Category: french

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Slightly happier

I recently blogged about my experience of the set menu at Côte in Marlow.  At the end of the day was I happy? Well I wasn’t unhappy. It was a pity there was limited choice for the starter, I had my heart set on the potted crab, and I also liked the sound of the charcuterie. However with the set menu choices it was restricted to the soup and the beetroot. I did enjoy the meal and it was nice to sit down, be served. 

It wasn’t an amazing experience, but the food I did have I enjoyed. I thought I might try and give that Côte menu another go. This time though my experience would be at the Côte branch in Ealing. My last experience eating in that branch was very positive.

Overall I did enjoy my food at Côte, the service was excellent, and I had a lovely dining experience. It wasn’t perfect, but it was nice, and with the fixed price menu, I thought it was value for money.

I did write in that blog post about how I feel about the chain.

I kind of have a love hate relationship with the Côte chain of restaurants. I really like French style cooking and the Côte menu has an extensive choice of French inspired dishes. The service at the Ealing branch of Côte has always been excellent. Welcoming, warm and friendly. The food arrives in ample time, and I have never felt rushed. The waiting staff are attentive, but not intrusive. What’s not to like? However, though the food is good, it isn’t excellent, and so I always have to temper my expectations. I like the food, but I wouldn’t say I love the food. I am not entirely sure what they could do to make things better, but I am confident that they could. 

Since I wrote that, I did visit Petit Pois in Brighton, which is an amazing little French restaurant where I had some excellent food including a delicious cassoulet, a wonderfully tasty bouillabaisse, and a exquisite skate wing.

So, I kind of know what a great French bistro in the UK can be, Côte is not quite there, but despite that I do enjoy the food and the cooking.

I booked a table through the app and headed off to the restaurant. I was given a friendly and warm welcome and was shown to my table.

On this visit to Côte in Ealing, it was back to the set menu, unlike Marlow, they did have all the starters. This meant I could have the potted crab. The simple basic presentation to me worked well. There was some fresh seeded bread. The potted crab was topped with lobster butter.

potted crab

The crab was delicious. You really taste the crab in the pot. Sometimes when I have crab based dishes in restaurants, you struggle to taste the crab. When I had the Crab Maison at Côte back in 2023 I said of that dish:

I was hoping for an intense crab flavour, which I felt was missing, and what crab there was, was overpowered by the mayonnaise. 

This time you really knew it was crab. I forgot that the butter was a lobster based butter and avoided it. So, not really able to remember what is did taste like. At Marlow they did bring some bread to the table, this time, no bread. Actually I could have done with some more bread, as there was quite a bit of crab in the potted crab.

Having had the steak and frites at Marlow, this time I went with something different and had the sea bream. This was grilled Sea Bream with a sun-dried tomato butter, olive salsa vierge, and sautéed tarragon new potatoes.

grilled sea bream

This was well presented and was absolutely delicious. There was a real combination of French Mediterranean flavours in the plate of food, from the tomatoes olives and the sun-dried tomato butter. The fish was perfectly cooked, full of flavour and the skin was nice and crispy. I really enjoyed that dish.

Now for the third course. I did think about going down a different road for this course, as I had done for the starter and the main, but I am a sucker for cheese and biscuits, so yes I ordered the cheese and biscuits.

I wasn’t given a choice and my plate arrived with just three cheeses, three different cheeses though. The quince jelly was there, but not crackers. However a portion of bread was provided. 

cheese and no crackers

I did feel that the plate looked a little sad and certainly needed something else there, the crackers perhaps would have enhanced the presentation. As it was I prefer bread with my cheese to crackers, though the bread I did get was a little stale.

Overall this experience at Côte Ealing with the set menu was so much better than that at Marlow. They had all the dishes, and the starter and main course were excellent. The cheese like Marlow was disappointing and I must remember in the future to avoid it. Service was warm and friendly.

