Tag: london

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Back to Côte Brasserie

I have been to Côte in Ealing a couple of times, on a recent visit I really quite enjoyed the cassoulet I had. I was needing dinner and decided that I would visit Côte for food. It was quite busy, which I found out later was down to the pre-theatre crowd. However a table was found for me and I sat down and looked over the menu. I was tempted by the cassoulet, which I’ve had before, or trying out the Breton fish stew.

As it was a weekday there was a prix fixe (fixed price) menu, so I went with that having two courses, a starter and a main. 

If I am eating out I generally prefer a starter over a desert. There was a limit choice of four starters, though tempted by the wild mushroom soup, I went with the Pork Terrine with spiced apple chutney and pain de campagne.

It was a nice terrine and the accompanying chutney was a good contrast. I think a stronger flavour would have worked for the terrine, but it had a nice texture. My pain de campagne was well toasted, slightly burnt on the edges. I would have preferred a more lightly toasted bread with my terrine.

There were five choices for the mains. I did think about ordering the Toulouse Sausages with puy lentils and sautéed kale with a Dijonnaise dressing for my main. However I went with the Poulet Grille. This is a chargrilled chicken breast with a creamy wild mushroom and thyme sauce served with gratin potato. 

The presentation of the dish was rather messy I thought. The gratin potato was nice and creamy, but there was no golden crust. I think I was expecting more of a defined structure of potato. The wild mushroom sauce was nice, but lacked flavour, partly down to the excess cream from the gratin potato which diluted the sauce. The chicken was slightly overcooked, but I enjoyed the flavour.

I did enjoy the food and it was tasty. Service was warm, friendly and efficient.

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Chipotle Tacos

I was once a regular listener to the This Week in Google podcast though I have been listening infrequently these days with less commuting. You may well be asking what has this got to do with food and tacos.

Well when I was listening, Jeff Jarvis and Gina Trapani would often mention the Chipotle chain of stores, I really liked the concept that the would often talk about. When I realised that there were branches in London I thought I must try it out some time…

It was one of the places I wanted to go, but despite visiting London on a regular basis it was never really close enough to visit when I was looking for lunch.

So ten years later’ I still had never gone to Chipotle. 

Then on a recent visit to London, I was on Chiswick High Road, going to the M&S Food Hall when I actually realised there was a branch of Chipotle on the other side of the road. Hmmm I thought, well this was my chance to try some tacos.

I went with the grilled steak tacos. I was warned that these might be a bit spicy, but I thought no, let’s go for it. I went with the fresh tomato salsa

I did think the guacamole was a little overpriced, at £2.10. I said no to that, knowing I had some already. Having looked at the menu before going in, I actually got some, well a whole tub, from Tesco for £1.15 before then heading back to Chipotle.

I did have the sour cream, cheese and some beans as well.

I then headed back to the hotel with my food.

The beef was spicy (as promised) and I would have liked a little more sour cream. They were also a little cold, think they really needed to be eaten straight away rather than wrapped and taken away.

These were nice tacos, but nothing special. I don’t think I would go out of my way to get them in the future.

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Creamy Pizza

We had spent the day in London, having driven up and parked at the Westfield Centre, we decided we would eat there before heading home.

I had some vouchers, so we went to Zizzi, and they also do a decent gluten free pizza as well.

I quite like a white base, so after looking over the menu I went with the Rustica Slow-Cooked Beef & Burrata Pizza. 

With slow-cooked beef, smoked burrata and scamorza cheese, mushrooms and rocket on a white base.

It was rather tasty.

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Time for a Cassoulet

At the end of last year I went to Cote in Ealing and had a very nice duck cassoulet.

I had been thinking about going out to eat, whilst up in London for work. In my hotel I looked over various menus, but did quite like the  sound of the Cassoulet de Toulouse with confit duck leg that was on the menu at Cote.

I had eaten there earlier in the year and had, what could be described as a nice meal, wasn’t excellent, but wasn’t bad either.

I was given a warm welcome and offered a table by the window, which I took.

I ordered the Cassoulet de Toulouse.

Cassoulet de Toulouse

The cassoulet is described in the menu as a hearty slow-cooked white bean stew gently simmered with wine and a blend of herbs. Originating from Southwest France.

Cassoulet de Toulouse was cooked and came with confit duck leg, Toulouse sausage and bacon lardons, topped with melted garlic butter and sourdough croutons.

Obviously they didn’t cook it from scratch and I don’t think they had a pot of cassoulet on the go from which to dish out my plate of food. So my guess was that they heated up a pre-cooked version of the dish. Not that I was too worried about that, as sometimes a nice cassoulet tastes better if cooked, cooled, left and re-heated.

The duck leg I enjoyed, but I would have said it was overcooked. It was very tender, and the skin was nice and crispy. I liked it even so.

I really enjoyed the cassoulet it was full of flavour and it worked well. I could have quite easily had a second portion.

