I finally had the chance to visit the Mainland Inn in Harleysville, PA which re-opened in January 2015 after a 5 year hiatus. I was able to speak with the General Manager, Evan Oxenfeldt, about the re-opening; “We re-opened in one of the worst seasons for restaurants, winter. People are just coming off the holidays, it’s cold outside, no one wants to go out, yet we are doing great! The community is really happy we re-opened.”
I looked over the luscious dinner-menu and was excited when our waitress, Shannon, came over to further explain the menu in detail. It starts with a list of cold relishes which she explained as “palate cleansers before the meal”. Based on this information we chose the “shrimp and black sesame relish” as recommended.
After this delightful treat, we moved on to starters and split the spiced beef broth and pumpkin soup. Unsure what to order for our the main course I choose the “potato gnocchi, smoked sunchokes, kale, poached egg, and miso dish” – small portion, so I could save room for dessert. 
My entree arrived presenting a feast for the eyes as well as the palate, and totally satisfied me, but not too much to not order dessert though! The dessert menu was so original and tempting we decided to split both the Tartelette and the Sundae. The Tartelette consisted of: goat cheese, beet candy, mint meringue, and pine nut frozen yogurt (made in house of course!) and the Sundae consisted of: hot fudge, caramel, hazelnut and honey whipped cream.
We were very pleased with the meal, especially dessert, and even more so when Mr. Oxenfeldt made a point to come back to our table to make sure that everything was as expected. We all found the meal to be above our expectations and were pleased to hear from Mr. Oxenfeldt that everything served at the Mainland Inn is 100% organic. From the beer and wine down to the parsley garnishing each dish, each item is 100% organic. The Mainland teams up with Quarry Hill Farm right around the corner to make sure all the food is locally produced and organic.
After the meal we went down to the bar for an after dinner drink. While drinking a glass of organic wine we enjoyed viewing the artwork of the historic Mainland Inn. North Penn Art was able to frame these beautiful pictures and it really shows the history of Montgomery County. If you are looking for a truly unique experience I highly recommend visiting the Mainland Inn for a plethora of culinary treats, great service and a relaxing venue.
Hours of Operation:
Dinner:
Tuesday – Thursday: 5pm – 9pm
Friday & Saturday: 5pm – 10pm
Bar:
Open at 4pm, Tuesday – Saturday