An Invitation for some local French Food

We were lucky enough to be invited to the 1^st anniversary party of the Angel branch of Cote a few weeks ago.

It was a great fun night and a chance to meet the guys behind this ever growing chain of French Bistro style neighborhood restaurants.

At the end of the night we were lucky enough to be given a very generous voucher so we could come back and sample their delicious fare and see how performed on a normal night.

So a couple of Saturdays later we rocked up to the same Angel branch to see if we could grab a last minute table. Maybe we should have reserved one before, but luckily we turned up just in time to grab a table straight way, which was just as well as the restaurant was pumping and quite a few couples turned up a few minutes after us. Phew.

As we had tried quite a few of the starters at the party a few weeks before, we opted to share the charcuterie board, hey who doesn’t like a good selection of cold cuts.

A mixed board of Jambon de Savole, a saucosson sex, a quenelle of duck rillettes with toasted bread came to us soon after.

The jambon was deliciously salted, the meaty sausage firm and tasty, the duck rillettes went well with the toasted bread. A fine way to start our meal.

For mains I opted for a chargrilled half of Breton Poulet, the famed Brittany reared corn fed chicken, served with frittes and a selection of sauces. I opted for the wild mushroom.

My dining partner went for a medium rare sirloin steak, again with frittes and a béarnaise sauce this time.

The chicken was perfectly cooked, the breast was still juicy and the skin crispy and had some nice grill marks on it. The frittes were crispy and salty, just how I like them. The let down was the mushroom sauce, it was seasoned ok, but very watery and not a good addition at all. Shame.

The steak was cooked to a nice medium rare, again on the grill and with good markings. I do love a good steak with criss-cross marks.

The béarnaise sauce was good, had a nice hint of tarragon, but sadly was not as good as mine. But I am always biased towards my own.

I’m not really a pudding man these days, but we had to try some more of their chocolate mousse. We’d had a small taster at the party a few weeks before, and had to have some one.

I used to make a fine mousse at Café Boheme oh so many years ago, it was rich velvety, smooth and with a heavy hit of chocolate. This was as good as that and was a real pleasure to eat. Ohh the memories.

We had also drunk a bottle of good Pinot Noir during the night and I think we stayed longer than most people did but we were enjoying ourselves so much and the staff never harried us, which I liked.

Been to far to many places recently that as soon as your meal is end the bill is given to you and the door opened for you to leave even before you had put your coat on.

Cote are doing what many other chains do not, is be a true local and can’t say I’ve visited the others but the Angel branch was full of locals who were chatting with the waiters and staff. Nice.

Definitely one for the mother in law when she comes to stay next summer.

I apologise for the naff photos, but it was very moody and romantic in Cote that night.