My only criticism, the dining experience was slightly ruined by the neighbouring table where a very loud conversation was happening. They weren’t really thinking or considering their fellow diners. You couldn’t really ignore it.  Maybe I should have asked to move, but I was hungry. 

I didn’t stay for pudding.

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Decent Coffee

Last week I attended an event, this was a real in-person event in central London. I have not done one of those for a while. I think my last in-person event was back at the beginning of March 2020. One thing I hadn’t missed was the conference coffee which was dire. I wonder sometimes why I even bother drinking it, as it was terrible.

However the venue, The Business Design Centre, did have a cafe on site and they served Illy coffee. So during the afternoon break rather than have a conference coffee, I headed to the cafe and ordered a flat white.

This was a well made coffee and it was delicious.

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Time for Olive + Squash

Back in at the beginning of December I was in London working and needing lunch, I was in the mood for a salad. Having not enjoyed my recent salad from Birley Sandwiches I thought I would give Olive + Squash a visit on the other side opposite Birleys.

Olive + Squash

As well as “choosing your own salad” they also have a menu of salads you can order as well.

I went with the Portobello Bowl. 

This is a chicken, mushroom and lentil salad. It also included spinach and croutons. This was lovely and fresh. I did enjoy the salad, but I think next time I would have it without the chicken and have extra mushrooms.

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Time for a change

Back in at the end of November I was in London working and needing lunch, wasn’t sure what I was in the mood for, but after walking around Leather Lane market I made a decision. I decided that I wanted a salad.

I had enjoyed my salad from Birley Sandwiches so joined the queue.

I had a pasta salad with rocket, tomatoes, mozzarella, avocado, croutons and olives.

I do like the way they make the salads fresh to order, they toss the salad in the dressing for you.

When I got back to the office, I put the salad on a plate and tucked in. It was nice, but not as nice as the salads I have had there before. It was a little too salty for me. Maybe it’s time for a change, when I next get a salad.

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Time for Thai at the Thai Canteen

I was staying in London again and popped out to Ealing in the car to get something to eat. I wasn’t sure what I wanted. The tapas place was full (and a good meal would be a little pricey). I did initially think about Bill’s but wasn’t 100% sure. Next door was the Thai Canteen, the menu looked interesting. I walked down to Cote, but didn’t really fancy anything on the menu. So I walked back to the Thai Canteen and decided I must stop walking and go somewhere to eat. So, I looked over the menu. It was a little difficult to read outside, so I went in and was given a nice warm welcome.

The menu was quite extensive, some reminded me of my local Chinese takeaway, so I decided that I would try and have something from the Thai end of the menu.

However for my starter I went with what I have quite a lot eating out which was squid, the starter I chose was the crispy baby squid with wasabi mayonnaise.

This was a good portion of freshly cooked squid. I liked the wasabi mayonnaise, but the squid for me was too much crispy batter and not enough squid. Well it was “crispy squid” what did I expect?

For my main course I had the Yen-ta-Fore, fat rice noodles with seafood, morning glory and crispy wonton.

This was a huge bowl of food. There was a selection of seafood, and I’ll be honest I am not sure what was what. There were prawns, these I did recognise. But there was also some fish balls and some deep fried cubes of something! The broth was nice and spicy. The wontons were crispy, but quickly became soggy as they sank into the broth. It was all very tasty though.

Overall I did struggle to finish the dish, there was a lot of food, and I think if I went back I would not have had a starter.

The service was excellent and I enjoyed the food.

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Steak “Benedict” Pot with Egg

It was time for lunch and I was trying to be quick, so after a short walk I headed to Yolk in New Street Square for one of their lunch pots.

I went with the Steak ‘Benedict’ Pot, which was rice, medium rare bavette steak, béarnaise sauce and a poached egg.

Steak “Benedict” Pot with Egg

I think I can best describe this as bizarre, more than anything else. Steak and rice work well, but throw in the béarnaise sauce, and that adds something weird. Then add a poached egg, and it becomes more than weird, it becomes bizarre.

I don’t think I would have it again, even though I did find it quite tasty.

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Japanese BBQ Beef

Back in July I was working in London and out for lunch, I headed off to the Leather Lane street food market, where there are plenty  of choices of places to eat.

On Leather Lane is Mugen, a Japanese restaurant.

Contemporary Japanese restaurant with a sushi bar and traditional minimalist decor.

During the market they put up a food stall outside their restaurant and they had a good looking menu.

I went with the Beef Bavette BBQ Combo. This was a substantial lunch with a base of rice, stir fried, vegetables, egg, pumpkin  katsu and pickled ginger. On top is sliced baguette steak finishing off with a sauce.

BBQ Beef

I have to say, that though I enjoyed the food, it wasn’t as amazing as I thought it would be. The steak lacked seasoning and the pumpkin  katsu lacked flavour. Overall I was a little disappointed.