Harry's Recommends: A Perfect Autumn Evening Menu
If you're looking for a seasonal restaurant East Sussex regulars actually trust for an autumn evening, this is how we'd suggest ordering tonight. Not a fixed menu, more a route through the à la carte, built around what Matthew and the kitchen have found this week.
Starting with something warm
Skip the cold plates tonight. Save the seafood platter for a warmer evening and let something hot open the meal instead.
A bowl of something rich works best here. Onion soup with a proper cap of melted cheese, or a plate of something braised and small enough to be a starter but generous enough to actually satisfy. The kind of dish that makes you glad you got here early rather than rushing straight to the main.
A few things we'd steer you toward on a proper autumn night:
Anything involving mushrooms, which are having a moment this season
A warm salad rather than a cold one
Something with a bit of char from the kitchen, if it's on
The seasonal main course
This is where Harry's genuinely earns the "seasonal dining recommendation Sussex coast" reputation, and it's worth explaining why.
Steak frites remains the honest, reliable choice on any evening, and it doesn't need dressing up to be right. But if there's a shared main on the specials board tonight, built around game, root vegetables, or something slow-cooked, take it. Sharing plates at Harry's aren't a gimmick. They're the way Matthew genuinely prefers to cook when the ingredient deserves the attention.
A glass to match
You don't need to know wine to eat well here, and nobody at Harry's will make you feel like you should.
For an autumn evening, we'd point you toward something with a bit of weight to it, a red that can stand up to braised or roasted flavours without overwhelming them. If you're leaning toward the seafood side of the menu instead, a crisp white still does the job beautifully, even in October.
Finishing with pudding
French puddings were never meant to be complicated, and ours aren't.
Whatever's in season carries the dessert menu at this time of year: baked fruit, something with a bit of spice, and a scoop of good ice cream alongside. No towers, no unnecessary flourish. Just the sort of pudding you'd actually want at the end of a proper meal, which is rather the whole idea behind the honesty of great cooking Harry built this place on in the first place.
Book your autumn evening
The Guardian's Grace Dent called dinner here "a startlingly good dinner," and Country Life went further, calling it "the best dinner we've ever had." We're proud of both, but honestly, an autumn evening at Harry's is best judged by you, at the table, with the windows going dark over the dunes.
Have a browse through the full Menus to see what else Matthew's kitchen is doing this season, then Book a Table directly with us. We always prefer that to a third-party platform, if only because it means we know exactly who's coming through the door.
We'll have the lights low and something good on the specials board.
