A relaxed evening at Cathedral Green's Côte

Undecided about where to eat that evening we realised we hadn't eaten French for a while, so decided to go to Côte on Exeter's Cathedral Green. It was a gorgeous evening and we were seated upstairs so were treated to a sunset view of the Cathedral, perfect. 

To drink, we chose a Chateau des Gravieres 2014 Graves. It was a lovely choice, very enjoyable and extremely drinkable... 


For starters, K chose the steak tartare and I the chicken liver parfait. The parfait came in a miniature kilner jar with slices of toasted brioche tucked into a folded napkin and spiced apple chutney on the side. As you can see, I was so hungry that I dove straight in, forgetting to take the photo before I started! The rest was soon devoured. 



For the main course K went for the roast duck with shredded cabbage with a cherry sauce and a side of parmentier potatoes. This did look particularly tempting, I liked the cherry twist, and I almost wished I'd picked that!


My main course was pan roasted haddock fillets wrapped in bacon on a bed of puy lentils, spinach and dill with a beurre blanc. This looked equally tasty, but a bit more adventurous so affirmed my decision! The haddock was nice and flaky with the salt of the bacon making a delicious accompaniment. The sauce was buttery and brought the dish together well. For me, there were too many lentils (the image doesn't show many but there was more underneath!) but maybe I'd filled up too much from the starter!



By this point in the evening, we'd finished our bottle of wine so when dessert turned up, I was feeling pretty... relaxed shall we say, and I once again forgot to take photos! Below are the remnants of what was a very scrumptious tarte tatin. K polished off his melt-in-the-middle chocolate fondant before I'd even caught a glimpse!



All in all a very relaxing evening with tasty food, good wine and great service, all in a gorgeous setting of Cathedral Green. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

Welcome to The Primitivo Pheasant

A warm welcome to my blog The Primitivo Pheasant will take you on a culinary journey through eating out, home cooking, wine, cocktails, local produce and favourite recipes. Living in Exeter, this blog will be mainly Devon-based but with adventures further afield! With eating out regularly, I like trying new restaurants - of which Exeter currently has an abundance - but also going back to old favourites for their updated seasonal menus. As for the home cooking side, I'm lucky to have a partner who enjoys being in the kitchen; he does the savoury, I do the sweet, both of us drink the wine! I love a good cookery program, my current favourite being Great British Menu, although I can't go too long without a John, Greg, Marcus and Monica fix! I can never decide on a favourite food as I enjoy everything save for oysters (the texture!) and anything overly mushroom-y. Real Italian has got to be up there, but classic French and modern British dishes are also winners. I love wine...
Read more

Brown and Bean's New Direction Delights

Image
Eagle-eyed readers of the Primitivo Pheasant may have noticed I reviewed Brown & Bean fairly recently. But since the last visit there's been a change of head chef, with two new up-and-coming chefs, Jimmy and Joe Cotton, taking the reins. It was only right to try what they had to offer! Unable to resist the tasting menu, K and I placed our order and had a G&T to start which came with a slice of frozen pink grapefruit, a great idea which we have already replicated at home! Instead of bread came some homemade flatbread and hummus, which as you can see, was hardly a standard affair. An upgrade from the norm and was polished off in no time. Next came a plate of 'snacks' which consisted of: pork & black pudding on a skewer; a little pot of celeriac soup with fresh truffle; a salt cod scotch egg with fennel puree; and a madras brown shrimp & crab poppadom with mango puree. All of these little bites had big flavour and the scotch egg was still runny in...
Read more

A Birthday Treat at Lympstone Manor

Image
On the afternoon of my Birthday I was finally let in on the secret of where we were eating that evening... Michael Caines' Lympstone Manor! Wow, I was not expecting that! K couldn't have made a better choice.  As we walked from the car park, the recently renovated Lympstone Manor appeared majestically from behind the trees, with gorgeous grounds and a stunning backdrop of the Exe Estuary.  Sat in the bar area we chose drinks whilst perusing the menu. I felt it rude not to go for a glass of Michael Caines own Blanc de Blancs. We had a choice of A La Carte, Signature Tasting Menu (with meat and fish) and the Estuary Tasting Menu (purely fish). Being my Birthday, I had the choice so the Signature Tasting Menu it was! With the wine flight of course... We started with some canapes of carrot and coriander, lamb parfait cube and salmon rillettes which was served on a decorative silver spoon. Although tiny, these were packed full of flavour and set our hopes high for the...
Read more