Our suppliers make us what we are, a Bistro serving very seasonal, very local ingredients that are a notch or two above more mass produced produce that often arrives frozen or from a far fetched clime.
Sometimes this means paying a little bit more for our ingredients but we think supporting local business and using ingredients that just taste better is what it’s all about.
Stewart Walton and his team take wood that no one else wants and bring it back to life creating extraordinary furniture and objects. He has helped us turn a lot of our vision of creating a ‘californian beach shack hotel’ into reality.
Todd and his family have been farming in these parts for many, many generations. They have a single minded passion to only supply meat that is the best it can be, sourced locally and butchered and conditioned to ensure it is about the best darn meat you can imagine on a plate.
They don’t have a shop but supply some of the best restaurants around and have a stall in a number of farmers markets in London.
Jamie started life as a delivery boy for his village butchers and hasn’t looked back. Almost a local institution, the queues outside his butchers on a Saturday were legendary and a testament to the quality of his meat and the passion of his welcome.
Sadly his butchers in Winchelsea is no more, but he still supplies us and very lucky we are too.
Running the market at the fish wharf in Rye he supplies us with our spanking fresh fish we love to serve. Frankly we doubt you can buy fresher and his shop within the market is justifiably famous.
If the weather’s not good supplies can be limited as all the boats that land here are small but normally there is something glistening on the ice that is a revelation and a million miles away from what you can buy elsewhere.
Everything is highly seasonal so don’t expect mackerel in the winter, but eating with the seasons is so rewarding and most importantly so delicious too.
We thought about making bread ourselves but when it’s this good we thought really what’s the point. The Lighthouse is a small wholesale bakery (they run a tremendous Bakery School too) using traditional methods, long fermentations and hand mould every loaf by hand.
We love their Sourdoughs, Levains and Puglese’s. But best of all we love the fact they never use chemicals or artificial ingredients and deliver their beautifully crafted bread fresh to us every day.
Bret’s a true food hero, with a shop in Rye and network of farmers and local growers that supply him with some of the best local produce you can buy.
The quality and range is inspiring as is his passion for sourcing the best. We love his commitment and are proud to support the many local farmers that supply us through him.
Clive is a great local photographer and some of his images are on our website. He has a gallery in Rye on the High Street and is definitely worth popping into when you come and stay. He can be contacted here also:
