This review is from a meal we had at Côte Brasserie, on West Nile Street, Glasgow on Tuesday 26th October 2021. Enjoy!
Starter –
French Onion Soup
Tom: I have been in love with French Onion Soup for years, alongside Bouillabaisse and a good old fashioned Croque Monsieur, it ranks very highly on my list of favourite French cuisines. When I finally go to France for the first time in 2022 (Hopefully) I’m looking forward to trying them right from the source but in the meantime I’m excited to try Côte’s offering. I don’t think it’s overstating it to say that its perfect. The best French Onion Soup I’ve ever had. It’s warm and rich, and the sourdough croutons add texture as well as a tang which works well with the thick, caramelised onions. It’s so tasty. There is no need for salt and pepper, because it is packed with flavour. It’s so moreish, just a hearty soup that blends cheese into the dish making it savoury and creamy and has an incredible depth of flavour, texture and consistency. I don’t usually rate dishes meals on a scale, I just talk about whether I liked it or not but this dish earns a full five stars.
Calamari
Tom: The calamari has a really nice flavour to it, earthy and warm, the batter doesn’t overpower the more subtle flavours of trhe seafood. It has a nice crunch and a really good consistency, and it isn’t greasy which is a positive. The squid has a nice chew to it, not too rubbery and not too soft. In short I would say that it was perfectly cooked. The calamari came with tar tar saucnce which was also very tasty, not too acidic and complimented the dish well. It’s good with or without it. Also brief sidenote, while I cannot recommend you also get two starters unless you want a waistline as big as my own, I would suggest you do try both as they are top notch.
Gratin potato
Tori: It was nice, very cheesy, very thinly sliced potatoes and a nice blend of crispy and soft textures. It was the perfect starter before a heavy filling main.
Main –
Steak
Tom & Tori: So this was a really lovely cut of meat, little to no gristle of extraneous fat. It was cooked perfectly in my opinion. I ordered mine medium rare and that’s how it came out. Tori’s was perhaps a touch rarer than they wanted but we both agreed that it was delicious. It has a really nice flavour and texture which was enjoyable on it own but was further improved by the Wild Mushroom Sauce and Peppercorn sauce which came with mine and Tori’s steaks respectively. My sauce especially was lovely, I love when steak is blended with mushroom as the flavour profiles go well together. After over a year of avoiding red meat, I’ve had a couple of steaks recently and this one was by far the best. It just had an excellent consistency, chewy but not rubbery, it cut finely and was easy to eat.
Drinks –
French Old Fashioned
Tom: Wonderfully fragrant, the citrus notes come straight off. Your first sip you taste the bourbon which lends a heat that’s invigorating. It’s also very sweet, the bitters and syrup combined with the sweetness of the orange make for something incredibly palatable whether or not you like spirits and I strongly recommend you get one.
Staff/Service –
Nice service. They had a good rotation of staff members regularly checking in to see if your food was good and to refresh drinks. They were polite, and everything came out at a nice pace. I didn’t feel like I was waiting around for the wait staff.
The decor was nice, I usually try to snap pics but it didn’t feel appropriate with the number of customers so you’ll just have to take my word for it that the aesthetic and atmosphere are really nice. Overall a high class meal and service, lovely locale with a cosy boutique kind of feel and the prices were very reasonable for such high quality and what some might call fancy food.
You can find Côte Brasserie on Facebook so make sure and give them a follow. You can also find them via their website by clicking here. This review was written by Tom Neil and Tori Anderson so click on one of those links to check out more from those authors.
First Published on: https://offtherecordblog.org/
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