Smart bistro by the Thames

With our friend H staying, we took ourselves off to Borough Market on Saturday. Wandering around for an hour was easily enough to stimulate our appetites, so we then set about finding somewhere for lunch. Fish! was full, so we tried La Cave in the shade of Southwark cathedral, where we found a table outside in the sunshine. The menu was scary though – wines at £20+ for 500 mls, starters over £12, main meals £18 upwards – plus 12.5% service. So we decided just to have some wine and olives and then move on.  But even that proved challenging, as first the wine, and then the olives took an age to arrive. Very unimpressive.

So we moved on to Hay’s Galleria, and Cote, one of a growing chain of upmarket French bistros. It was still sunny, so we wait for an outside table. Our earlier experience has made us a little impatient, but in fact we only have to wait about 5 minutes before the charming waitress found us a table.

And what a table! Just a little back from the river, we had excellent views of HMS Belfast, and of London Bridge pier, where ferries were constantly docking. Also view down to Tower Bridge (which opened a couple of times to allow tall-masted boats  to pass) and Canary Wharf, or back up to London Bridge and Cannon Street.

The menu is classic French bistro, and very extensive. Making a selection was proving difficult, as we quaffed the very good Viognier (@ £18.50). Finally, H settled on Moules Mariniere (this version served with cream), B had steak tartare (could have done with a little more tabasco), while I chose the tuna carpaccio, which was excellent – melt in the mouth with capers, garlic and a sauce vierge.

Moving on to main courses, H went for pan roasted pork belly, which came with figs and potato puree (mash!). She was very impressed, though personally was not that keen on the figs.  B had seafood linguine, which was stuffed full of mussels, clams, squid and prawns. My roasted duck breast was also good, though it maybe could have been a bit pinker. But the cherries and sauce that accompanied it, kept it moist and tasty, as did the parmentier potatoes.

The dessert manu was full of classics, all sounding very tempting, but we resisted. Service was excellent, charming and alert. With a second bottle of Viognier, and 12.5% service, the bill for the three of us was just £108 – excellent value for such a prime position and spot-on food. A superb place to recommend, especially for tourists.