Harte's Bar & Grill

Barry Liscombe doesn’t write menus: he composes them.

The menus are not just compositionally perfect, they are also conducted by a true maestro of the art form. Even the hartes@home menus sing with a series of grace notes – black pudding and ham hock terrine with confit tomato to set the scene, then the build up to Clare Island teriyaki salmon with horseradish and turnip purée, before the crescendo of a white chocolate mousse with espresso and Malteser rouses us all to our feet, demanding an encore.

It’s no simple feat to this so well, to be able to find the right rhythm and the correct pitch in difficult circumstances. You need maturity, a cool head, and a good team, and Mr Liscombe has all of those in his arsenal in Harte’s. His cooking has made Kildare town into a destination for food lovers from miles around, fussy folk who want to enjoy those Harte’s signature dishes one more time: the classic black pudding Scotch egg with curried celeri remoulade; the stunning Harte’s burger with cos lettuce and Crozier Blue béarnaise (who else would go to so much trouble and expense to put a blue cheese bearnaise of that pedigree on the menu?); the Cajun roast cauliflower steak with chilli sin carne.

As the professionals say, Mr Liscombe’s food is marvellously clean, and eats beautifully. We like to think that he is a chef who enjoys perfect pitch: the guy doesn’t know how to hit a wrong note, which means we all ❤️ Harte’s.