Cote Brighton

Restaurant

Cote
115-116 Church Street
(Opposite The Dome)
Brighton BN1 1UP
Tel: 01273 687541

Website Cote

Overview

The Cote chain, which offer "simple freshly prepared French food at value for money prices", recently (two weeks ago) opened a new restaurant in Brighton.

Eva and I decided to test it out last Sunday evening.

Ambience

Cote is a lively, buzzing, airy bar and bistro. It has ample space, comfortable unpretentious seating/tables and a welcoming atmosphere. It also has a very pleasant outside decked area.

Menu

The menu offers a good selection of French bistro food including; Seared Scallops, Steak Tartare, Moules Marinieres, Mushroom Crepes, Roast Duck Breast and Breton Chicken.

Service

The service was very friendly, cheerful and efficient.

Food

I started with the steak tartare.

This came with the egg already mixed in (something I personally prefer to do myself). However, it was very good and consisted a decent portion of tender minced steak well balanced with shallots, capers, cornichons, egg yolk and cognac.

Eva opted for the smoked salmon, which she professed to be excellent. The dish consisted of sliced smoked Scottish salmon with dill, shallots, baby capers and creme fraiche dressing.

I chose the half chargrilled "Breton" chicken (corn fed chicken from Languidic in the north of France) for my main, with fries. I eschewed having any sauce with it, as the chicken if well cooked should have enough flavour to stand on its own.

I was not disappointed, the chicken was succulent, not overcooked and had an excellent flavour.

Eva had the steak hache, an excellent tender pan fried steak served with garlic butter and mashed potatoes.

A most excellent meal!

I do have one request, please could you serve Absinthe (I understand you have the bottle behind the bar but do not serve the drink for some reason)?

The bill, including a bottle of Viognier, some cognacs and service, came to £78.

Overall Opinion

Good value, great atmosphere; we will most certainly be coming back!