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The Happiest Menu (well not that happy)

It was a little too early to get to the hotel in London, so decided to stop in Marlow for lunch, planning to eat at the Côte, which had a special January price on their set menu, or as the advert said “The Happiest Menu”. I set the sat nav to get me to Marlow, I had seen they had a branch of Côte and was pretty much on the route to my hotel in London.

Having arrived in Marlow, I drove to a car park. They had a BP Pulse fast charger (read 11 Kw), so after paying for my parking, I put the Funky Cat on charge. It took me a while as though I thought I had a BP Pulse account, I had to set one up. It was priced at 65p kWh, so more expensive than a Tesla charger, but cheaper than most public chargers. I then needed to find the Côte restaurant and discovered on Google Maps it was actually next door to the car park. So, not too far to walk.

I went in and as it was after the lunchtime rush they had plenty of free tables, even so it was still quite busy. So when it came to choose from the menu, I was told they had no potted crab or charcuterie. That left soup or beetroot salad. I decided to go without a starter, well it was lunch, and they did have cheese as a dessert. While I was waiting I was brought some complimentary bread and butter, which I did appreciate.

For my main course I went with the minute steak which came with fries. The steak looked a little anaemic, but the fries looked good.

The steak did in fact have quite a bit of flavour and the fries were hot and crisp. The steak came with a sun dried tomato butter. They did have a special offer of free flowing fries, so they went and brought me another portion of fries as I was close to finishing mine. Overall for steak and frites, it was tasty, and for the special price menu, I thought it was good value for money.

I could have had a dessert, but I went with the cheese, which the menu said came with a choice of four cheeses, but I was told I could only have three. Which I didn’t quibble with. I gave my choice of three, but in the end though I had three portions of cheese, they doubled up as they were out of one of my choices.

I did check the menu later, and I should have had four cheeses. I wasn’t too enamoured with the charcoal crackers so was pleased that they I was given some more bread to have with my cheese. Cheese is cheese and apart from the lack of variety I enjoyed the cheeses I had on the plate, along with the quince jelly.

At the end of the day was I happy? Well I wasn’t unhappy. It was a pity there was limited choice for the starter, I had my heart set on the potted crab, and I also liked the sound of the charcuterie. However with the set menu choices it was restricted to the soup and the beetroot. I did enjoy the meal and it was nice to sit down, be served. Service was good, friendly and efficient. 

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Three course meal at the Petit Pois

Having first visited Brighton with my family in the 1980s on our way to France, I have fond memories of sailing from its port to Dieppe, Fecamp, or Le Harve. I returned for a JISC program meeting in July 2004, where I stayed at the lavish Grand Hotel. Although I found it a bit too posh for my liking, I enjoyed dinner at a French restaurant in The Lanes—likely a now-closed Café Rouge. Another visit took place in June 2005 during a holiday in Bognor Regis. Last year, I had planned to stop in Brighton for a meal on a driving holiday to the continent, but I ran out of time and ended up in Horsham instead. Attending a conference there this week has been a pleasure, and it’s been great to see the city once again. I especially enjoyed the conference dinner on the Brighton Palace Pier and all the great food I ate while I was there.

Having enjoyed both the cassoulet and the bouillabaisse, it was something of a no brainer that on my final evening, I would go back to Petit Pois for dinner.

The bistro had a casual, French-inspired atmosphere with wooden tables and chairs. The walls were decorated with an eclectic mix of art and objects, and the place was bustling with people. I was lucky to get a table.

I decided I would try out the set menu, I did plan only to have a starter and a main course, but in the end, I had three courses. There are a limited number of choices at each stage of the fixed menu, but I think that’s a good thing.

For my starter I went with the crispy calamari. This is a dish I regularly have when eating out.

calamari

The calamari came with a mixed salad, lemon, and aioli. The calamari was best described as okay, maybe I had unrealistic expectations having had some great food at Petit Pois. It was crispy and actually quite flavoursome; however. I felt maybe it was a little overcooked. 

