La Cote Seafood Restaurant

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Prominently located on the waterfront at Custom House Quay.

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Description

La Cote Seafood Restaurant in Wexford has been delighting patrons with a fine dining experience that’s both affordable and relaxed since it opened its doors in 2014. Quickly gaining momentum in the foodie world, La Cote is ably helmed by chef patron Paul Hynes and his partner Edwina Tubbritt with the ethos of providing every customer with a unique dining experience using their fab seasonal menus made up of the very finest seafood matched with foraged and locally sourced ingredients.

The restaurant itself is bright and modern with black leather seating opposing the brilliant white walls and slightly retro light fixtures dangling above. For the atmosphere to be right, at any restaurant, good friendly service is a requirement and, at La Cote, the staff are excellent - attentive, cordial and professional.

On an evening visit, we ate from a 2/3 course set menu with starters that included a goat’s cheese ravioli with red pepper ketchup, brioche and a basil gel; stemmed suet pudding with Richie Doyle’s oxtail and parsley cream; as well as their La Cote style local seafood chowder. I opted for a delicious tempura of prawns in a perfect light crispy lemon batter, chilli jam and lemon and thyme crème fraiche, whilst my dining companion went for the superb salmon gravlax, beautifully presented with blini, dill jelly and a celeriac remoulade.

The mains, which were all served with a side of veg and potato, had lots to offer such as the grilled flat fish of the day, with five spice, carrot puree, citrus nage and an orange reduction. Their duo of local fish bouillabaisse sounding tempting with garlic croute and sauce rouille, as did Nick George’s wild mushroom pie served with a white wine sauce, leeks, herbs and a puff pastry, but in the end I was drawn to the roast fillet of salmon, which was terrific. Beautifully presented and superbly flavoured, the fab fish was served up with a beetroot puree, grapefruit gel, Parma ham crumble and beetroot veloute. Across the table, my pal had gone to shore with an order of sous vide leg of Barbary duck, cooked to perfection and served with a rich red wine onion, orange and vanilla puree and spiced apricots.

The dessert menu is irresistible, so our 2 course menu quickly became 3. After all, how can you ignore a warm toffee apple crumble drizzled in a sweet caramel sauce and a side of La Cote’s cinnamon ice cream? I couldn’t, and was sure glad I didn’t, as I savoured the delicious toffee treat. With options like a passion fruit baked Alaska with sorbet, passion fruit jelly and foam or a vanilla panna cotta with La Cote’s mango sorbet and basil tuille, my pal eventually chose a decadent 70% Callebaut chocolate fondant with raspberry foam, chocolate tuile and La Cote’s salted caramel ice cream, which she thought was marvelous and grudgingly let me sample!

La Cote offers fine dining, fair prices and a fab way to spend an evening – book your table now!