We visited Providence, RI as part of
a short trip to New England and enjoyed the historic buildings of the town
and the tree-lined campus of Brown University. There is no shortage of
well-reviewed restaurants and hip-looking bistros in Providence. In early
July the town was pretty quiet too, with the university year over and the
lecturers and students who clearly make up an important part of the community
on vacation. So when we looked for a good seafood restaurant, we managed to
reserve a table at Hemenway's ( http://www.hemenwaysrestaurant.com/ ) on short notice.
The setting is great, with
a glass front that overlooks the river (on which a gondolier,
complete with stripy T shirt, ferries passengers). There is also seating
on the terrace facing the street, but we opted for a booth and the air
conditioning indoors. Service was excellent. All the staff we dealt with
were well-informed, friendly and efficient - clearly full-time professionals.
We started with the fresh oysters (3
local varieties), scallops with scallions, wrapped in bacon and pan-fried
calamari. All 3 dishes were excellent. The scallops had a wonderful sweet
flavour, complemented by the bacon and a soy-ginger dipping sauce. The (very
large) portion of calamari was crumbed and fried, but redeemed from
ordinariness by the peppers that were fried with it.
For the main course, our waitress had
told us that Chef had made the pasta of the day because he wanted to do
something light, in keeping with the warm weather. It was a linguine with a
delicate sauce of seafood and herbs, tossed in olive oil, and absolutely
delicious. We also had a seafood pasta (linguine in a
seafood-packed tomato sauce) and a seafood paella (also chock-full of seafood
and pieces of chorizo). Our only regret was that we were too full to finish our
mains.
Hemenways is at 121 South Main
Street, Providence, RI, telephone 401 351 8570.
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