ACRU

An interesting take on Australian cuisine from the team who created Atomix.While nothing stood out, everything was good and the price was reasonable. Probably the best thing was the no-corkage fee option on Sunday and Monday.

Excited to check out this new restaurant after spotting it on Resy. At $95/pp for a tasting menu, it seemed like a solid deal. We came on Valentine's Day weekend, and the space was small but cozy and intimate. - Sanga (sandwich) - Easily my favorite dish and also the first one served. It was unique, flavorful, and absolutely delicious. - Shrimp - Lightly battered and fried, served with tea. The texture reminded me of tempura, and I really enjoyed it. - Golden Tile & Squid - Came with fermented cabbage and broth. I barely tasted the squid, and the cabbage wasn't my favorite. - Damper Bread - Served mid-meal instead of at the beginning, which felt a bit odd. Dense but paired nicely with creamy butter. - Sea Bream & Noodles - The noodles were buttery and crunchy, which I liked, but the sea bream itself was underwhelming. - Duck - Cooked perfectly medium and paired with Korean pear, which complemented it well. Definitely one of the better dishes. - Desserts: Pavlova was served on shaved ice; it was just okay. "Golden Haytime" was their version of Golden Gaytime, an Australian ice cream but the texture was very different. Homemade Tim Tams were pretty good! I believe it was matcha flavored. Strawberry & Truffle Saint Honoré, the truffle element was interesting; I'd never had a dessert like that before.Not a fan of their cocktails or wine pairings. Overall, while there were some highlights, it's unlikely I'd return.

This review is for the tasting menu. Heard about this place because it was a James Beard 2024 semifinalist for "emerging chef" and I believe the chef worked at Atomix. I think this was a solid 4, but I'm not sure I'll come back anytime soon simply because nothing really blew me away and it wasn't food I will crave again. With that said, food was great quality, menu also was unique, and $95 felt appropriate for what we got. Ambiance: restaurant is quite small and narrow, so definitely not ideal for groups larger than 4. Even though it's a tasting menu, ambiance is quite casual: has a cozy neighborhood feel to it. There were people in jeans and sweatpants. Service was great. Food: they update the menu every few months, it's seasonal. You get the tasting menu items, but there are some items you can add a la carte, which I recommend (the portions were quite small for the add ons and not that big for the tasting menu so it was actually the right amount of food). I liked some dishes more than others. The duck was cooked a bit too raw for me and the desserts were kind of underwhelming for me personally, but some favorites were the shrimp cake, noodles (I think with clams & snails), & the goat cheese onion tart (add on - it was the best thing we had).

Acru (means raw in French) testing menu $95 is a bargain in NYC. The menu is modern twist of Australian cuisineis the first restaurant from Chef-Partner Daniel Garwood (previously Sous Chef at two Michelin-starred restaurant Atomix) All his cuisine are rich in flavor I love every single one of it, he likes to use a lotsa fat, which is fine because I love fat, but there's one that has to much cap on it even by my own standard, I can't even finished it. My suggestion is they need to give some sort of palate cleanser preferable with acid since their food is very rich in flavorWe also added couple of supplement, everything is fantastic. Good service, everyone work as a team and very seamless. Dark lit ambiance which I don't mind, and they have big section on the back.1 weird thing, went to one of their toilet and it smelled urine so bad

In lieu of searching for a resto to celebrate my friend's birthday, I stumbled upon ACRU. What intrigued me was the Australian tasting menu that they offered & with an Atomix alum on board? Boo yah, I was in and there you had me making ressies like no tomorrow.ACRU most certainly didn't disappoint. With a soft vintage decor & dim lights, this resto most certainly sets the mood with cozy vibes. From the food to the service to the atmosphere, ACRU definitely earned 5 stars in my book. The potato with scallop and uni was so well balanced and my top fav of the night, along with the bread (the bread!!!).Thank you for a fabulous night!

$95 prefix meal from an Atomix alum? I'm in.My husband accidentally booked the restaurant week meal (a steal for $60) but our party wanted the full menu and the staff were gracious enough to swap the menu for us. We added the abalone supplement for $40, which we were told could be shared between the three of us.The food overall was great - creative, interesting, and linking back to the fact that this is an Australian restaurant helmed by an Australian chef.Favorites: the golden tile fish, bread, and the duck with Korean pear.Other bites were average to good, but nothing I'd ever go out of my way for, or rave about, if that makes sense. The open faced sandwich was fun but ultimately too familiar to things we'd make at home, from texture to flavor. The surf clams and noodles were good, but also resulted in the same sentiment.The abalone supplement was quite a let down - a bit too chewy, deep fried, and overall a pass. It was one abalone, deep fried, sliced in half. If there wasn't so much breading (or more flavor to the breading?) and if the abalone wasn't so chewy, we'd have appreciated it more. Dessert was lovely, although I wish we had gotten the lamington on our menu rather than their take on a grand fir timtam; I love timtams but what arrived was more of a white chocolate KitKat bar. There was no cookie and we couldn't taste anything but white chocolate. Tasty, but not a TimTam?Their take on the pavlova was FANTASTIC texturally and so so tasty with the granita, ice cream, all of it. Hats off to them for this dessert. The ice cream bars (golden haytime) were also perfection - impossibly creamy with just enough salt.The service was kind, but we needed to request water often (maybe because of where we sat). Ambiance wise, that back room leaves a lot to be desired, although there was a nice dried floral arrangement on the wall.My chair had a loose screw or bar so I felt like it may break at any time - I should have asked for another chair but I figured it would be fine since the rest of the room was full. The coat rack kept falling over, hitting staff or guests, or the staff walking over with food... maybe that coat rack should be replaced with a wall-anchored set of hooks? The front is definitely a vibe - very date night - and the back feels like... an afterthought.Overall recommended for inventive dishes and tasty food. I'm sure it'll just keep getting better with time. A solid deal for $95pp!

My friend and I tried the tasting menu with a wine pairing. Overall the dishes are very unique - the acorn squash dish for instance has an interesting gummy quality that weirdly works with the accompanying trout. I also particularly enjoyed the Damper sauce, which while in the lighter side, the flavors played well together and I enjoyed the crispy chicken skin. The wine pairings were also so delicious. The wines had very interesting origins, which our sommelier helpfully explained. The wine pours were kind of small. But overall, I still enjoyed the wine selections offered, including the desert wine the sommelier suggested at the end.All in all, it was a nice dining experience with good food and good service. The tasting menu plus the wine pairing is definitely on the higher side, but actually fairly reasonable for similar restaurants. Would recommend for folks looking to celebrate special events

4.5 rounding to 5. ACRU is a dimly lit, cozy space with a pre fixe menu. The staff is welcoming and the kitchen has quite a few Aussies so you know the meal's going to be creative. Suitable place for a casual hangout or special occasion. Favorites--Monkfish liver soup was easy to eat and great balance of creaminess and heartiness!The dish with salmon was a fantastic take on an elevated Aussie breakfast. Nits --The long table is way too short. All four of our thighs were squished against it. It'd be great to get some risers for that. Tim tam dessert was much too sweet. A little bit too much potato in the scalloped potato with uni appetizer.

Remember when everyone in NYC lost their marbles over Australian coffee and cuisine ~10 years back? Yeah, I didn't get the hype either. But I can get behind this Aussie spot.Full disclosure: This was a semi-surprise dinner for me, so I didn't actually know what I was getting into--just that this was a brand new, tasting menu experience for under $100. Cool. Or "ripper", as they say Down Under.- Amuse Bouche: Scalloped Potato. Tasty but the uni garnish was sort of wasted, IMO- Tomato: My favorite course. The trout was perfectly cooked, and the complex umami of tomatoes cooked with care shone through the frozen cabbage strips (which they call cabbage ice, for some reason)- Golden Tile: A fun and interesting way to present this under-the-radar fish, in that it's served with chicken skin and a sheet of pork lard on top, giving it a much meatier, juicier flavor than any fish has any right to have- Damper + Carrot: Damper is Aussie soda bread with the flavor of sourdough. I also liked the kale butter it was served with. They should've kept offering more pieces of this because the Carrot course, which was served with it, was quite saucy. Speaking of which, I don't know why they call the other course "Carrot", when the carrot pieces are tiny and dehydrated, and the main flavor driver is the monkfish liver. The accompanying squid noodles were nice too.- Lamb: The most disappointing course and an anti-climactic end to what was otherwise a stellar savory experience. I wish fine dining restaurants would stop trying to wedge a meat course in their menus, because they always follow the same format of lackluster filet with some generic jus and some bland side(s). Such was the case here, with two fine but forgettable (and small) cuts of lamb neck and lamb shoulder, accompanied by the obligatory gravy and pureed eggplant. Yawn.- (Add-on) Goat cheese tart: The menu promised makgeolli, but if you're looking to be wowed by some Korean-meets-Australian dairy, you're going to be disappointed. There was no makgeolli flavor to be found in either the onions or the cheese. I also didn't love that the tart was served half cut, which was likely for aesthetic reasons but made me feel ripped off. And trust me, the half you get isn't big enough to justify $20.Thankfully, ACRU redeemed itself with its trio of desserts. Eat the Pavlova and Golden Haytime (a play on Aussie brand "Golden Gaytime") popsicle together, as they both feature frozen elements. Save the delectable Figleaf Lamington for last if you love soft, spongey cake and dessicated coconut. I remember stuffing my face with lamingtons when I was in Sydney last year, so having this beautiful green version was the perfect finish.We chatted with Chef Daniel Garwood for a bit afterward, and it was lovely to hear his thoughts and inspirations for the menu, as well as get a preview of other dishes he was working on.Come here before the NYC hype machine catches up (along with Atomix pedigree compound interest), and the price rises 3x.

Tried out this new restaurant and didn't have too high of a hope but ended up loving every single dishes! Took one star off because it was my friend's birthday and she emailed the restaurant prior but they still didn't mention anything so she left feeling a bit sad! Food was so good and tasting menu is definitely enough food, make sure dress accordingly so you can eat!