For my main I had initially decided I would have the steak frites, but that is something I can cook, and I have had that at other places. Looking over the menu I went with the skate wing, crushed new potatoes, courgette ribbons, capers, and butter sauce.

skate

After the slightly disappointing calamari, the skate was an incredible dish. The skate was grilled to perfection. It was sat upon a bed of crushed potatoes. I liked the courgette ribbons, and the sauce brought everything together. The skate was cooked well and was easy to remove from the bone. I really enjoyed the skate; the whole dish was delicious.

I had intended to only have two courses but then I am a sucker for cheese and biscuits. The assistte de fromage came with chutney, grapes, celery and crackers. There was a choice of cheeses, I left it up to the chef but asked for no goat’s cheese.

cheese board

This was a pretty serving slate, there were three different kinds of crackers, a small bowl of chutney, a few grapes, a slice of something, think it was made of figs. There were three small pieces of cheese, some camembert, a blue cheese and a hard cheese. The cheese was quite ripe, and had sweated in some instances, but was flavourful. It was also quite difficult to find amongst the other stuff on the slate.

Overall, I was pleased with the meal, all the dishes were nice, however the skate was outstanding. That skate more than made up for the shortcomings of the calamari and the cheese.

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Might be a little greedy to order a second bowl

I first visited Brighton in the 1980s when as a family we would sail over to France. Sometimes we would sail from Ramsgate to Calais (or Boulogne), but if we were on our way to Normandy, we would sail from Brighton, arriving in Dieppe, Fecamp, or Le Harve. I also made a trip there for a JISC programmes meeting in July 2004. Then I had stayed at The Grand Hotel. I remember thinking it was a little too posh for me. I headed out for dinner finding a nice French place in The Lanes, it was probably Cafe Rouge. I think it closed down years later. I also visited Brighton in June 2005 when I was on holiday in Bognor Regis. Then we stayed mainly on the seafront, visiting the Pier and the Doctor Who Exhibition there. We returned to the holiday camp for dinner on that visit.

I had planned to stop there last year on my way to Newhaven on a driving holiday to the continent, but ran out of time and stopped at Horsham instead for something to eat. This time I was attending a conference all week and it was nice to see Brighton once more. We also had a fun conference dinner on the Brighton Palace Pier. While I was in Brighton I went out to eat a few times.

Having really enjoyed the cassoulet on a previous evening at Petit Pois, and I liked the look of other stuff on the menu, I headed out back to Petit Pois for dinner.

Despite it being a Monday evening, it was busy, but I was able to get a table. Inside is a French style bistro, lots of wooden tables and chairs. There is an air of informality about the place, also an eclectic decoration on the walls.

They had a really interesting looking menu and it was quite challenging to work out what to have. The previous evening I was stuck between the Bouillabaisse and the cassoulet. That time I had gone with the cassoulet, this time I went with the Bouillabaisse. This was described on the menu as bouillabaisse of local fish & shellfish, squid, prawn, potato, samphire, rouille, grilled bread.

I have to say I was impressed when the dish arrived, it looked fantastic. The bowl was brimming with shellfish and fish. There was grilled fish portions, prawn, scallop, squid, clams and mussels. You couldn’t have really asked for any more fish in that bowl. All the fish was perfectly cooked and the sauce was delicious, full of flavour. I loved the addition of the samphire and this really added to the flavours and texture of the dish. I could have done with more bread, though most meals I could do with more bread. Having finished the bowl of tasty seafood, I was left wanting more. I made the decision it might be a little greedy to order a second bowl.

I remember having a Breton Fish Stew at Côte a couple of years back, which isn’t too surprising as that was a chain. This fish dish was on a whole different level, even though it was similarly priced.

As with my previous visit, the service was warm, friendly and efficient. Overall a lovely experience.

