Café Review: Sisters Bistro

Sisters Bistro

Lunch on the run too often equals grease. However, thanks to the recent launch of Sisters Bistro, Prague’s time-poor but health-conscious can refuel with wholesome veggie soups and salad-laden open sandwiches. 

Sisters Bistro is located on Dlouhá in the new Gastro Pasáž. Intended to be a shopping haven for foodies, so far only a couple of units are occupied. With stores such as gourmet butchers Naše Maso, it’s a welcome addition to the city’s culinary scene nonetheless. Sisters has a corner unit looking out onto the main street which makes it easy to spot if you happen to be strolling past. The menu is as simple as the café’s basic philosophy: homemade is best, use only fresh ingredients, and ditch the additives.

I start with the soup of the day: Granny’s vegetable and lovage soup with barley (59 CZK). This thick broth is certainly substantial: the generous serving made a great contribution towards my five-a-day. Swimming in the delicate stock I see tiny pieces of leek, potato, carrot and broccoli not to mention miniature pearl barley grains. While the price might seem a little steep just for soup – there’s no accompanying serving of bread – what’s here is satisfying enough to keep you going without suffering hunger pangs of regret all afternoon.

However, it’s my job as Expats.cz’s intrepid café reviewer to check out more of the menu. The real stars of the show at Sisters Bistro are the chlebíčky: those Czech style open sandwiches on offer in bakeries and cukrárny around the land. The owners of Sisters Bistro have made it their mission to give this national snack an upmarket makeover. The results are a visual feast – at least for a foodie like me.

Cast your hungry eyes over the chiller cabinet at the counter and you’ll see mackerel with lamb’s lettuce prettily arranged on a slice of bread (baked in-house naturally), a ham with potato salad open sandwich alongside an impossibly cute mini-gherkin and beetroot with goat’s cheese. Briefly distracted by a chlebíček decorated with a king prawn – very decadent – I decide instead to go for the ham and the beetroot posh snacks.

The key question is, do these fancy open sandwiches taste as good as they look? I’m happy to report the answer is an unequivocal yes.

First of all, I try the beetroot and goat’s cheese creation (29 CZK) which consists of pureed beetroot spread over a thin rectangular slice of that freshly baked bread topped with a circle of goat’s cheese and a sugar coated walnut. Goat’s cheese is of course an acquired taste but the sweet and savory contrast here is delicious and shows that careful thought has been put into getting the right combination of flavors on each slice.

Next, I nibble at the ham and pickle chlebíček (39 CZK). Czechs love their gherkins as much as they love their pork which hardly makes this the most imaginative creation. However, what raises this seemingly humble snack above the humdrum is the quality of the meat – no added water or nasty additives – and the sheer amount of ingredients packed into one slice of bread. There’s a beautiful little potato salad with chives, a delightfully cute mini-gherkin and lashings of butter. I eat it slowly to relish every mouthful. A tip – you might need a knife and fork if you want to consume it in a dignified manner.

Once the hard work is done, I order a cappuccino (59k CZK). It’s a decent size, creamy and foamy, but not extraordinary. Perhaps I should have tried the fresh lemonade instead which the server tried to tempt me with. Next time.

I’ve timed my visit to avoid the lunchtime rush which was wise as by 11.30am all the seats are taken – hardly surprising as there are only a couple of tables – and there are a steady stream of customers stopping by to get food to go. Who can blame them? The service, which was friendly and efficient, gets a thumbs-up, too.

Now for my minor grumbles. Sisters Bistro might have a charmingly bijou interior (a.k.a tiny) which is fine if you’re taking away. However, if you plan to hang around and need to use the bathroom, you’ll have to ask for a key at the counter and find the one in the Pasáž which is something of a nuisance. It’s not open at the weekend. The only desserts I spotted were a few pastries in a big jar near the till – a bit of a disappointment for someone like me who has an incurable sweet tooth. That said, if it’s a light lunch you want and you crave something nutritious, Sisters Bistro is the place for you. The humble chlebíček can be a culinary delight – who knew?

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