The Olive Grove, Cambridge, UK

So here's a quick review of The Olive Grove, where a recent dinner put paid to any pretence of continuing to be vegan.

The Olive Grove is a relatively new (I think it opened last year) addition to the Catholic Church end of Regent Street in the centre of Cambridge, which serves Greek and Mediterranean-style food. I had visited for a weekend lunch earlier in the year, but it was more of a social occasion so I wasn't paying that much attention to the food then (though I recall it was perfectly pleasant).

The inside is functional but comfortable, and going back in the evening, there was definitely more of a bustling atmosphere than during the day- I think I spotted a large table of genuine Greek people too. This time round we ordered a selection of their smaller plates for a meze style dinner, and I have to say it was all pretty uniformly delicious. As an aubergine fan, the melitzanosalata roasted aubergine salad type thing scooped onto warm fluffy pitta bread, was a highlight for me. I guess the Greek salad could have been a bit more flavourful, but it did come with a generous amount of creamy feta. And the fried calamari and prawn sagnaki, were well cooked with a good level of crunchiness on the squid. Unfortunately, my rather crappy photo doesn't do any of the food justice.

Additional major plus points were the pitcher of tap water brought to the table when we arrived, and the incredibly friendly and smiley server who took and correctly delivered our order without apparently ever writing it down. We ordered six dishes between us, which left us nicely stuffed. And the bill for all this and a couple of alcoholic drinks was around £45, which seemed very reasonable for a sizeable dinner for two. I am rather looking forward to going back again.

The Olive Grove
100 Regent Street
Cambridge CB2 1DP

Pint Shop, Cambridge, UK

Pint Shop is located right in the centre of Cambridge, but you could easily walk past and not notice it. That would be an error. It only opened late year, but it's been a great addition to the limited number of independent eating options in town. It's a slightly odd space with a pub/bar at the front, and a dining room at the back (and another upstairs too apparently). I went for a weekend lunch earlier in the year which was lovely (but unblogged), so it was an obvious choice for a midweek, day-off-work, late lunch. And by late lunch, I mean very late- I think we rocked up at around 3:45pm, so were the only people in the dining room, but service was still prompt and friendly.

 There would normally be other people here.

Bread and a jug of water arrived unprompted, and an exceptionally helpful front of house person assisted me in choosing the nicest gin and tonic I have ever had (with City of London Dry Gin if you're interested). Wanting something lighter to eat, I chose a couple of starters and sides (to share), which all used simple ingredients done really well. A classic asparagus and poached egg dish was cooked perfectly and well seasoned. The crumbed hake was a bit like square fishfingers, but none the worse for that, and the grilled spring onions that came with it were deliciously tender and smoky. I love broccoli with anchovy, and would have been delighted with am extra pot of the dressing for dipping purposes. As I think the picture below captures, onion rings were ginormous but still light and crispy.

Having scoffed all of this, and with the MCP devouring a large baked bream, we were too full for pudding (a rarity). All of this food, along with a couple of alcoholic drinks came to around £55 (without service) which I think was excellent value for the quality of cooking. I've only been twice, but I already pretty much love Pint Shop. I would happily return just for a G&T, but some food would be even better.

Pint Shop
10 Peas Hill
Cambridge CB2 3PN

Teri-Aki, Cambridge, UK- A return visit

I really love the Japanese food at Teri-Aki's, but I have a horrible feeling that the last time I went was actually also the first time I blogged about it. As is the way with such things, I seem to have reversed the trend recently by going three times in the past few months. Back in the day I always used to order their fried soba noodles, but on recent lunch visits I've switched to sushi and and some smaller hot dishes. So I can thoroughly recommend the tempura, agedashi tofu, nasu dengaku aubergine, and the maki rolls.

The tempura was crisp and oil free, whether contained seafood or vegetables, the sushi fresh and flavourful; and I've yet to have a poor plate of aubergine or tofu. Service has always been a bit patchy at Teri-Aki's, but based on recent experiences, it has become a lot more consistent.

