Haven mavens.

Tis a gloomy, gray, wet day in Boston.  Brunch with a friend was just what I needed!  Susie and I hit up The Haven, a new eatery and Scottish pub in Jamaica Plain.  The ambiance was terrific and the decor lent a rustic feel to the dining room.  Bouquets of thistle peppered the weathered wood tables and jugs of water with old fashioned bottle stoppers lined the bar.  Our waiters were very friendly and, bless them, brought us a plate of oatcakes and salted butter.

Is this real life?

We also ordered hot teas, coffees and water to sip while we perused the menu.  For a shared starter, we settled on the fresh fruit plate with maple cream.

Hmmm...

The maple cream was saltier than it was sweet: think maple bacon.  I loved it on its own, but Susie and I agreed that there was something off about salting sweet fruits.  Fruit connoisseurs that we are, we were also disappointed by the pale cantaloupe and dry pineapple.  Sads.

"Wee Folk"!

We snacked on the fruits and settled on our mains.  Susie and I were both seduced by the Vegetarian Special: a quiche stuffed with tomatoes, seasoned with tarragon and served alongside a mesclun green salad.  We were both HONGRAY for them, but the waiter took forever.  And ever. And ever.  To come back for us.  To his credit, it was nice to enjoy a leisurely chat with a friend without being pestered by an overeager waiter, but we were starving!  When we arrived at Haven, we were the only party seated at a table (there were a few people at the bar); at this point, the dining room was starting to fill up.  We finally flagged down the waiter and ordered the quiches. 

Five minutes later, our server came back and broke the terrible news that there was only ONE quiche left.  Susie and I made the executive decision to share the plate and order more if necessary.  We were perturbed, as we would have both been able to enjoy a whole quiche of our own had the waiter taken our orders in a timely manner.  Plus, he offered it as the special- wouldn't it have made sense to confirm its availability before the seduction of our taste buds?  Grumble.  The good news was that the quiche came relatively quickly and it was breathtaking.

I'm getting hungry again just looking at this.

It was definitely enough food for the both of us.

The greens were delectably dressed in some manner of salted lemon vinaigrette.

When we were finished, we chatted some more... and some more...and eventually had to call for the waiter again so we could pay.  I'm down with hands-off European service on a rainy Sunday when I have no agenda or plans, but I would have been very annoyed if I had been on any sort of schedule.

Bottom line: terrific food with some service kinks to iron out.  I will go back to Haven because the eats were great and I love to see a local restaurant do well.  They won't thrive, however, if they provide the lackluster service we received today to many other patrons.  That said, I really am very appetitious (just let it happen) after sorting through my pictures and thinking about the food: it was so delicious.