Cote Soho

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124-126 Wardour Street, London, England W1F 0TY

+44 20 7287 9280

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Soho Steak Frites at Cote

by sararevell

London, United Kingdom

July 13, 2010

Best of IgoUgo I must have walked past Cote a hundred times. Smack bang in the middle of Soho’s Wardour Street, Cote is in a prime location for picking up hungry travellers or indeed, locals. But like many things that are under your nose, it took a foreign friend ...Read more I must have walked past Cote a hundred times. Smack bang in the middle of Soho’s Wardour Street, Cote is in a prime location for picking up hungry travellers or indeed, locals. But like many things that are under your nose, it took a foreign friend to point out this recession-friendly French restaurant.

We showed up late on a Saturday night, a party of four with no reservations. Cote is a big restaurant. From the outside the façade spans two buildings. When we rocked up the place was busy, so busy in fact that I doubted that we would get a table. They did fit us in though in the back room at what looked like the last free table in the place. Later on, when I went to the toilets I found that there was even more seating downstairs and even that area looked pretty full.

The big attractions at Cote are the food and the price. I’m not going to pretend that they will win any Michelin stars in the near future but the food is very good and when we got the bill, the total cost was actually well below what I would have expected. We shared four starters, each had a main course, shared three desserts and got through two bottles of wine and three Armagnacs. All of this came in at well under £50 a head and that included tip. Speaking of tips, if you want your money to go even further, between 3pm-7pm on weekdays and 12pm-6pm on weekends they do offers of two courses for £9.95 or three courses for £11.90.

Annoyingly I don’t remember all the starters we ordered but I do recall one being asparagus and a second was grilled tiger prawns. The giant asparagus were incredibly tender and not at all woody as some varieties tend to be. Whatever the others were I do know that all four dishes were roundly polished off before the main courses arrived.

I am not a big steak fan but I have a weird habit of ordering Steak-Frites when I’m at a bistro-style French restaurant. There is something unexplainably simple and satisfying about a chargilled minute steak with thin, crispy fries to soak up the beef juice. Cote’s effort did not disappoint. A friend ordered some creamed spinach to go with his main and for some reason this tasted great with my French fries. Slightly unhealthy I know but it tasted great.

To add to the gluttony we ordered dessert, sharing a crème brulee, chocolate mousse, a cheese platter and if I remember correctly, a chocolate brownie. I have to say the desserts were excellent. If there is one area where many restaurants disappoint it is with desserts. Cote does the French proud though and like the plates that came before, the dessert platters were wiped clean.

The staff at Cote are courteous and upbeat and they seem to strike the right balance between being quick and affable.

While I’m not the biggest fan of chain restaurants but I would go back to Cote again. Besides Soho they also have branches in Chiswick, Covent Garden, London Bridge, Kensington, Parsons Green, Richmond and Wimbledon. Close

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Soho Steak Frites at Cote