So with prices hovering around the five pound mark for the smaller dishes, and smaller plates of sushi, and around a tenner for large plates of noodles, Teri-Aki's remains excellent value. This was all really rather reassuring after such a long gap between visits, and left me wondering why I'd left it for so long. Anyway, it's firmly back on the radar now, and next time I might even order something aside from tempura, aubergine, and tofu (but probably won't).

Teri-Aki Restaurant and Bar
6-8 Quayside
Cambridge CB5 8AB

Rice Boat, Cambridge, UK- A return visit

It's been a while since I've been to The Rice Boat, but rumours of increasingly dubious service and variations in food quality have been widespread. The last time we did go they had no parathas, dosas, uppams, chapattis, or utthappams available, and we encountered a rather unpleasantly (rather than comically) rude server. And despite my love of the masala dosa I've not made much effort to head to that side of Cambridge lately.

But the other week, the Male Companion Person and I were in the area, and decided that The Rice Boat would make an excellent venue for discussing the Werner Herzog film we'd just seen, as well as dinner. Not much has changed- the tables are looking increasingly scratched and careworn, the door still doesn't close properly (though the waiting staff were on the case with shutting it and minimising icy gales), service is still kind of sketchy (you're not allowed to have fresh cutlery between starters and main courses), but the food is still really good! Well most of it. The pepper fry squid starter was incredibly bland and didn't appear to have been seasoned with anything. It was sort of alright when eaten along with the fried, salted whitebait though. But the main courses were back on top form. I had my usual masala dosa, which was light and generously stuffed with gently spiced potato, and came with two coconut chutneys and sambar. And the MCP had his usual Kerela red fish curry, which was super-spicy as anticipated. We also shared a small green bean thoren and an aubergine theeyal. I was particularly taken with the latter, and its combination of aubergine, tamarind and coconut.

Service that night was perfectly functional (apart from the weird cutlery rule), and our bill was around £50, including drinks but not service. So not a huge bargain, but perfectly reasonable considering the amount of food that was consumed. And despite everything, Rice Boat definitely do make the best masala dosa in Cambridge.

Rice Boat
37 Newnham Road
Cambridge CB3 9EY

Byron, Cambridge, UK

I was rather excited when I found out a few weeks ago that Byron was coming to Cambridge. I really enjoyed it when I visited one of their branches in London a few years ago, as despite their focus on (meat) burgers they had a great range of side dishes and a very nice veggie burger. Two and a half years on, it was slightly disconcerting to find that the menu looked pretty much unchanged but I guess that's what sticking to your core concept is all about. The veggie burger remains a combination of mushroom, goat's cheese, and roasted pepper. Not amazingly exciting but done well. The courgette fries were an excellent alternative to potatoes, crispy and oil-free. The coleslaw was rather disappointing though, and tasted like something that could have come out of a supermarket tub. The MCP had another cob salad, which was declared to be good (though perhaps quite not as good as his first one). 

So anyway, I still really like Byron. The Cambridge branch is bright and airy, with cheery service, and there are plenty of things I'd like to eat on the menu that don't include meat. A pretty substantial lunch for two, with a couple of non-alcoholic drinks, came in at just under £30 (without service), so it's not going to break the bank. And now they are located in Cambridge, I'm hoping to return for a milkshake soon too.

Byron
12 Bridge Street
Cambridge CB2 1UF

Riverside Restaurant, University Centre, Cambridge, UK

The University Centre in Cambridge is a slightly odd combo of canteen, social club, and sports facility for University staff, alumni and graduate students. It may also embody the epitome of 'town and gown' as if you're not part of the University you would probably never even know that this 1960's monolith is at the bottom of Mill Lane. But due to my family's tenuous connections, the University Centre dinning hall was the first place I experienced the wonders of proper chips (we were an oven chip household) and profiteroles with chocolate sauce. Halcyon days indeed. Anyway, all this means that I have a real soft spot for the Centre, and have been meaning to try their more formal restaurant (which is open to the general public) for absolutely ages. So as the Male Companion Person had a birthday recently I decided to book a table.

