Eastbourne restaurant rated the best place to eat in the town
and live on Freeview channel 276
Cru in Hyde Gardens, which was started by Hardy Ovaisi and Jordan Taylor back in 2016, has a 5/5 rating on Tripadvisor from 403 reviews.
The town centre restaurant boasts a ‘carefully selected’ wine list with an ever-changing seasonal menu.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdMr Ovaisi said: “Obviously it is nice to be number one, it is a nice thing to have and it is nice to have the recognition for what you do, but it is not the be-all and end-all.
“What’s important to us is keeping customers happy and keeping the regulars coming back and keeping our own standards high.”
Mr Ovaisi, who has lived in the town since he was four, also spoke about Cru’s style.
He said: “There’s a misconception that we are fine dining. We do good food which starts with good produce, so sourcing really good produce, locally where we can, and then cooking it in a way that the produce sings, just elevating what we have already purchased.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad"We dry age all of our own steaks over here [at Levels Bottle Shop in Compton Street]. We take control of the whole process, we buy whole joints of beef that we inspect. We go through hundreds of loins to pick the ones we want. The butcher that we use, who supplies our loins of beef, they also supply Buckingham Palace, Gordon Ramsay’s restaurants, they supply Tom Kerridge’s restaurants.
"We get really good quality products, have a really good, talented team of chefs who appreciate working with nice produce, we have a big wine selection - but it is informal dining, it is fun, there is nice music on, we don’t dress up, it looks like we are on a night out with the customers as well."
On social media the couple, who also run Levels Bottle Shop in Compton Street, said 2022 was the restaurant’s busiest ever year.
They added: “We’ve had a little spruce up (the place looked like a bomb had gone off in it after New Year’s Eve!) and put together a tasty new menu to tempt you all out and kick those January blues to the kerb.”