The restaurant and bar at the Holiday Inn in Hay Street opens for breakfast, lunch and dinner serving guests of the hotel as well as passers-by looking for a bite to eat, a coffee, or a drink. The décor with its emphasis on metal and stone is eye catching and the furniture a good mix of comfortable chairs, booths and sofas.

Breakfast covers the expected gamut of dishes and on our recent visit both the Eggs Benedict and a serve of fried eggs and tomatoes hit the spot. The first, well poached eggs, sitting on juicy ham and topped with creamy Hollandaise was all you would expect – well cooked and satisfying.

The fried eggs had a lovely ooze to them and the tomatoes were excellent – they actually tasted like tomatoes which in these days of large, watery fruit is sometimes hard to find – these were juicy, full of flavour and nicely cooked.

Coffee and fresh juice accompanied the food and also met expectations.

We have dropped in quite often for a drink as well – not on this breakfast occasion however – and found a small but well-structured wine list, and a nice range of beers both draft and packaged.

The food for lunch and dinner covers shared and larger plates – with pizza, crisped prawns and smoked aioli, grilled salmon, chicken parmi, pasta, steak, ribs and the like – well turned out pub style food.

Ivy and Jack is a very inviting hotel dining room – friendly service, well rounded food and drinks selection, and an elegant and comfortable space looking out onto Hay Street.