Things started quite well, as we were shown to a table by the window with nice views over the river. But to be fair there wasn't much competition for this prime spot, as there was only one other table occupied of the twenty or so available. I initially remained confident that some other diners would appear, but sadly they didn't, so by halfway though our meal we were the only two people there. Ummm, *awkward*. Once we'd got used to the situation and stopped whispering, it wasn't actually too bad and we got on with eating rather than looking around hopefully for other customers.

The Riverside Restaurant does a fixed price menu for either two or three courses, with a brief choice of fish, meat and vegetarian options in a vaguely modern British/European style. Once we'd ordered, they brought out a pre-starter of a smoked haddock risotto arancini-style ball. This was a very promising start to dinner, as the rice was soft and well seasoned and the fish not too strong.

My starter of grey mullet with crab, watercress, samphire with ratta potatoes (which I initially thought were Jerusalem artichokes) was also great- lots of fresh flavours with the fish perfectly cooked with a crispy skin.

The MCP went for a pork and scallop combo, which was also declared to be excellent in terms of both flavour and texture.

Main courses were more fish for me (sea bass with fennel, grapefruit and brown shrimp) and turbot with peas and ham hock for the MCP. The fish was again excellently cooked, and I liked the contrast with the bits of citrus. I wasn't too sure about the very dark hue of the shrimps, but even with this slightly chewy garnish, it was a very pleasant plate of food.  And the MCP seemed perfectly satisfied, if not overcome with excitement, with his turbot too. The one odd note with the main course was the arrival of a small dish of boiled vegetables with some little roasted potatoes, which looked liked it could have come from the canteen upstairs. The carrots and broccoli were not dressed or seasoned, and it was a bit surprising to see them appear with plates of food that were otherwise presented in quite a modern style. I guess some people might want some extra vegetables, and I liked the the fact that there was no supplement for them. But it would seem sensible to serve nicely prepared veg or none at all, rather than a somewhat insipid compromise.

Anyway, onto desserts. This is where things became seriously disappointing for me. After a brief flashback to the early 90's caused by the rosette of cream and half strawberry garnish, I tried something that may have been impersonating a piece of chocolate cheesecake. It was hard to tell, as everything above the sugary base tasted of nothing and had the texture of blancmange. The little cup contained a cardamom (and possibly white chocolate) mousse type thing. I love cardamom, but this was ridiculously strongly flavoured and also far too sweet for me. The lemon syllabub style pudding, topped with a small meringue, was probably the nicest thing on the plate but was still ridiculously sweet. The MCP had a honey panacotta, which he thought was perfectly acceptable. I was irritated by the garnishes and randomly executed chocolate graffiti though.

This was a bit of a sad end to things (at least for me), as up until the puddings the food had been pretty good. But by this point we were getting aware of being the only table again, and so left pretty promptly. I think overall the Riverside Restaurant does have many things going in its favour- I like it's hidden location and the views over the river make it a good spot for people watching (before sunset); it wins on the value for money front with a set price of just under £30 for three courses; and they were good on some details like seating us so that we both had a view out of the window. I'm sure they would have liked some more customers too, so I'm not going to criticise them on that front. But perhaps turning up the background tinkly music a little would have lifted the deadened atmosphere a bit (and drowned out the sound of the catering manager putting in the turnip order). I did like most of the savoury food too, with dishes both well cooked and flavoured. So I probably would be happy to go back to the Riverside at some point (once they've changed their menu), but perhaps not on a weekday. And I would skip dessert.

