Cote Esher

Located on the High Street opposite Waitrose. There’s no parking but there’s a public car park nearby.

We didn’t pick the best time to start our blog. Our first post was on the eve of the school Easter holiday break. Which means our lunches are on hiatus until our kids are back in school and we regain our freedom. In the meantime we thought you’d find some of our previous experiences helpful.

Though we’ve decided we’re not going to include chains* we feel we really should include Cote Esher as it’s such a favourite of ours, plus we have a deadly tip.

As is suiting for a French restaurant, it can be quite bustling at lunch. We like to sit towards the front of the restaurant, as the main part can get quite loud. It could do with a few more plants to absorb some of the sound.

Last time we were here (January 2014) we sat in the front corner near the big bar. The only drawback to sitting here is the occasional glimpse of a dead body. Yes, really.

With the reliably prompt service, Marie ordered the Chicken and Walnut salad and Ann & Lynn both ordered the Goat’s Cheese Salad. Our drinks arrived quickly, as usual. At this point a private ambulance parked up on the pavement in front. The ambulance men went into Frederick W Paine Funeral Directors located next door to Cote.

As we were tucking into our salads the men came out wheeling a man in a body bag. At least we assumed it was a man due to the large feet propping up one end of the bag. With the reminder of our own mortality, we were glad we’d opted for salads instead of steak frites.

And what yummy salads they were, especially the Goat’s Cheese Salad (they don’t include aubergines in the roasted vegetables that come in the salad, clearly they agree with us that the texture just does not work in a salad.)

We do not in any way hold Cote responsible for the body incident, clearly next door should be more discrete and use the back door (an alley runs alongside their building so there’s no reason to use the front door.) If the idea of this happening to you fills you with horror, sit in the main part of the restaurant or at the front on the side that is far away from the bar, pictured here: