Plates and Pours

Comptoir+Cuisine is a small plate French bistro restaurant in Bath and as you’d expect the decor is French inspired with the walls adorned with French language posters and the tricolor flag.

The front of the restaurant features a selection of cosy bar tables for walks ins and those wanting just drinks, or drinks and nibbles, and the rear of the restaurant is more set up for proper dining. That being said, it’s not a big restaurant so you’ll want to book!

With a brightly lit and vibrant atmosphere Comptoir+Cuisine caters for all manner of dining occasions. Our co-diners for the evening consisted of a mix of couples and friendship groups. We did chuckle as one particular group of lads seemed suitably out of place, a very Hot Fuzz “white or uh red” moment, however all seemed to be having a good time and seemed to enjoy the food (and the wine).

The staff were absolutely wonderful – really bubbly, welcoming and happy to offer both drink and food recommendations.

Although renowned primarily for their champagne, and cheese, we opted for a neutral and easy drinking white wine that would pair across the multitude of small plates that we had ordered.

Food at Comptoir+Cuisine

First came the Comte gougeres, cheesy little bites to get us going which offered a mellow savoury cheese flavour. Although in hindsight these were largely lost amongst all the other powerful food flavours and could have done with more punch!

Ross noted that these would probably be more of an ideal pairing with a glass of champagne or alongside one of the cheese or charcuterie boards where the flavour won’t get lost.

Next came the bread board with butter and a whole bulb of roasted garlic. We were expecting this to be a bit of a filler to add some carbs to the meal, but it actually turned out to be one of the highlights of the meal and tasted absolutely unreal! The garlic was perfectly roasted, with a mellow sweetness that acted as a perfect starter for the meal.

Then came our main selection of small plates. First up roasted cauliflower with romesco sauce – a very simple dish but a nice pairing for some of the meat dishes we chose, and the romesco delivered on flavour.

We also had halibut served with pancetta jam, which was a real delight. The fish was flaky with a crispy skin that was Ross’s personal favourite of the whole meal!

Our next meat dish was the beef onglet with blueberry sauce, which was very disappointing. I wanted to order it because I love beef and it sounded like an intriguing combination. But despite the beef being. a blushing pink, the beef was very tough and lacked flavour. The sauce although nice, didn’t really lift the plate significantly.

We finished our main selection of dishes with pork cheeks, which came in a cider and apple sauce. This was my personal favourite (I love the ‘cheaper’ cuts of meat). The pork cheeks were super tender and offered up a beautiful fatty flavour which was perfectly balanced by the sauce. The meat was practically melt in the mouth levels of soft and tender.

And finally, the pièce de résistance, a chocolate fondant. I must say, Comptoir+Cuisine delivered an absolutely spectacular fondant that is a chocolate lovers dream! They have achieved a perfectly thin sponge outer which was just about thick enough to hold back the rich and decadent molten chocolate centre that oozed out from the middle.

I’d love to visit Comptoir+Cuisine again to try their cheese and charcuterie board with a few different champagnes, but overall I do feel that Bath has other small plate eateries that top it. Such as Corkage!