The Riverside Restaurant

University Centre

Granta Place

Mill Lane

Cambridge CB2 1RU

Hakka, Cambridge, UK

I was taken out for a surprise dinner the other weekend. I have to say that my heart didn't exactly soar when we ended up walking past the Cambridge City football ground and up to a small parade of betting shops, newsagents, and kebab emporiums. In amongst this row was the Chinese seafood restaurant, Hakka.
Hakka looked as nondescript as its neighbours, and inside it contained the generic interior design notes that you you can find in any average Chinese restaurant. However, what was truly distinctive was the food. We had some superb salt and chilli squid, that was hot out of the fryer and left my lips tingling with proper spicy heat.

This excellent start was followed by a steamed sea bass with garlic and spring onion, sizzling scallops in black bean sauce, sea spiced aubergine, stir fried green beans, and a seafood fried rice. Considering there were only two of us, this seems quite a lot now I write it down but let's gloss over that bit.

Everything we had tasted fresh and packed with flavour, with nothing floating in gloopy cornflour heavy sauces. I loved the simple but delicious crunchy beans, and the perfectly cooked sea bass. Even the fried rice was notable for it's fluffy egg, lightly cooked seafood, and non-clumpy rice. And all this delightful food, along with a couple of drinks, only came to around £60 (not including service)- a bargain!

So, as you might be able to tell, I really liked Hakka. It's in a pretty insalubrious location, has an interior a bit like a late 90's conference room, and plays easy listening versions of Tina Turner songs. But all of this somehow adds to its charm, and with its friendly service and lovely food, I think this might just be the nicest Chinese restaurant in Cambridge.

Hakka
24 Milton Road
Cambridge CB4 1JY

The First and Last, Cambridge, UK

Cambridge has a lot of pubs in it, and randomly many are in 'pub clusters'. There is the 'back streets of Mill Road cluster', the 'Lensfield Road cluster' (though now somewhat depleted), and the 'behind the police station cluster' that is vaguely near town. A long-standing member of this last cluster has recently been re-born as The First and Last. This pub used to be the pretty average Cricketers, but has now been completely refurbished and has more of a gastropub vibe to it.

A few of us popped in over the bank holiday weekend to find a couple of light and bright rooms, where we happily spent the afternoon eating and avoiding the rain. We had a range of light lunch dishes, that were all under the £10 mark, nicely presented and flavourful. The sticky toffee pudding was particularly notable for being light while still being full of dates and errrm... well, sugar. Service was friendly, with a Camembert-related food delay pleasantly dealt with, and just a generally nice atmosphere. I wasn't drinking anything alcoholic, so can't really comment on that side of things, but there seemed to be a range of interesting looking wines behind the bar as well as lots of beers that I'd never heard of before (though that could be more of a reflection on me than the pub).

All in all, I am looking forward to a return visit.

The First and Last
18 Melbourne Place
Cambridge CB1 1EQ

 

Alimentum, Cambridge, UK

I remember hearing about Alimentum when it first opened several years ago, but only managed to visit for the first time last year due to some good planning from a London-based blogging friend. I really don't know why it took me so long- lack of organisation and a slight fear of disappointment I guess. Anyway, self-flagellation aside, this initial enjoyable visit provided enough of a prompt to think of Alimentum when considering venues for a bit of a social celebration with friends.

But as we trudged along some of Cambridge's busiest roads in the grey drizzle of a Monday evening, I recalled that Alimentum's location might have had something to do with the lack of earlier visits. It's almost opposite the city's 'Leisure Park' and on one of the main roads leading to Addenbrooke's Hospital, so has a great view of the top of a multiplex and numerous ambulances zooming by. However once we'd made our way in, the restaurant and its staff did a very good job of insulating us from the traffic and neon lights outside. We were soon supplied with some appetisers while we waited for our table, and though views were mixed I was an immediate fan of the cheese and onion macarons. The pale pink macaron shells were flavoured with caramelised onion, so had a sweet edge, and were filled with a sort of whipped goats cheese. I am currently wondering if it would be foolish to try and recreate these at home....

