Ambience ✪✪✪✪
Service ✪✪✪✪✪
120-122 Grainger Street
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 5AF
0191 731 4733
www.cote.co.uk
My attitude towards chain restaurants is ambivalent and ambiguous. It’s all too easy to point an accusatory finger in their general direction and prattle on about how they suck the life out of a town’s dining scene, what with their capitalistic economies of scale, hedge-fund backing and lowest common denominator menus. But, as with most things in life, it’s a touch more complicated than that.
There are, of course, some seriously duff chains kicking about that meet the above description neatly enough, and add nothing to the variety or liveliness of our dining scene. A wander through our bigger shopping malls will acquaint you with some of these overpriced predators. But there are also others who manage to turn out good quality at reasonable prices, and, crucially, offer us something that wasn’t there before they pitched up.
That’s the reason I gave a thumbs up when Byron came to town. On a good day, their burgers are some of the best in Newcastle. It’s also why I was less enthusiastic about Red's True Barbecue, arriving as it did at a point when the whole smokehouse thing had been done to death, and then dug up out of its sooty grave and done once more, just for good measure.
And that’s why I was actually pleased to hear that Côte were moving into the old Barclays Banks in Newcastle’s Grainger Street. Over the past ten years (the first opened in 2007) I’ve visited several branches in other parts of the country and always enjoyed their incredibly cheap lunches (3 courses for £13.50, just like in France) and very good selection of house wines. I really hoped this one would match the rest. It does.
