Avoid at all cost, you could get food poisoning!!!
My partner and I dined in the Cocotte in Westbourne Grove. I must say it was the most shocking meal I had in a while. I work in the industry so I try not to be distracted by service and surroundings when I go out. Unfortunately everything that could go wrong went wrong today.
To begin with, the only positive side is the smily waiter that greeted us and told us to wait 5 min for the table. After we were seated by which I assume was the manager (no hello no smile no nothing) with a cold : "come with me", and we sat by the bar watching over the kitchen.
We ordered from the menu the poached eggs with mushroom ,the truffle croque monsieur, chorizo rice and baby potatoes. The rice was bland the potatoes were dry, the croque monsieur came with a barely toasted bread. The mushroom with poached eggs....I had to return it as it was literally a soup of oil and the water from the mushrooms, when I asked the waitress if it's supposed to be like that I've got the answer: "I'm not sure". I asked the chef if the dish is supposed to be like that he said no. The waitress then was a bit annoyed and asked me on a quite ferm tone :" so do you want a new one or?". I was quite hungry so I ordered a avocado on toast...which again...the toast was cold and barely toasted.
The most shocking bit was to see how chefs handle food right in front of me. One of the chefs spilled a green sauce from a squeeze bottle on to the yellow board where previously cooked chicken was handled. Then he just scooped it with a spoon, put it in a ramekin and serve it.....WOW!!!! From a board that after the chicken was cut and then they just wiped the board with blue paper.
Food left outside not even covered kept at room temperature...
I thought the whole point of an open ktichen is so the guest can see how food is made and maybe have a chat with the chef. Well....the chefs were speaking in their own language and not even tried to talk to us. I'm pretty sure they know the table numbers of the restaurant...if not at least the counter. When our food was done it was put at the food pass (which was 30cm from where we sat) and waited for the waitress to come and just literally push it towards us( i wonder if the chef could have made this easier by just serving it straight to us...)
When I asked for the bill, there was a bottle of still water on the bill which we didn't have and they had the audacity to add service charge, later on, both were removed on request. read more