Sandrine’s Bistro

Sandrine’s Bistro is a French restaurant tucked away on one of the side streets in Harvard Square. We decided to go there because Bryan felt like having a nice, relaxing meal after our four hour walk from Lexington, MA.

It was Mother’s Day, and thus the menu was Prix fixe only. I finally decided to order the lobster risotto with truffles as my entree and scallops ceviche (raw but “cooked” in vinegar or citrus juice). Bryan ordered the truffle foie gras appetizer and the grilled rack of lamb.

Appetizer
The food was very good. The warm French bread was crusty on the outside but soft on the inside. I couldn’t stop eating it, even though I knew I was ruining my appetite. For a French restaurant, the serving sizes were very generous. I probably had about 25 baby scallops in my scallops ceviche. The scallops tasted fresh and had good texture. Bryan’s foie gras was also the biggest foie gras I had ever seen at a restaurant. It was about 3/4 inch thick and the size of a piece of toast. It came with a couple slices of toasted bread. I don’t like foie gras, and personally, I couldn’t taste the truffles. However, Bryan thought it was pretty good.

Main Entree
My lobster risotto was also very well made. Again, the portion sizes were very generous. My risotto was filled with fresh lobster meat and covered with slices of truffles. Although I was hoping for a stronger truffle flavor, the flavors in this dish were actually well balanced and blended together nicely. Bryan’s lamb was also tasty, grilled to perfection.

Dessert
Dessert was heavenly. Bryan ordered the lemon tarte. Visually, it looked like the lemon tarts that I often see at company events catered by a hotel. However, this lemon tart was surprisingly different, and much better. The lemon portion of the tart was light and fluffy, not dense and custard-like. It was almost like eating clouds of cream bursting with lemon-y citrus bliss coupled with pieces of buttery cookie-crust. I liked it so much, I kept stealing some from Bryan. I ordered the flourless chocolate cake, which is similar to the molten chocolate cake offered at many fancy restaurants. The cake here was excellent. The center was warm and slightly gooey, and the cake itself had a dark rich flavor that wasn’t too sweet. It was perfect. I couldn’t stop eating my own dessert either! Again, back to what I said about generous portions, this was probably the largest molten chocolate cake I had ever seen in a fancy restaurant. Nevertheless, we polished off both desserts without a problem. We also both had coffee, which was good. It matched the desserts perfectly.

I guess it was a good thing we walked 10 miles that day. Otherwise, we’d be feeling pretty guilty about this excellent meal that we had.