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Time for a Cassoulet in Brighton

I first visited Brighton in the 1980s when as a family we would sail over to France. Sometimes we would sail from Ramsgate to Calais (or Boulogne), but if we were on our way to Normandy, we would sail from Brighton, arriving in Dieppe, Fecamp, or Le Harve. I also made a trip there for a JISC programmes meeting in July 2004. Then I had stayed at The Grand Hotel. I remember thinking it was a little too posh for me. I headed out for dinner finding a nice French place in The Lanes, it was probably Cafe Rouge. I think it closed down years later. I also visited Brighton in June 2005 when I was on holiday in Bognor Regis. Then we stayed mainly on the seafront, visiting the Pier and the Doctor Who Exhibition there. We returned to the holiday camp for dinner on that visit.

Brighton beach and pier

I had planned to stop there last year on my way to Newhaven on a driving holiday to the continent, but ran out of time and stopped at Horsham instead for something to eat. This time I was attending a conference all week and it was nice to see Brighton once more. We also had a fun conference dinner on the Brighton Palace Pier. While I was in Brighton I went out to eat a few times.

On my first night and upon arrival in Brighton and checking into my hotel, did have a look around on Google Maps to see what places were around. Had thought about going to Mowgli, having enjoyed my meal in their branch in Bridgend, however they have stopped doing their Tiffin boxes for one. So, where else in Brighton I could go. There was lots of choice, however I wanted to avoid chains, as I can eat there in Bristol or London if I so choose, so I picked on a couple of places on the map and headed out.

I first arrived and looked at the Petit Pois Restaurant on Ship Street, I did like the menu, but then walked around to Embers as I did like the sound of their barbecue. I was thinking I could visit Petis Pois another day during my time in Brighton. However upon arrival, I found Embers were only doing their Sunday lunch menu. Now I like a good Sunday lunch, but having had an excellent Sunday lunch in London recently at the Drayton Court Hotel, I was in the mood for something else.

So, with that in mind, I headed back to Petit Pois, the French eatery I had walked up to before. Now I can sometimes find it challenging about where I am going to eat and can spend so much time looking that I actually lose my appetite or run out of time to eat. I had to make a choice, I was out of luck with Embers, so I said to myself that I would eat at Petit Pois.

It was quite busy, but they managed to find me a table. Inside was a French style bistro, lots of wooden tables and chairs. There was an air of informality about the place. There is an eclectic decoration on the walls. It was busy and I think I was lucky to get a table. They had a really interesting looking menu and it was quite challenging to work out what to have. I was stuck between the Bouillabaisse and the cassoulet.

In the end I went with the cassoulet, I did think if I was able to I would visit the restaurant again another day (as I was in Brighton for the week) and have the Bouillabaisse then.

The cassoulet arrived and it looked really nice, duck leg, pork belly, sausage on a bed of cooked beans.

cassoulet

This was incredible, really tasty. The duck was tender, the pork was melt in the mouth, the sausage had a meaty texture. You could taste the three kinds of meat and the beans were delicious. Alongside I had some bread, which was delicious for mopping up the sauce and juices. 

The menu does change and looking today as I write this, there is no cassoulet on the menu, but I suspect it will be back. Actually just looking at and reading the menu, is making me hungry.

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Self-Catering in France once more

One of the reasons I have this blog is to remind me of things I have eaten, cooking, but also experiences of cooking outside the home, for example on holiday.

This year we went on holiday to France staying at an Eurocamp in Guines in Nord, Northern France. We were staying in a caravan and I used my previous blog posts on self-catering in France to prepare for the trip.

The caravan did not have an oven, just a microwave, but unlike last year there was a gas barbecue outside. Maybe I was just lucky with other sites, but the last three Eurocamp caravans I have stayed in did not have ovens.

Keeping things simple, I mainly cooked meat and sausages on the barbecue, salad, and then cooked pommes rissoles on the hob. 

The barbecue needed cleaning before it’s use and this was quite a nasty job with lots of grease and old fat on it. The sink in the caravan was way too small for this job, so I took it to the (large) washing up sinks that the campers used.