Anyway, onto the food proper. Alimentum has a very reasonably priced set menu on Monday evenings, so that's what we plumped for. As we settled into our booth, carafes of water and some delicious bread appeared rapidly. The warm sage bread was particularly nice, and came in the form of min-loaves (in the top picture). I had an amazingly light and frothy cauliflower soup to start with, which had little nuggets of subtly pickled cauliflower and sweet spring onion (I think). The whole thing had the quality of a vegetable marshmallow, which I really liked.

My sea bass main course came with a sort of chickpea stew with tomato and olives, and some sort of anchovy cream. This was a perfectly functional dish, if not terribly exciting. Personally I think a few more olives and maybe anchovy was needed to perk things up. And though the fish was beautifully cooked, I would have preferred a nice crispy skin rather than the sesame seed coating.

Pudding was a deconstructed apple and blackcurrant crumble, which caused a little consternation amongst the crumble traditionalists when it arrived at the table. However I quite liked my block of fruit mousse, and despite their similar textures it went well with the ice cream. The 'crumbs' were more like a shortbread biscuit rather than crumble topping, but still very acceptable. I also sneaked a taste of the male companion person's chocolate and passion fruit terrine type thing, and was very impressed with the rich chocolate ganache leading to a fleeting moment of regret about my fruit-based dessert.
The fixed price menu is £22.50 for three courses, which I think is very reasonable for the quality of food and service, though drinks can ratchet this up quite a bit.

Alimentum is probably not somewhere I'd pop in for a casual dinner, but is perfect for a bit of a treat. It has most of the elements of a fine dining restaurant in terms of presentation and quality of food, but doesn't make a fuss if you order a diet Coke and tap water for the table. It also does pretty well with trying to inject some soul into its new build location. On this occasion the food was good rather than stunning, but I enjoyed everything and actually those macarons and the soup were pretty outstanding. After my huge delay in going to Alimentum, I suspect I'll be making some more regular return visits.

Alimentum
152-154 Hills Road
Cambridge CB2 8PB

The Hole in the Wall, Little Wilbraham, Cambridge, UK

I've been a fan of Masterchef for some time and so, like many others, was pretty excited when Cambridge resident and food blogger Alex Rushmer made it into the final three of the competition last year. Even more exciting was the news a few months ago that Mr Rushmer would be opening his restaurant in the Hole in the Wall pub, just outside Cambridge. And so with the Male Companion Person's birthday looming I booked a table for dinner.

The Hole in the Wall is very much a ye olde worlde village pub, and very pretty with it. There are lots of dark timbers, and quite a stange layout which I guess has evolved during the five hundred odd years that it's been around. We were rapidly shown to our table, with bread and butter, menus, and water all following shortly behind. Looking at the menu it was evident that despite the venue Alex and his team are definitely not going for a gastropub vibe (no sign of any posh fish and chips or gourmet burgers here), but for full on restaurant-style dishes. A brief but interesting menu had a choice of at least one meat, vegetarian and fish option for the starter and main courses. It may have been concise, but together with their daily special, a pescatarian person like moi had plenty of choice.

The subdued lighting was perfect for eating but not so good for photography.

I started off with what was simply described as a tomato and mozzarella salad with a parmesan biscuit. But there was a little twist as the mozzarella came in the form of a sort of cheese ice cream. A little reference to Alex's blue cheese ice cream as debuted on Masterchef perhaps? I remember that having mixed reviews (Gregg might not have wanted to stick his face in it), but the cheese ice cream at The Hole in the Wall was fantastic. Light, creamy and savoury- I could easily have eaten a lot more of this. It also went perfectly with the salty parmesan biscuit, and the selection of tomatoes. These were perfectly seasoned and full of flavour. I was particularly intrigued by the green but ripe tomato. The MCP went for the pigeon with beetroot risotto, which looked exceedingly pretty. Both were ideal starters for late summer.

