Côte Brasserie – Valentine’s Day Menu

I’ve always been a big fan of Côte Brasserie.  I love French food and although they have multiple restaurants all over the country, each one that I go to seems to have its own personality.  It feels like a little French Bistro and reminds me so much of the year I spent living in Paris.

This Valentine’s day, Côte Brasserie are offering their special Saint-Valentin 3 Course Set Menu in all their locations.   They offered me a chance to get a preview of the menu and I jumped at the opportunity.  The nearest one to us is the Charlotte St venue so we popped along a few days before Valentine’s to sample the dishes.

We walked into the cosy, candlelit restaurant and were shown a table by the window.  The waitress offered us a bottle of their house filtered water and handed us the menus to take a look at.

The Saint-Valentin (St Valentine in French) set menu costs £26.95 per person which I think is amazing value.  You can up the ante a bit if you like and include a Kir Royale and wine pairings with each course which will still only cost £36.95 per person.  This was the option we were going with.  Having done my Level 2 WSET wine accreditation last year I like to think I know a bit about wine pairings.  I was very interested to see how the wines they had chosen went with the specific dishes.

What I love about the menu is that there are so many options.  Having all the special dietary requirements that I do, set menus are often not a great option for me.  Having to pick between 1 or 2 dishes doesn’t work when you have so many food intolerances.  Côte Brasserie has 4 starters, 5 mains and 4 desserts on the Valentine’s Menu so there’s plenty of choice and I was easily able to find something that suited with a few adjustments.  In fact I could have eaten all of the starters, just by removing the bread or croutons from each one.  Fantastic!

We were offered our Kir Royale to start with which was a fantastic way to begin.  Who doesn’t love a cheeky glass of bubbles to start a night with?

In the end, for my starter choice, I went for the Baked Crottin.  A delicious, traditional goat’s cheese from the Loire valley served warm with lamb’s lettuce and apple salad, walnuts, golden raisins and croutons.  I just asked for it without the croutons. It was paired with a glass of the Chateau du Poyet 2015.  This was clean, crisp Muscadet which was citrussy and fresh with just the tiniest hint of toastiness.

It was a great choice to pair with the rich creaminess of the Goat’s cheese.  I love a Goats Cheese Salad and this one was to die for!  Grilled slightly so it was melted inside it was a perfect contrast to the crisp freshness of the salad and apples.  All complemented by the sweetness of the raisins it had every element you need from a dish.  I didn’t even miss the crunch from the croutons as the apple was so crisp!

Next up were desserts.  I spoke to the staff and told them that unfortunately, I couldn’t eat any of the desserts due to the fact that I can’t eat sugar.  They were kind enough to bring me a little cheese platter instead.  They were so accommodating to all my dietary requirements that I was really impressed.

Dan doesn’t have any issues with sugar so he went for the Warm Chocolate Fondant served with Cinnamon Ice Cream.  When he cut into it, the centre oozed out, just as it should.  It was cooked to perfection.  Sweet and rich but well-balanced by the cinnamon ice cream he thoroughly enjoyed every bite.  And this comes from the guy who never eats desserts! Praise indeed!

We left feeling like we’d had a wonderful evening.  My favourite part was the amount of choice that the menu offered and the fact that there was the wine pairing option.  I would definitely head back to try out the main menu another time and their wine list.  If you’re looking for somewhere one Valentine’s Day that matches great quality with a very reasonable price, then Côte Brasserie definitely ticks all the boxes.  Oh, and Happy Valentine’s Day!

We went to :

Côte Brasserie Charlotte St

5 Charlotte Street,

London

W1T 1RE

020 7436 1087

charlottestreet@cote-restaurants.co.uk

But Côte Brasserie have locations all over the country.  Find your nearest one here for a fabulous meal!

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