Café Bistro CHEATERS Premium Dessert Bar, the name itself is deceiving. On a recent visit to the restaurant located in Marché de l’ouest I was fully expecting a dessert restaurant with light food. I was pleasantly surprised to find the light food to be an excellent varied menu with a fabulous dessert bar. Founder Costa kiskiras has traveled the world from South America to Switzerland and brought back some of the very best from each of his visits.
The restaurant is situated in the new section of the market and offers a lounge style décor making it a great place to have a relaxed dinner or a cappuccino and dessert after a movie.
My diner companion and myself had a difficult time deciding on the appetizers, as they all looked enticing. The waitress offered to make us a special sampler platter that we both agreed too. While waiting for our appetizers we ordered a lovely Cabernet Sauvignon which is the most popular in the house.
The appetizers started with bruschetta and brie gratin on crouton. The brushetta was excellent with market fresh tomatoes and perfectly toasted bread and the brie was out of this world. The brie was heated to just the right temperature over a slice of toasted baguette with a home made pesto over the cheese. The combination was divine. Next came breaded mushrooms which where large and juicy and full of flavour when bitten into and Greek pizza. The pizza was my dining companions favourite with just the right blend of feta, olives and herbs on pita.
Costa insisted that we try one of his traditional cheese fondues. He brought us a sample of the sharp lugano, which is emmental cheese, blended with homemade pesto and served with croutons and market fresh vegetables. It was excellent and it makes you want to come back and try some of his other fondues which include cheeses, broth or oils with chicken, beef, European sausages, shrimps and crisp vegetables to dip.
For our main course I chose the ocean breeze which are large shrimps grilled in olive oil and garlic with just a touch of cilantro served with wild rice and rosti (a famous Swiss dish made from grated potatoes) and my dining companion had the pesto chicken. A chicken breast marinated and grilled in a pesto sauce topped with creamy brie cheese. Both were excellent.
After all that we settled in for the piece de resistance. The desserts…
We ordered cappuccinos that were brimming with froth and garnished with fresh cocoa as we perused the menu. The desserts ranged from flambéed crepes, Belgian waffles, chocolate fondues, churros (a dessert delicacy enjoyed for centuries by the Spaniards) and their famous gelato (Italian word for frozen) sorbets and ice cream which are made on the premises and only have 4-7% fat content. I settled on the chocolate fondue served with strawberries and kiwis. The chocolate fondue had raspbery coolies in the center to make the dipping that much more enjoyable and my dining companion who is of Spanish decent chose the churros. The churro is like an old fashioned donut that is rolled like a cigar and filled with chocolate, nutella or served plain. The churros where so authentic that my companion insisted on taking some home for her father.
For a full appreciation of the restaurant check out the complete menu at www.gowestisland.com/cheaters. |
