I’ll get my Côte...

I’m not a massive fan of chain restaurants so I'm lucky that we live in a part of the country where there are so many great one-off, independent pubs and restaurants, which I would much rather visit. However, my experience at Côte might just have changed my mind. Recently I have noticed a number of Côte restaurants springing up around North London, with the latest one having just opened in Camden, and I wondered if they were any good as they seem to have gone from nowhere to everywhere in the last 6–12 months. My Mum has been a couple of times to the one in Guildford with her friend and has always sung its praises, so when we went shopping together yesterday in Reading (my hometown) I suggested that we try the new one that has just opened in the main shopping mall, The Oracle.

Côte Reading (image from the website)

It was very quiet when we arrived just after 1pm, but I would put this down to it being a Monday and the fact that the restaurant is not in the main thoroughfare in Reading. However, we were greeted straight away by a very pleasant waitress who told us we could choose any table to sit at (this always scores highly in my book!). The decor is smart and not as in-your-face as some chain restaurants; it really does have an air of chic parisian bistro (proper napkins included!).

There was a special lunchtime menu (until 7pm) which was £9.95 for two courses so we both decided to have that as the choices sounded amazing. I had pork, duck and chicken terrine with toasted sourdough and cornichons, Mum had whitebait and we both had salmon and smoked haddock fishcakes with spinach and a poached egg on top (we also had a side order of frites to share but I'll probably get told off for mentioning that!). The portions were very generous seeing as we were on the cheaper menu, and we both felt nicely full at the end. We also ordered a glass of Sauvignon Blanc each as a treat, which was very reasonably priced at £4.95 a glass (house wine is £4.30), and were also offered complimentary filtered water in a lovely bottle.

The à la carte menu is also very tempting, with prices between £4.90 and £7.95 for starters including tomato and black olive tart, calamari and tuna carpaccio. Mains are between £8.75 (for mushroom and gruyère cheese crépes) and £17.95 (for a fillet steak), so you probably wouldn’t go here if you wanted a cheap ‘I can’t be bothered to cook’ dinner. For a something a bit more though I think it is great value for money, particularly in comparison to most London prices. 

So I will definitely be going back to Côte - I have been told that the chicken and walnut salad is amazing so I have to try that next time, although I will also have to secretly order a side of frites of course!