Cote revisited

http://www.cote-restaurants.co.uk/Cote_Restaurant_Cambridge.html

Breakfast at Cote is up there with the best of them in Cambridge. So we went back. This time with guests...

This is the same photo as last time. Today it was pi$$ing down with rain.

Michael McIntyre (guest)
The butter melted fulsomely onto the toast, like the heart of a Scottish headmistress who comes home from evensong to find a rain-drenched puppy in her garden.

The yolks of the fried eggs eyed their surroundings suspiciously, like a bridegroom waking to find himself handcuffed to a bicycle rack.

The bacon gladly yielded up its salty goodness, like the Dead Sea, only smaller.

Seefud

With their hypnotic piano music and 2-4-1 deal, breakfast at Browns last week would be a pretty hard act to follow. Fortunately the "Formule" deal at Cote is great value too at £9.95 for Full English, toast, coffee and juice. 

This is also a Cote stock image. But my coffee did look like this again today

It's not the most generous plate of breakfast you'll ever see. The quality is just lovely though., and the toast is good and plentiful, with jars of good jam on the table. I could eat this breakfast every day I think.

This is today's actual breakfast, complete with extra 1/2 tomato

When it comes to cooking a quintessentially British dish like a Full English, the French do have one advantage. They're not shy of using the butter or the salt. This is one well seasoned plate of breakfast. The only reason it loses 1/2 a mark for me, is because I could just murder another of those sausages. Or a little black pudding, naturally. My scores are almost the same as last time (good consistency), but I docked him 1/2 a point on Service for not bringing the toast until I was half way through my food. Grrr. Didn't spoil my breakfast though.

Given the choice, I think I'd probably go back here rather than Browns, despite the 2fer. Cambridge's current reigning breakfast champion I think!

• Food     4.5
• Value    4.5
• Service  4
• Ambience 4.5
• Coffee   4

Troby

I loved it! Was it the fact it was a drippy rainy day that made this so good? - I really thought the Browns breakfast was going to be unbeatable on quality/price, but this Cote breakfast had the edge for me. Even ambience wise, with the right sort of breakfast music, and great views.
For the food, the scrambled egg was great, some herbs, and wet enough but not scary. Bacon and sausage both great flavours, not some 'over smokey' bacon that's trying to grab your attention. The mushrooms too, although a bit tiny, we well seasoned and had some herb about them. Heat issues were a distant memory, as our perfectly sized platefuls arrived together nice and hot. As Sefud say, the late arrival of the toast was a shame as I really needed some to accompany my first few mouthfuls of egg, but great toast when it came! - warm, brown, seeded crumbiness, also a lot of it - Maybe they gave extra to make up for late arrival. There's also the fact that there's Jam on the table in case you like to leave on a sweet note. For a tenner you're getting a coffee, fresh OJ, cooked breakfast and toast, so this actually works out to nearly as good value  as Browns. Currently my number 1 breakfast.

Fine scrambled egg

All the mustards are available

• Food      4.5
• Value     4.5
• Service   4
• Ambience  4.5
• Coffee    4

Pastries
I was keen on something sweetish and not too meaty this morning so opted for 'Croque Madam':

Not photogenic but nice

This was a good choice. Quite substantial and gooey with nice ham. I would've preferred the whole thing to be dunked in egg and fried in butter and sugar, but you can't have everything. Only medium value - £6.50 or thereabouts without coffee. On which subject, I downed 2 and still felt like I hadn't had enough caffeine. Partly they're a bit small, mainly just on the average side. Good service but like Browns this is a sit down and relax for 45 minutes venue; my personal taste is for somewhere with a bit more bustle.

• Food      4
• Value     3
• Service   3.5
• Ambience  3
• Coffee    3