Despite this picture the glass of wine was not actually twice the size of the starter.

Things got a bit more hefty for the main courses. The MCP went for the duck with pickled cucumber, and I had a whole bream stuffed with lemon and fennel. The fish was huge, and could probably have served two, but I managed to fit most of it (along with some samphire and potatoes) in. The baked fish was very moist, and the simple cooking really let the quality of the ingredients speak for themselves. If I was really nit-picking, I'd say that the tartare sauce on the plate, although perfectly nice, was rather unnecessary.

I really did not need any pudding but had one anyway as the MCP was. In fact we both ended up going for the burnt Cambridge cream a.k.a. crème brulée. This was rich and creamy, with a proper caramel crust which shattered on impact, but was not overly sweet.

So overall a really lovely meal. Our bill came to £75 (without service) for three courses each, and three glasses of wine between the two of us, which I thought was very reasonable.

There's very little not to like about The Hole in the Wall really. They bring water to your table without asking (always a big plus in my book), the service was attentive rather than intrusive, and the cooking was solid with good quality ingredients and some interesting flourishes. And all this in the first few months of opening too. I also quite liked the contrast between the very traditional setting and the more modern style of cooking. It means that The Hole in the Wall is just a little bit different, and somewhere I'd be happy to go back to in a flash.


The Hole in the Wall
Primrose Farm Road
Little Wilbraham
Cambridgeshire CB21 5JY

Bill's Cafe and Restaurant, Cambridge, UK

The opening of Bill's Cafe and Restaurant in Cambridge has caused quite a bit of excitement amongst those of us here with a passing interest in food. Bill's is a small chain which started off with locations in Sussex and has now expanded to London, and most recently Green Street in the centre of Cambridge.

While Bill himself remains elusive, his cafes have gone for the Jamie Oliver-esque concept of also being 'stores' where you can buy Bill's jams, chutneys, and books (as well as lots of other stuff). The shelves full of interesting things cover the walls of the cafe, which means the interior looks quite relaxed and funky. And they actually manage to pull off the combo of faux driftwood wall panels with industrial ducting across the ceiling too.

Bill's do quite a wide range of cafe style food from breakfast through to dinner, and when I popped in for lunch with the Male Companion Person the other day we thought we'd try a selection of starters. I had the gazpacho, the MCP had an avocado and bacon salad, and between us we shared the mezze board and some calamari.

Both the salad and the gazpacho were very generously sized for starters. My soup had a great fresh balance of tomato, pepper and cucumber, with just a little onion kick. I suspect some might have preferred a smoother texture but I quite liked the fact that it hadn't been processed to death. This would be perfect to have on a hot and sunny summer's day, but was still pretty fine on a cloudy and overcast summer's day.

The calamari were light and crispy, as described on the menu, and the garlic mayo was particularly good as well.

The mezze board came with lots of little bowls of vegetarian goodness, including an outstanding red pepper hummous with pumpkin seeds, which (I think) was spiced with some cumin as well. The baba ganoush didn't really taste of smokey aubergine though. The strongest flavour was that of citrus, but it was still very tasty. As were the other bowls of roast vegetables, olives and guacamole.

What was particularly impressive, apart from the quality of the food, was the very reasonable pricing. We had a lot of food for two people, but all of the above along with some non-alcoholic drinks, cost just over £31.00 (including service).

So good food, nice atmosphere, reasonable prices- there's very little not to like about Bill's. I'd recommend going before the rest of Cambridge finds out about it.

Bill's Cafe, Restaurant and Store
34-35 Green Street
Cambridge CB2 3JX

The Willow Tree, Bourn, Cambridgeshire, UK

I was taken out for a rather nice dinner last week. The Willow Tree gastropub in Bourn is about twenty minutes from central Cambridge. It's one of those places that you'd find quite hard to just randomly stumble across, and I'd never heard of it before. However lots of other people obviously had as it was pretty packed out for a week night in the countryside. The pub has a really lovely shabby chic look inside, and a highly impressive specials board (see below).

