Côte Covent Garden

There are two things I particularly dislike; being late and being rushed. As such I always make a point when sourcing restaurants for pre-theatre dining that (a) I allow at least an hour and a quarter for the meal itself, (b) choose a restaurant located no more than a 10 minute walk to the theatre, (c) where possible, select a restaurant that offers a pre-theatre menu, the expectation being that such a menu is designed with speed in mind and (d) always advise the restaurant that I am specifically making a pre-theatre booking. Cote Tavistock Street met all criteria and having used its outposts in the Barbican and Marylebone for pre-theatre meals previously, I had absolutely no qualms about this reservation ahead of seeing Guys and Dolls at the nearby Savoy Theatre. Never have I been let down so badly at a restaurant as was the case here. We arrived slightly ahead of our reservation time of 5:45; drinks, bread and olives were all on the table within 10 minutes and our order, a starter and main course from the specific “pre-theatre menu” for my theatre buddy, and just the poulet Breton as a main for me (I do try but I just cannot resist this dish!) was taken shortly before 6pm. We started to get a tad twitchy around 6:20 when the whitebait starter had not arrived – the waiter assured us he was chasing it and it duly arrived around 6:35. I fully expected the main courses to arrive pretty soon as the cutlery was crossed on the whitebait…….alas no. Another chase to the waiter, then led to the intervention of the manager; apologising yes, but seemingly unaware of the time pressures now on us with curtain up just over 30 minutes away. At 7pm we were just on the point of decamping at the nearby McD’s (by now I was absolutely starving and would have eaten anything!) when the mains arrived. Whilst I would not fault the Cote food, it was an absolute travesty that we were forced to eat at breakneck speed in order to make it to the stalls in time. Granted it was a generous, and unasked for, gesture on the part of Cote to wipe the entire bill but unfortunately no amount of money can make up for the fact that they managed to give us a very bad start, not to mention indigestion, to our evening. Whilst it has not put me off using Cote per se, I will not be using this particular one again, and will also think twice about using Cote for a pre-theatre venue in future…..

On arrival we were swarmed by serving staff, but once we had sat down, we were ignored for a substantial length of time. Our side orders arrived once we had started our main meals which was a bit disappointing as we would have preferred to receive everything at the same time. Other than that, good food, good location, good atmosphere.

Busy is probably an understatement, and being about 10 minutes late (signalling problems on the west coast line) our table was at serious risk of being taken. But it wasn't! (So glad we had booked beforehand.) I deliberately chose the steak frites as my main from the table d'hote menu, to be able to compare it with a similar meal choice in Paris the other weekend. No contest. Cote won hands down. The steak was succulent and well cooked accompanied with french fries. Excellent.

March 2012 – Excellent fixed price pre-theatre menu – great value. Try the baked hake with basil mash if available!

Twas a snowy night in Covent Garden but on walking into COTE could have been like walking into the (not so) little neighbourhood Parisian bistro. Well, actually the welcome was warmer than I had anticipated when I chose one of the Plats du Jour: in consisitency/content the Breton fish stew was excellent but was it overspiced? I did not know that there was, somewherer on the Breton coastline, a village of Indian fishermens' grannies who have, over the centuries, been producing a local delicacy of fish curry stew, but, apparently, there is. The overpowering taste of spice completely killed any, but any, taste of fish. Anyway, it was very cold outside so maybe this recipe is only brought out if the temerature is below freezing. That said, the rillette was quite excellent, succulant and tasty, and the the anchovy pissaladerie was as good as I have had in London. Even the fougasse was light and moist., with a dusting of fresh herbs. The mid range end of the wine list produced a decent merlot Service, pleasant and attentive, save for a little local excentricity of trying to serve a gin with soda rather than tonic (perhaps those world trotting grannies again had now moved to the bar?) However, all in all, this first meal here for three of us was a success, and we all will return. This restaurant moves above the usual Covent Garden tourist tat with an interesting menu and decent ambience. A find.