Basingstoke Cote unveils luxurious Alpine-inspired menu

Cote, in Festival Place, is offering customers the chance to try a menu designed by Gordon Ramsay’s former executive chef Steve Allen, which focuses on fresh seasonal ingredients showcasing classic French cuisine popular during the chilly ski season.

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We decided to give the two menus on offer a try and see if they transported us to the French Alps.

The indulgent dishes include Alpine seasonal favourite Tartiflette – one of the most loved apres-ski dishes, derived from the word potato and often enjoyed by skiers.

The sumptuous dish is a delicious combination of reblochon and comte cheese, smoked bacon lardons, sliced potatoes and caramelised onions served with a crunchy sourdough baguette.

The ready-made dish was simply popped in the oven and came out bubbling 30 minutes later, ready to be served up.

We accompanied it with a side salad, as suggested by Cote, and it made for a tasty, filling meal.

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The menu, which costs £41.95 for up to four people, also includes accompaniments of saucisson with black truffle produced from the finest cuts of pork from the Rhone Alps region; Bayonne ham, cured from the ancient port city of Bayonne in the southwest of France; cornichons; and sourdough demi-baguette.

The dish was perfectly paired with a glass of Cote’s du Rhone Rouge – a lighter bodied red wine with a juicy freshness and notes of peppery spice from Syrah grapes.

For dessert, there was a pear alpine tart (£11.95) served with blueberry compote.

Again, it just needed to go in the oven and provided a delicious, sweet end to the meal.

The menu would make hosting a dinner party a breeze for anyone who doesn’t fancy cooking, with everything already prepared in advance. However, it is perhaps a little pricy when compared to other similar ready-made meals.

Cote’s second menu is ideal for cheese-lovers with a classic cheese fondue costing £25.95.

The decadently creamy, smooth melted cheese fondue made from comte, morbier and Roquefort cheeses, with Dijon mustard, is served with various accompaniments for dipping including new potatoes and a sourdough demi-baguette.

We improvised and had to use a bowl to serve the fondu, which didn’t have quite the same ski vibe authenticity as using a fondue set. 

The instructions recommended heating the sauce until it bubbled, but by doing so it lost its stringy cheese texture and became runny, which wasn’t quite so appealing, but it still tasted nice.

To finish, the meal was accompanied by a decadent and rich hot chocolate with Grand Marnier liqueur and cream. It was a real treat for a cold winter’s evening.

Steve Allen said the menu “promises to banish the January blues and bring the cosiness of apres ski tradition to your own home”.

The menu is delivered direct to your door and can be ordered online.