CRU Review Release, 18th May 2006

With the launch of CRU’s new website, critics and customers alike are now able to blog their comments – the good AND the bad – for everyone to see. As one of the first amongst London restaurants, the website features wine, food and review blog areas, where you can post your comments and ask questions of Kate Thal, CRU’s wine expert, and Kathy Goddard, the head chef.

Explains Brendan Murdock, proprietor of CRU Restaurant & Wine Bar; “I know most restaurants aren’t that keen to discuss the positives and the negatives with their customers, but we believe that without a little bravery and a lot of transparency nothing changes. We want our customers to be able to interact with us after they leave. We often find both our local and overseas customers email us with comments, requests for recipes etc. hence the idea to build a blog forum. By offering our customers a blog forum, the feedback enables us to ensure that our goal of providing the perfect wine and dining experience is being delivered.”

CRU has established itself as a firm local favourite. Each month the CRU newsletter is distributed to regulars, highlighting local art exhibitions, theatre and venues of interest. Says Brendan; “ We are being inundated with events to incorporate in the newsletter, so we decided to incorporate this into the new CRU website. Now any gallery space, music venue or theatre can post their upcoming events on the CRU website which now features an interactive events calendar.”

Summer menus at CRU

Coinciding with the new website is the launch of the new Spring/Summer menu. Reflecting the increasingly popular direction CRU’s kitchen has taken since the arrival of Kathy in 2003, the new menu offers a solid selection of sharing platters both hot & cold made with quality and mostly organic ingredients. Menu highlights include….

Deep fried courgette flower with lemon, Italian aubergine stew, shots of white gazpacho served with a broad bean, artichoke & thyme salad

Grilled lamb cutlets with Gremolata, organic rib-eye steak with horseradish butter, morcilla with pinenuts served with a grilled fennel & olive salad

Linguini with crab, chilli & smoked garlic, oven baked whole mackerel, with tomato herb salad & chips.

Island wines

For the summer, CRU is focusing on Island wines; gems that evoke summer holidays and escape from the city. Mainly concentrating on the Mediterranean, CRU brings you a host of delicious, unusual wines. Like the legendary character of the island dwellers themselves – Sardinia, Corsica and Sicily are all to a great or lesser extent known for their fiercely proud and often rather strange inhabitants - these are all ruggedly individual. Most of these wines are not often seen on wine lists so don’t miss the opportunity to get into the spirit of island life.

But don’t just take our word for it – we would be delighted to invite you to sample the new menu and meet our staff and of course…to blog any comments you may have on our website.

~ENDS~