There are several reasons I like eating at Cote: you know what you’re going to get, the food and service levels are consistent, and it’s reasonably priced. I’ve already reviewed Cote in: “Charlotte Street”:https://www.silvertraveladvisor.com/review/restaurant/148704-review-cote-brasserie-charlotte-street, “Kensington”:https://www.silvertraveladvisor.com/review/restaurant/167627-review-cote-bistro-kensington, “Covent Garden”:https://www.silvertraveladvisor.com/review/restaurant/168066-review-cote-brasserie-covent-garden, and “St Martin’s Lane”:https://www.silvertraveladvisor.com/review/restaurant/196595-review-cote-brasserie-st-martins-lane, and outside London, “Winchester”:https://www.silvertraveladvisor.com/review/restaurant/196001-review-cote-brasserie-winchester. However, I’d not been to the “Marylebone”:https://www.cote.co.uk/restaurant/marylebone/ branch, but it was suggested by a friend as a good location to meet for lunch.
It’s a large restaurant and our table was ready for our reservation at 1pm. For those unfamiliar with Cote, there is always a prixe fixe “menu”:https://www.cote.co.uk/restaurant/marylebone/menus/, which at Marylebone was 2 courses for £16.95 or 3 for £20.95.
However, we all chose off the a la carte menu which is full of French classics. Our friend chose a prawn gratinee, whilst I shared a simple but delicious fourgasse with my partner (it’s their signature Provencal leaf-shaped garlic bread). As the weather was still too mild for their iconic beef bourguignon, I chose another favourite, fish parmentier (or as we would say, fish pie). The others chose confit pork belly served with a hefty portion of gratinee potatoes and lamb loin chops served with a warm salad of petit pois and shallots and Roquefort butter.
I rarely eat dessert, but Cote does my two favourites: chocolate mousse and tart au citron, which were both only available on the prix fixe menu. However, this wasn’t a problem, and I settled for the citrus tart which came with a blob of cream and fresh raspberry whilst our friend had the praline crepe.
Tap water is automatically and liberally provided in their stone, swing top bottles. With a bottle of Cremant Bourgogne followed by a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc, our bill came to £142 with service.
As the restaurant wasn’t busy, we felt no compulsion to leave our table and spent a lovely afternoon chatting and catching up.
