In search of SXM’s hottest dessert
~ Le Bistronome ~
Fellow dessert lovers, unite! Calling everyone with a sweet tooth to this edition of our island-wide hunt for St. Maarten’s best dessert!
This week’s dessert search took us to a new restaurant in Grand Case, also known as the culinary capital of the Caribbean. Le Bistronome has been open since the end of January and is a welcome addition to the famous restaurant boulevard with their fantastic food and intimate ambiance. The romantic restaurant is owned by charming couple Alexandre and Chantal, who ran the well-known Sunset Café at Grand Case Beach Club before opening their own place in a remodelled creole house.
Le Bistronome is a bistro-style restaurant – delicious cuisine in a casual setting. Owner and maître d’ Chantal and her attentive staff take care of the guests while Alexandre whips up wonderful food in the open kitchen. On their menu, a bistro is defined as “offer[ing] a cuisine that is inventive but at affordable prices, because it is practiced in modest places.” According to owner and Chef Alexandre, Le Bistronome aims to provide “gastronomic cuisine without pretention”.
The menu is small and concise to ensure high quality, but still varied enough to appeal to most. You can literally see the love and attention that Alexandre puts into all the dishes through the restaurant’s open kitchen. Specialties include their raw bar with tuna and beef carpaccio, a Fisherman’s pot Antillean stew, and slowly cooked beef with foie gras.
But of course, Sugar and Spice was here to sample their sweet treats, so make sure to save some room for dessert! And since guests are treated like family/friends at Le Bistronome, Chantal recommended two quite different desserts to cater to both our tastes – their rock chocolate with pistachio for the chocolate-lover and their puff pastry with strawberries and mango for the fruit-fan.
The rock chocolate and pistachio with whipped cream and chocolate sauce was all it aspired to be – sophisticated and sweet. The decadent dark chocolate ganache melts in your mouth while the pistachio crunch adds texture. The rich and intense chocolate flavour is balanced by the airy and fluffy homemade whipped cream, whereas the strawberries add some freshness to the dessert.
My personal favourite is the puff pastry with mango and strawberry, served with homemade whipped cream and passion fruit sauce. The puff pastry is baked to perfection: it is buttery yet flaky and crackles with every bite. The homemade whipped cream provides an airy cloud-like texture while the mango puree adds sweet softness to the dish. But the real winners here are the fresh mango and strawberry pieces that make the dessert deliciously fruity and fun.
The overall product is not too sweet as the acidity of fruit cuts the sugary puff pastry – all in all, an ideal light and refreshing way to end a great meal.
Special note: Though we might not be able to enjoy Le Bistronome’s wonderful ambiance and delicious desserts at the moment, it is definitely something to look forward to after all this madness!
Le Bistronome is located in Grand Case across the big parking lot. Opening hours are 6:00pm until 10:30pm Monday through Saturday. Call +590 690 73 91 90 for reservations or more information.
Does your restaurant’s dessert deserve a spot in our search for sweet treats? Send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and let us know.
