5.1 Restaurant (as opposed to their Cave) Simone, 33 blvd Arago, 01.43.37.82.70 (Metro: Gobelins), closed weekends, was one of those places on my list, pre-Summer I never quite got to but reserved for last week - and then KABOOM, the JDD wrote it up yesterday in such glowing terms I thought "What a smart boy am I." The team here is very very friendly and large, the kitchen open and welcoming, the wines, largely bio-natural-etc., superb, the prices right and my friend and I settled in for some great chow.
We both started out with the ceviche which was, humm, ceviche, with none of that crisp zesty flavor you get from a sparkling recipe; then my friend had the merlu whose skin was superby toasted but again, was, hummm, just not tasty enough to light your fire; and I had the paleron of beef that needed, hummmm, some push, mustard helped, but..... Now the bright side of life, Monty Python like, were the wonderfully flavored and colored carrots and beets and such. Truly nice veggies.
Our bill, with said bottle of wine, no bottled water, no desserts but two coffees, was 62 E.
Go? Gosh, I hope our meals aren't reflective of the average ones here - I'm an outlier when it comes to all the othe reviewers.