yolk (think rich aioli), pickled ginger and toasted nori powder and was a perfect dish in the intense heat. The Steamed Bun with FRIED CHICKEN, Yuzu Cherry BBQ sauce and pickled pepper was nice, but the least exciting dish. SALT CRUSTED KOHLRABI was also shaved and grilled and then glazed with wild black-raspberry vinegar and came with compressed beets and lemon thyme; another hit dish in the heat and really proves how amazing veggies can be!
FARM CARROTS have been on the menu since the beginning but in various different personalities and now are served soured (pickled carrot coins) with a Lemongrass Pork Sausage (not everything is totally vegetarian) with crispy shallots and cilantro. The dish has weight because of the sausage with its maple-y Asian BBQ flavors, but the use of carrots still keeps this dish on every menu. Mustafa said we had to order the SUMMER SQUASH FRITTERS and we were really glad we did as these were served with Mohinga Mayo (a super kick-ass spice) and a Burnese crunch made from crunchy edamame, fava (horse beans), pumpkin seeds, fried garlic and toasted sesame! They were small cylindrical discs rather than the flat latke-like fritters we know and packed a punch!
At this time, we moved on to red wine and had a glass of the Luigi Giordano Barolo which Mustafa suggested and was just right with our last savory dishes, the final one being CHICKEN ROULADE stuffed with OYSTER Mushroom sausage, roasted potato, pickled turnips, yuzu ginger puree and parsley puree. We liked the dish, but the description did say CRISPY SKIN which seemed to be missing.
Dessert was a truly novel Late Spring SNAP PEA CAKE with Calamansi Butter cream and Toasted Pistachios. It reminded me of a carrot cake (but with peas!) with a very rich icing, and while it was nice, I could only eat a couple bites as I am not a big icing fan.
We loved everything and had a great time and were so happy the power held out this time. Can't wait to return again!!
