Irvine's Harbour Arts Centre hosts both visual and performing arts, plus a lot of community and child-friendly workshops. The adjoining Hac Bar now seems to have established itself as an elegant bistro and bar.
On a visit up north, I had already taken mother to Small Talk, and if you are a big soup fan like mother then Small Talk still wins as it is three soups of the day there, versus one everywhere else, including the Hac Bar! Nevertheless, I felt the need to ring the changes, and had my sister drop us off outside the Ship Inn (didn't fancy it!) and we ended up here.
Where Hac Bar wins over Small Talk is in the extensive window views towards the harbour (!), a much larger and less crowded space dining space, a touch of modern elegance, plus Hac Bar serves craft beers and cocktails if that is your thing. This is daytime to evening venue.
Vegetarians such as myself are well catered for with at least half a dozen interesting options clearly marked on the menu, and the manager also advised that the chicken curry could be made with quorn. I asked which of the vegetarian dishes were made fresh, and was told all of them apart from the lasagne.
Mother went for the tomato and basil soup, which she finished. The bread that came with it looked to be bog standard supermarket brown (might have been toasted) and was left untouched. As my main was a bit dry, I ended up having them bring me the soup as well. I am not a huge fan of tomato soup as I find it too acidic and the soup here did nothing to change my mind and was in no way outstanding, only OK. (see photo)
I went for the goats cheese burger, which was really more of a stack of two rounds of grilled cheese garnished with roasted peppers and onions in a brioche bun. It was served on a board with fries and coleslaw (see photo) The impressive appearance of my main alone made me glad I had come to Hac Bar! Not having had goat's cheese in a while, I enjoyed my meal. If we are being critical, I would have preferred less cheese and more roast veg or salad in the bun. The brioche was pleasantly tender, however if my dining companion had been someone I was trying to impress, it could have done with being a lot more structurally sound as eating became a bit messy! Coleslaw was OK, the fries came attractively served in a wire basket. However, fries are 'fake food' in my book - I only nibbled a few and next time I would try and swap these for something a bit more wholesome. I did find the meal just a bit dry which I mentioned to the staff and asked for some soup. I was brought a full bowl without bread, as I asked, and this was billed as 'Kid's Soup £2' rather than the full whack, which was a nice touch.
The staff were all excellent. I really enjoyed the relaxed, elegant charm of the Hac Bar and would definitely eat here again.
(Note: Wasn't impressed with the rather derivative gallery exhibtions - the jewelry and other crafts available to buy were more to my tastes. However, I have seem some poignant work here with a strong local connection to the local landscape, history, culture and sometimes with a dash of gritty realism and working class culture!) read more