A review of Cote in St. Martin’s Lane, Covent Garden

My good friend, Sheena, and I had booked tickets for a show matinee and decided to meet for lunch beforehand.  For anyone who is interested, we went to see “Once the musical” which was fresh, funny and original.  I would totally recommend it!  But I am getting ahead of myself..

We decided to meet at Cote on St Martin’s Lane in Covent Garden.  I have been to Cote before but never to this particular outlet.  On arrival, the place was packed and my first impression was that it was hard to hear anything over the noise.  The waiter obviously had the same issue as when Sheena asked for a Coke with ice and no lemon, she ended up with a glass with just lemon and nothing else!  Apart from that one little blip, the rest of the visit was perfectly nice.  The staff were charming and helpful and the atmosphere was warm and friendly.

We were shown the specials menu which had a choice of four starters, four mains and four desserts.  On my first glance, I wasn’t drawn to the choices but when I realised just how good the value was ( 2 courses for £11.70 or 3 courses for £13.65) I soon changed my mind!

I chose the warm flatbread with caramelised onions, thyme and camembert cheese.  This was an excellent choice but if anything it was quite substantial for a starter.  I still made my way through most of it as it was so tasty.

We both opted for the chargrilled thinly beaten out minute steak with frites and garlic butter. This was tender, pink and tasty with not a bit of fat on it which suited me well.  The garlic butter was a bit overwhelming but I was able to move most of it to the side before it melted.  We ordered a tomato salad to share and this was a perfect complement to the steak and frites.

Even after all that, I managed to squeeze in a scoop of icecream (but only because the 3 courses were such good value and not because of greed of any kind!!!!)

I have to say, that it was a minor miracle that I managed to stay awake for the whole show as normally a meal like this would leave me needing a bit of a lie down!

All in all an excellent offering from Cote!!