Goumard - Decent Fish, Great Bathrooms (Paris Restaurant Review No. 7)

We returned from Paris at the end of July. Here it is over two months later and we are finally about to write up the last of our trip's dining experiences. We have a good excuse though, because we have both been very busy, particularly Lisa who has started a new business venture. Unfortunately, we did not save the best for last, because Goumard was good, but not nearly as good as Guy Savoy or Arpege. Nonetheless, for poisson, it was pretty good.

Normally, we skip the apperatif part of the meal, but since we were with our friend Aileen, we decided to go for the total experience. We all had a glass of pink champagne, which was a nice change. We also had a bottle of sauvignon blanc, recommended by the waiter. It was a perfect choice, and set off the food very well. Our amuse bouche was a salmon quiche with seaweed. We were surprised how much we liked it, even with the seaweed.

We all loved our appetizers. We shared the salmon, the tuna with goat cheese and the crab and asparagus. The salmon and tuna were absolutely wonderful, and the crab was very good. Steve even liked the asparagus, which is unusual for him.

For the main course, Steve and Lisa both had the sea bass. Steve liked it a bit more than lisa did, but we both thought it was good. Aileen, being more adventurous, had a fish called Derouade. She thought it was very good. Steve thought, however, that it looked weird.

The cheese course was a bit weak. The cheddar was great. The goat cheese was pretty good. But we didn't like the roquefort - even Steve who usually loves any sort of bleu cheese. And the camembert was much too strong for us.

The dessert amuse bouche was quite good. For regular dessert Lisa had the bitter chocolate sorbet, which she liked alot. Aileen and Steve had rice pudding. Aileen thought it was good but Steve, who loves rice pudding, was a bit disapointed, because it was somewhat watery and lacking in flavor.

The bathrooms were very clean, french and pretty, with yellow and blue mosaic tile. However, the fixtures were somewhat old and the men's was not quite as immaculate, thus depriving them of a perfect score.

All in all, while this was in the middle of our Paris dining experiences (but would have been tops in London), it was a very pleasant dinner, with good food and company. Dinner for three with a bottle of wine was 530 Euros, so for two, with wine by the glass, it would have been about 300 Euros, which is a bit pricey but we were in Paris after all.

Our ratings for Goumard, 9 rue Duphout, Paris

7 of 10 Fish Hooks; 2.5 of 3 Bathroom Brushes