The menu is a combination of some pub classics such as burgers and fish and chips with more restaurant-style dishes. The main menu is pretty big in itself, and with specials for each course there also seemed to be an emphasis placed on local and seasonal ingredients.

Best specials board ever.

I kicked off with a starter of fresh crab and smoked salmon mille feuille with a chard and radish salsa. This was a perfect light summer starter, which had very generous amounts of flavourful crab and salmon. The Male Companion Person (MCP) went for a bresaola and mozzarella salad, one of the specials, which was also declared delicious.

For my main course I reverted back to pub-style and went for fish and chips, while the MCP stuck with the more 'gastro' pan-fried sea bass and spring vegetables. My haddock came in a light batter, which could have been a little crisper, but was still very tasty. The chips were somewhat on the giant side (really not sure if I approve of the trend towards brick-sized chips) but again were cooked very well. And I really liked the pea puree, which retained the natural sweetness of the peas. The sea bass disappeared very rapidly, and was still being talked about several days later.

I was unfortunately far too full to sample a pudding but did manage a cafe mocha. This was also notable for how nice it was, made with proper coffee rather than from a sachet. Also of note was my glass of Cabernet Sauvignon Spanish rosé wine. This was beautifully fruity, and though it may have been a little sweet for some, it was perfect for me.
So all in all, with the lovely surroundings, prompt and attentive but not over the top service, and delicious food, there was very little not to like about The Willow Tree. I think it was reasonably priced for the quality of food it offered, and though the MCP paid on this occasion you can get an idea of prices from the menu. So props to the MCP for discovering this gastropub, and I am very much looking forward to a return visit!

The Willow Tree
High Street
Bourn
Cambridge CB23 3SQ

Cote, Cambridge, UK

The corner of Bridge Street and Thompson's Lane seems to have been a bit of a blighted spot for restaurants in Cambridge. Over the years I have known this space to be a Garfunkel's, some sort of racing car themed American diner, the now apparently out of business Edwinns, and most recently Cote.

So on a Saturday night when myself and the male companion person had decided that we would have a change from the excitement of sitting on the sofa and watching telly, we decided to give the newest Bridge Street incumbent a go for dinner. I'd never heard of Cote before, but have subsequently found out that it's a small chain mainly based in the south of England. The Cambridge outpost occupies quite a big space, but one that is divided up by various pillars and walls into several sections. They've obviously done their best to maximise table numbers, but (just about) left enough space to avoid having to sit in the lap of your fellow diners. There was lots of nice low lighting and and candles in the evening, and it all led to quite a cosy atmosphere.

We ordered some olives and pissaladiere-style flatbread to start with, from a menu that is vaguely French but more pan-European really. The olives were perfectly pleasant, and the bread topped with Reblochon cheese was like a nice, crispy cheese on toast. We both choose the seafood linguine for our main courses, and this came with a good quantity of mussels, prawns and clams. I was expecting more of a sauce for the pasta rather than individual bits of tomato and garlic, but it was all pretty good none the less.

This all left just enough room to squeeze in a pudding. I had a perfectly acceptable but not amazing chocolate fondant, while the male companion person had a highly praised creme caramel. Service was attentive if a little slow at times, but actually the spacing between courses probably allowed us to fit in more food overall (which can't be a bad thing). The bill for all of the above, with a couple of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, a coffee, and service was around £60, which I thought was quite good value. Although I noted that they added 12.5% service automatically, rather than let you decide an amount, which I always think is slightly dubious but possibly not the worst crime in the world.
But that issue aside Cote was actually a very nice place to have dinner. The service was good, they bring you water without asking, and the food was fresh and tasty. And I guess the fact that Cote is part of a chain shouldn't diminish my enjoyment of all of that.

Cote
21-24 Bridge Street
Cambridge CB2 1UF