The Haven Bar & Restaurant

The 2012 edition of The List's Eating & Drinking Guide is out now – only £5.95 (+p&p).

This review is taken from the current (2012) edition.

Set on Cellardyke’s scenic harbour, you can almost see the Haven having once been the well-worn haunt of smugglers, sailors and fishermen. While it still has the reassuringly comfortable air of an old-fashioned public house, the décor and dining options suggest a more gentrified target market nowadays. The upstairs bar and lounge is snug but comfortable, and the menu offers a similarly warming take on old pub food favourites. The sautéed squid is served with a cheek-pinching chilli and lemon dressing and the beer battered haddock is slightly oily but otherwise fresh and flaky. Haddock and leek chowder, oven-steamed sea bass fillets with tomato salad and new potatoes and a hearty brunch of minute steak, Stornoway black pudding and smoky bacon all add to a menu that’s equally confident at sea or in the field.

• High point: Quality pub food by the water
• Low point: Some of the tables are a little low

Listed in The Larder – in the shops now or buy online.

Set right beside Cellardyke’s old stone harbour, the Haven’s local reputation goes from strength to strength with a friendly welcome, summer barbecues, live music nights and, centrally, a strong line-up of better-than-average pub grub featuring dishes such as chowder, home-made chicken liver pate, scallops with potato rosti and vegetarian options including mushroom and beluga lentil moussaka. Children and Coastal-Path walkers are also made to feel welcome.