We really enjoyed the French sausages we got from the local supermarket, they did have a relatively high fat content, so the barbecue needed a good clean after each use. One interesting thing I noticed when buying steaks from some supermarkets was that they came in covered packaging so you couldn’t see the steaks. Another nice meal we did was some chicken thighs, I really like barbecued chicken, and enjoyed eating it.

The salads were in the main lettuce, tomato, and cucumber. I really liked the variety of tomatoes we had and they were full of flavour. Some days we had avocado and we also had some olives as well.

Another key feature of our meals was fresh bread, and we bought bread daily from the campsite shop. The shop itself was a bit disappointing and I felt overpriced. However in Guines itself there was a Carrefour and a Lidl, and in the heart of the town were quite a few local shops. One of these was a Boulangerie and we had some  delicious patisserie from there during the week.

I did take some tools with me, knives, chopping board and a pair of tongs. In the end the knives in the caravan weren’t half bad,  I didn’t like the glass chopping board that was provided, however there was a set of barbecue tongs there, which made cooking on the barbecue much easier.

I didn’t have room to take my coffee machine, and I wish I had.

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Duck with lentils and sausages

Duck and lentils

When I was in France back in March I stocked up with some cans of what I would call cassoulet but actually were a variety of tins with duck or sausages, some with lentils, some with beans. One of these was a tin of Saucisses de Montbéliard et lentilles cuisinées.

Saucisses de Montbéliard  is a traditional French smoked sausage, which I suspect tastes even better if it was cooked from fresh, and didn’t come from a tin! However, I just had the tin, so didn’t really have a choice.

The duck legs I had cooked earlier that week, so was just heating them up in the oven. I think the “proper” way to cook these would be to confit them, but I didn’t have the time, and more importantly I am not actually sure how to confit. Must look that up at some point. I heated up the contents of the can in a pan for around five minutes.

I put the lentils in a large bowl and added the duck legs.

The duck was not as tender as I would have liked, but they were still tasty. I really enjoyed the lentils, and the sausages were actually quite good. I think, when I go back to France, I will get some more of these.

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Cassoulet Toulousain

Cassoulet Toulousain

I bought this can of Cassoulet Toulousain when I was on holiday in France in the summer. Having had some legs from the roast duck left over from Christmas, I decided I would heat up the legs in the oven and heat the contents of the tin in a pan. As well as beans it also contained some sausage and duck meat.

The Cassoulet Toulousain was very tasty, but also very rich, almost too rich. It had been cuisiné à la graisse de canard, as in cooked in duck fat. I think I would have preferred to tone down the richness with some stock. I do like cassoulet, so it was interesting to try one of these cans from France. They are something you don’t see for sale in the UK, except in specialist French grocery shops or delicatessen.

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Delicious French Eclairs

This summer we were staying at Le Grand Paris in Nesles-la-Vallée, close to Paris, in France. The campsite didn’t have a shop, so we were dependent on going into the village for supplies. Nesles-la-Vallée had a couple of small supermarkets, in addition they were two boulangeries and a charcuterie. It was nice to buy baguettes and breakfast pastries from the boulangerie.

One day I also bought some delicious fresh eclairs from there as well.

I got four versions, a vanilla eclair, one chocolate, a pistachio, I also got a Paris Nesles, which a local speciality eclair with almonds.

I had the pistachio eclair and the Paris Nesles. They were both delicious. My son had the chocolate and vanilla eclairs. The chocolate version had a chocolate cream, which was different to the usual fresh cream. The vanilla one had vanilla cream, and as you might have guessed the filling of the other two. The Paris Nesles did though also have a layer of chocolate ganache as well as an almond filling.

These were delicious and lovely patisserie. I could have bought loads of cakes from there.

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French Week at Lidl once more

I do quite enjoy the way that Lidl does themed flavour weeks, and I often visit just to see what they have and get a few things. This week is French week.

I enjoyed the Rosette Air-Dried Salami last time it was French week, so I bought that. I also got some French cheeses including the Laiterie de la Montagne Tomme de Montagne. This is a delicious cheese. Soft and mild flavoured, I really like it.