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As working parents, without any childcare, it is fair to say that we do what we can to keep married life interesting, and spend nice time together, while juggling not having anyone to leave our children with. Recently I ordered us a Côte At Home meal, to enjoy with my husband Tom, and so I wanted to share my thoughts on it.
I’m a big fan of a range of recipe meal boxes, regularly ordering from Gousto, Hello Fresh and Green Chef in particular. I love the convenience of having all the ingredients to hand, and just following a recipe to help me make a tasty meal. However, some nights I don’t want to have to cook from scratch and that’s why the idea of Côte At Home appealed to me.
We ordered a three course meal, quoted as being “restaurant-quality”, and for this we received french onion soup with Comté cheese croutons and Fougasse, ribeye steak with garlic butter, creamed spinach and frites. Crème Caramel was the pudding. We also received two tapered candles, blue to make the Côte branding, which was a nice touch. There was a lovely salted butter included too, which was a nice touch.
What is Côte At Home?
Côte restaurants are a chain of French brasseries and bistros. They are open for French dining for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
They love to use fresh, seasonal produce and have ever changing menus to suit the seasons too.
Côte At Home is designed to be an extension of this dining experience, but one that you can enjoy at home. Many of the items are prepared, think fancy ready meals, and designed for you to re-heat or finish cooking at home.
You can order luxury food, often with next day delivery, and they have a variety of meal boxes and items available including Artisan cheeses, wine and other French products from trusted suppliers.
Whether you want ingredients to lay on a fancy breakfast spread, or a meal box to help you serve up something tasty for a nice at home date night, they’ve got you covered.
How long does delivery take?
As I ordered via BuyAGift I had to wait a couple of days for my delivery, however, if you order direct from the website you can get it in as little as one day. Order before 2pm for next day delivery and 9pm for standard delivery.
Do the items arrived chilled?
Everything was VERY well packaged. The box contained lots of packaging, and lots of ice packs, which ensured that everything was kept fresh during the delivery.
I had no issues with packaging at all. Most of the packaging was recyclable too, which was a nice touch, and the crème Caramel came in lovely dishes that I’ve kept to use again!
How much was my Côte At Home delivery box?
For all of the items I’ve mentioned near the top of this post, to make a three course meal, we bought a voucher via BuyAGift and this was £54.95. The cost is the same from the Côte At Home website also, for the exact same options.
How to get a discount on Côte At Home or find a discount code?
You can visit the website to look for discounts, but also, don’t forget to look at BuyAGift, as they often have 10%-20% discounts on their website. This WILL limit you to the specific menu option that they offer though. Also, be sure to use *Topcashback if you’re buying on BuyAGift, or similar, as they often have bonus cashback available too.
I can refer people for a £10 discount (for both of us), so get in touch via my Instagram if you want me to send that over to you!
Sometimes a little freebie is included in the box, we received a chicken liver pate – that was absolutely delicious!
How do you heat everything up?
French onion soup – this is heated in the oven, and then you slice up a baguette, at the cheese and then make the most delicious croutons.
I like my steak well done (I know, I know!) so I cooked it on both sides for a couple of minutes and then finished it off in the oven. My husband likes his steak rare, so his didn’t go in the oven and I just started cooking it a few minutes later.
The frites are designed to be cooked in the oven, but I put mine in the air fryer, as I’m a big fan of air fryer chips.
The fougasse also went in the oven, and the garlic butter was absolutely stunning melted all over the top. It was very simple to melt it too, I just rubbed it all over while the bread was hot from the oven.
Creamed spinach went into the microwave, and this was the only cooking instructions, so bear that in mind.
Was it easy to cook everything?
I’d be very confident making any of these items from scratch myself, as I’m a pretty confident home cook.
I would say that this is very easy. The steps are really informative, and simple to follow. The timings all worked out great for a three course meal, and I’m confident that even those people who don’t cook often would be able to follow this well.
The booklet is great quality, so it doesn’t fall apart when you’re flipping back and forwards, and it feels really well laid out with all the information you could need to make your meal.
How was the Côte At Home steak?
I’m not much of a steak lover, as you can tell from eating it well done I expect, but it was absolutely delicious. The garlic butter was the perfect accompaniment and it really helped make this melt in the mouth.
As my husband is recovering from a dog attack, and only has use of one hand, I cut his into little cubes once it had rested, and he loved it.
The quality did shine through, and I’d absolutely eat a steak here again. Despite not normally being someone to buy a steak in a restaurant, or even just from the supermarket.
What would I change?
The chicken liver pate had a little too much clarified butter for me, making it quite hard to get through to the pate.
I’d have liked the chips to have more of a coating on them, perhaps some nice beef dripping, as they were just a little too dry. I did air fry them though, so they may have been slightly better in the oven. I don’t usually make dry chips though, so this seems unlikely.
The Côte At Home steak night box:
It was a real hit in my home. We both thoroughly enjoyed it. I cooked the meal, as my husband was resting after surgery, and it was great. I found the instructions simple to follow and it felt like a great way to make a tasty meal with minimal effort, stress or fuss.
The results were surprisingly good and the meal was very enjoyable. There was lots of flavour, and the french onion soup in particular was lovely. The larger croutons were a nice accompaniment, and it made the meal feel just like it was being served in a restaurant.
I loved how easy everything was to cook, and the creamed spinach in the microwave was a nice touch. It took just minutes and I didn’t have to worry about it splitting or burning while my attention was elsewhere.
The fougasse was exceptionally delicious, and VERY large. Portions sizes overall were very generous and we actually ate the dessert on a separate day, just because we were so full from our first two courses and the breads also.
This meal was very heavy on the bread, but it was so simple to make, tasty and fun too. I’d absolutely buy this again and was really pleased with the quality. Everything arrived well packaged, on time, and the added touch of a 1 hour delivery slot was very helpful too. No need to wait around all day for this one, which arrived early in the day.
This IS an expensive meal at home, however, if you’re looking to put on a nice spread, with very minimal prep, no visiting the supermarket and everything you need delivered ready to go, then the Côte At Home steak night box has you covered. They’ve also got some other ideas, some being a little more budget friendly, including a poulet breton set menu (three courses), for almost half the price of this steak box.
Can I use a Côte voucher for Côte at Home?
Yes, you can use these in a Côte brasserie or bistro, as well as for Côte At Home.
What were the dates on the products like?
This box is best enjoyed as fresh as possible, however, the dates on ours were 3-4 days for most items, which was handy as between delivery and eating it was 3 days for us due to factors outside of our control. The one exception to this was the complimentary chicken liver pate, which had 2 days on the use by date.
I had aimed for us to eat this on the day it arrived, but the quality didn’t seem to be impacted by the additional days of waiting, so if you need to order for a couple of days time it should be fine.
Would I buy this again?
Absolutely I would! I’d love to try the beef bourguignon, though it has some pretty mixed reviews online..!
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