“ Return visit - not disappointed ”, “ Pleasantly surprised ”, “. Who needs Michelin stars ( and prices !) when you can enjoy a Hachette eating experience ” these are just some of the comments left by customers on tripadvisor .

Hachette Bistro is celebrating their first six months trading and they are delighted with the response from customers local and from further afield . After a lot of hard work restoring the grand Edwardian building and fitting out the state of the art kitchens and assembling a top team . They now enjoy extremely busy Sundays ( where booking is essential ) and a lively trade throughout the week .

The quality of the Hachette food is outstanding from the very best fish and chips with homemade tartar sauce to a divine homemade cheesecake , this is top Michelin quality food , right here in Felixstowe .

However it has been a lot of hard work , I met up with James Poole / Director and he said

“ I remember being outside the restaurant in the summer whilst still renovating and hearing quite a few locals make the comment about how this place wouldn ’ t last long , I never reacted but deep down it made me more passionate to prove them wrong .

This building has a bad history and I knew we was always going to find it difficult to make it a success but one thing people can never ignore , is amazing food .

The most important thing was to find a top chef and when I met Liam Oakenfull for the first time I knew he was the man for the job !.

Customers from all over Suffolk

We hit off an instant friendship and he was very keen to invest into the business and become a partner in the business , knowing I needed him to be 100 % committed to the project I gratefully accepted and now we work together harmoniously , well sometimes !...

We have now been trading for 6 months and although we had a slow start , the Bistro is now becoming very popular , not only for locals but from people all over Suffolk .

Recent rapid growth has enabled us to take on yet another 2 star standard pastry chef “ Richard Castle ” who has a decade of experience at Seckford Hall .

Some of the finest chefs in the area

Richard has always been behind the scenes making our desserts but he now finally joins us full time , after much persuasion !. He joins our current head chef Liam Oakenfull and another recent acquisition Norman Ball , who is also 2 star rosette standard who worked alongside Liam at Seckford hall for 8 years before a long stint at Jimmy ’ s Farm .

The dream team in the kitchen is now complete and we are proud to boast some of the finest chefs in the area working at the bistro . It ’ s an honor to work with chefs of this caliber and seeing the food that is produced day in day out , I knew even after a slow start that this restaurant would eventually become a success ,

the food is simply too good to ignore and I firmly believe in a couple of years this restaurant will be up there with some of the finest in Suffolk , we are currently gearing up for a busy summer and are planning on investing a huge amount of money into the exterior of the whole building which will have a massive impact on the overall image of the beautiful Felixstowe seafront ”.

Hachette Bistro is very busy on weekends and we would firmly advise on booking in advance to avoid disappointment , especially Sundays where sometimes we are fully booked a week in advance . To make a booking please call the reservations team on 01394 547 257 .