Cote Tooley Street

Since launching in 2007, this venture – from the team that grew the Strada business – has opened no fewer than 20 branches nationwide, with more on their way. As Goldilocks might say, Côte is ‘just right’. Bistro interiors are handsome but not showy, ‘first-rate’ staff are friendly without seeming intrusive, & the menu teems with everyday, affordable French dishes that people can’t wait to eat. Tempting starters of pork & duck rillettes or well-seasoned steak tartare give way to mains for all appetites, from salad niçoise to confit duck with braised red cabbage. Best of all, the ‘plats rapides’ are just that – quick, simple platefuls such as minute steak or moules-frites, designed to have you fed & watered in a jiffy – so you can actually ‘eat out in your lunch break’, just like our lucky Parisian cousins.