It’s a tough gig for a high-street French brasserie chain to cater for a critic freshly back from a long weekend in Nice.
I am a proud Liverpudlian for whom one of life’s simple consumerist pleasures is a day ransacking the city centre’s shops with my daughters before pausing for lunchtime fuel. But even I have to admit that moules frites while taking in a vista comprising the side of John Lewis lacks a certain je ne sais quoi compared with the same dish on the shores of the Med. Holiday humblebrags aside however, Côte was a new one for us when we visited at the weekend and it will certainly be going onto our list of options for a repeat visit.
While inevitably lacking some of the character of an independent bistro, it delivered what our trio of hungry shoppers required: a convenient location including outside seating, friendly staff, menu options to keep everyone happy (including a pescatarian child), and manageable prices, even after a morning splashing the cash. Overall, the food was good rather than great, though our starters deserved the latter adjective. All three that we sampled involved seafood. While the soft seared scallops with a smooth cauliflower puree and sauce vierge was the star, the garlic and chilli prawns and a whopping portion of bread-crumbed calamari also went down a treat. The prawns were heavier on the garlic than spice, which worked fine for the 11-year-old, and the Provençal mayo which came with the squid lacked the tang of a tartare sauce, yet all three dishes were fresh, flavoursome and generous.
Mains were a little less exciting, but all competently did what they said on their respective tins, namely steak frites, moules and a ‘brunch burger’ complete with fried egg and, despite asking for it on the side, smoked streaky bacon. Unlimited chips would have been a costly business for the restaurant given our table’s appetites had it not been for the rich and sizeable starters, but ‘free-flow frites’ is actually an inspired idea which means diners can be sure of leaving sated if they’ve splashed out on their meal. We buckled after one additional portion between us, before sharing a dish of sorbet and some mini deserts that came with coffee as a café gourmand (think French menu stalwarts like macaron, madeleine and a somewhat over-chewy canelé). 
While I could have lived without these deserts (just not worth the calories is the short verdict), my daughters and I would gladly eat the rest of our order again – and might just do so soon. Prices at Côte are pretty average for a city centre meal these days – most mains hover around or just under the £20 mark, though there are lighter dishes for less, and bigger steaks for considerably more, with starters in the £10-ish bracket. Compared to a lot of the food and service you get for that money these days, Côte is definitely a good option. Even without the Med.
Words and images by Fran Yeoman
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