David Baker
Google
Bistro B provided us with an interesting and pleasurable experience, but had some flaws too.
The first thing I noticed about the restaurant was just how noisy it was. Through much of our meal, it was a struggle to hear each other and I had to consistently raise my voice to be heard. Fortunately, our reservations were on the later side, and as the restaurant cleared out, the noise became much better.
The restaurant is quite popular. Even though we had reservations, we had to wait 15 minutes for our table, and the restaurant doesn't have a comfortable waiting area. We just had to stand against the wall of the exitway, trying to keep out of the way of patrons entering and leaving.
The menu is divided into two sections: very small plates to accompany an aperitif, and then appetizer-sized plates where the menu says you should order two to three per guest. The menu doesn't explain if the dishes are intended to be shared or are for individuals, or how things should be coursed out. Perhaps it's because we don't speak French, but our server didn't make things clear either. What we learned:
1. The very small dishes are designed to be shared, and should all come together as a first course. The menu lists how many pieces are in each dish. For a full meal, I recommend ordering enough so that every diner gets one piece from two or three dishes.
2. The appetizer-sized dishes are not intended to be shared. For a full meal, I recommend each diner ordering two dishes for themselves, and have those dishes served separately as second and third courses. You should think about which dish you want first -- for example, fish -- followed by the next -- say, meat.
3. For the second and third courses, if it's on the menu, I recommend ordering the bread with chicken skin butter. The bread easily serves four people. The chicken skin butter is deliciously decadent.
Bistro B doesn't print menus, but instead provides each table a small tablet that loads up the menu on the Web site. The Web site is a bit clunky, and it's difficult for an entire table to share a single tablet. I recommend everyone arrive with a fully-charged phone and use your own phone to look at the menu.
For our first course for our table of four, we got two orders of the gougères, two orders of the shrimp spring rolls, and two orders of the foie gras terrine. Each order of those dishes has two pieces, so that gave every diner a single bite from each dish. All were delightful. The foie gras was very interesting -- served like a "taco" with a stroopwafel serving as the tortilla, with a noticeable punch of chili spice.
For our second and third courses, diners at our table enjoyed the oak leaf lettuce with pink peppercorn, zucchini flowers, albacore tuna crudo, steamed halibut, pork croquette, beef sirloin. All dishes were very good, though none gave us a "wow" moment. I have to say, the steak was cooked perfectly and was well seasoned.
For dessert, I got the rhubarb tartlet, which was a nice balance of sweet and acid. Others at my table had the strawberry sorbet cup with panettone toast and chocolate mousse. The strawberry sorbet was tasty, but something in the dish smelled very strongly vegetal -- almost like broccoli or wet vegetables that had started to go bad. We passed the dish around the table, and each diner detected the strong aroma and found it rather off-putting. If we spoke French, I would have inquired as to what went into the dish to give it that aroma.
Overall, a good, but mixed experience at Bistro B. Two kilometers nearby in Québec City is restaurant Melba, which has a similar dining format and cuisine design, and it was so much better. Melba had a much quieter and more pleasant atmosphere, the menu was easier to navigate, the service was more helpful, and a few dishes there blew our socks off.
