Cocotte, Notting Hill
Last Friday evening, after work, I met Stew in Notting Hill for a drink before heading over to Cocotte for dinner. Cocotte is a recently established, rotisserie chicken restaurant, based on Westbourne Grove. Open 12pm - 10pm, 7 days a week, Cocotte serve up beautifully tender chicken, with a range of indulgent sides and refreshing drinks.
The restaurant itself is decorated beautifully, with white wooden tables, open brick work, marble pendant lights and adorned with green foliage. The setting is intimate and cosy. The space is small but perfectly formed. If you live nearby, they also offer a takeaway service.
It being 7pm on a Friday night, meant that the restaurant was buzzing. Tables were full and people were queuing for takeaways, plus the odd Deliveroo driver popping in to collect. Although it was busy, it wasn't overly noisy, and we were able to enjoy a lovely dinner together.
Our evening didn't get off to the best of starts however, as our booking couldn't be found. Luckily they had a couple of tables free a the time we arrived, so all was not lost!
Disappointingly our waitress didn't explain the menu, or give us any suggestions on how much to order. When it's your first time dining somewhere, and the menu looks to be intended to share, it's good to know how many dishes to order. However, luckily I had previously checked out the menu and Cocotte's Instagram account previously, during the day, so I had a rough idea of what we should go for.
The menu is simple. You can choose from either a full, half or quarter of chicken, plus sauce, salad and side dishes. We chose to go with a half chicken (priced at £12), plus 3 sauces (Cocotte mustard, chicken gravy, and spicy). If you like spice, definitely choose the spicy sauce - they don't hold back!
To accompany our chicken, we opted for the Nini's salad, which consisted of green beans, mushrooms, broccoli, basil, olive oil and lemon. Plus the mac n cheese and mash potato.
The rotisserie chicken may be advertised as healthy, but the sides are very much indulgent. The mash was beautifully creamy, whilst the mac n cheese was rich and decadent. I'm not complaining though, these are my favourite two sides to have with any meal, and felt like such a treat!
To drink, I had the Cocotte Spritz, which is described as a fresh and fruity spritz with rosé wine. Whilst Stew opted for a glass of white wine.
One thing to note - it's worth taking a look at the drinks menu online before heading into the restaurant, as for some reason the cocktails (in particular) aren't described on the menu in store. I'm such the waiters would be able to describe them, but it was a little odd for the ingredients not to be listed. If you're like me, and find yourself hungry hours before your reservation, it's likely you'll be checking out the menu earlier anyway :)
For dessert Cocotte offer a small choice of two cakes and mochi. We shared the chocolate brownie and the date and coconut cake. I loved the latter, and Stew is a big chocolate fan, so these were perfect. He also finished off his meal with a macchiato.
All in all for half a chicken, 3 sauces, 1 salad, 2 sides, 2 desserts, a coffee, cocktail and glass of wine, our bill came to £62 (excluding service charge).