A Seasonal French Treat at Cote Brasserie Market Place
Don’t look down your nose at Cote Brasserie. It might be part of a big chain but they seem to have created a franchise that works really well. The French brasserie food they serve at Cote is consistently good, for a very reasonable price and it’s a very good experience.
Every single Cote has independent management. Although they have the same menu, they make their own buying decisions and each Chef puts their own spin on the dishes they serve.
At the Market Place branch in Oxford Circus, the restaurant is quite large and spacious and very comfrotable for casual dining. The staff are polite, friendly and gracious and through the evening, we find out that they are quite passionate about the food and wine offerings at Cote.
Christmas menu at Cote Brasserie
Our visit was to try the Christmas Menu, 3 courses for £34.95. There are 5 choices for the starters, mains and dessert.
For starters, it’s a classic Baked Crotin, Loire Vally goats cheese served warm with salad, walnuts, golden raisins and croutons. Perfectly melty cheese and a nicely dressed salad. The other starter of breadcrumbed calamari, not so French but done very well and a very big portion.
There is quite a choice of wines on the Cote menu. Our waiter is studying to be a sommelier and was very helpful in choosing the wines to go with our choices. He chose this delicious bottle of red for the main course, Chorey Les Beaune 2015 from Domaine Mallard.
Our choices for main course were the Duck Confit a l’orange and Steak Frites, 10oz Sirloin. I love the way the French confit duck, crispy skin, moist flesh and served with these crispy potatoes. The Steak was served medium rare as requested with a nice char on the outside.
On the Christmas menu, the choice of puddings are, Warms chocolate fondant with vanilla ice cream, Tarte au Citron, Classic Creme Brulee, Tarte fine de pomme( apple tart) and a Buche de noel (Chocolate log). Instead of us ordering one each, they wanted us to try their desserts. We thought we’d get a little taster of each but we got full blown portions.
We were blown away. At most restaurants, they tend to do one or two really well but here, every single one was so good. We did have favourites, the creme caramel was softly set, creamy and just luscious (from the main menu). The creme brulee and apple tart were just perfectly executed.
As I said at the beginning, the food here at Cote is very well done. I have had worse at fine dining restaurants.
This was a very enjoyable meal, fabulous food and extremely good service from the team at Cote Brasserie Market Place. It was my friend’s first time at Cote and she was so impressed that she booked in to return that weekend. A new fan!
I highly recommend Cote for fab French Brasserie comfort food in London. I’d be popping in again soon, just for that creme caramel. Find your nearest Cote here: https://www.cote.co.uk/
Cote Brasserie
Portland House,
4 Great Portland Street,
London W1W 8QJ
020 7462 0044
EatCookExplore was a guest of Cote Brasserie
