Côte at Home is a fairly new food delivery service run by the french restaurant chain Côte Brasserie. The food is produced in one of Côte’s centralised kitchens, which already supply several of the chain’s outlets. The prices are reasonable – in line with similar items from M&S and Waitrose, I would say, and the food has been well reviewed. Here’s Jay Raynor’s take on the service.
I placed my order largely on the basis of Raynor’s review. I thought I would place a small order, meeting the £40 minimum delivery charge. But before I knew it, I was almost at the £80 FREE delivery point, and it seemed churlish not to go further.
So it arrived today; this article is going to be about the delivery and first impressions. I may well review individual items as I try them.
It came in a big sturdy box, insulated with expanded paper stuffing and including ice packs. Unfortunately, one of the items – a risotto – leaked, and while only a little of the sauce got out, it covered half of the other items, requiring a good wipe down. I’ve reported this back to Côte, and will comment later on their response.
But aside from that, it seemed a good haul. The total cost was £82, averaging £4.82 per item (actual prices ranged from £3.50 for a dessert to £8.95 for a salmon and ratatouille dish). The dishes are either microwavable or oven ready, and although they are all supplied as chilled food, many of the items can be frozen on the day of delivery. Over half of my delivery has gone into the freezer.
They also enclosed some beurre de baratte as a little gift, which I will be happy to use.
Delivery was by ever-reliable DPD, who emailed me first thing with an hour timeslot for my delivery.
So now my fridge and freezer are filled with all manner of nice things, and I look forward to trying some out over the weekend.
As I expected, they responded immediately regarding the split item, apologised, and credited the item in full.
So how is it?
I’ve eaten a few things from the delivery, so far, the rest is stocking the freezer.
Everything I have tried has been nice, but unspectacular. All very pleasant, and no misses, but it was a good deal closer to decent chill cabinet fare than bistro dining.
Prices weren’t terrible, so I may order again, some time. But to be honest, the meals and puddings I bought from COOK were more exciting.