Bistro Guillaume, Burswood, WA

Bistro Guillaume, Burswood, WA

restaurant

rated 6/10: good on experience, weak on food

We were out for a show and added dinner to the experience. We booked at Bistro Guillaume, at the casino.

First up, the online booking system said that we could not book. Wrong date ? Wrong time ? No idea. Just that our requested booking could not be done. I phoned, made the booking with a pleasant and helpful person.

The day of the dinner I received a text message. I needed to respond with "confirm" -- or our booking would be cancelled. I was lucky to notice the message... I see my phone as a nuisance rather than as a necessity. I had not been given (while booking) any option to confirm via email.

The Bistro is at the casino. Parking is always a pain at the casino, so I had pre-paid for valet parking. That was an excellent idea ! Sure, there were no signs, no "valet parking here". But the service was excellent.

And so, to the restaurant...

The young woman at the front desk had trouble finding my name on the booking system... The older woman had no trouble, possibly because English was her first language. Wow ! You should have seen the smarm level rise when she saw "Dr" on the booking !

Service was good. Friendly, polite, sufficient. Various people turned up when required, not too often.

The room-- and our location in it -- were very pleasant. The noise of our fellow diners was remarkably loud, there really should be some acoustic material to dampen the sound. The noise was loud, but not so loud that we had trouble talking to each other.

And then, the food...

We ordered Duck Parmentier, to share. Parmentier is the French equivalent of cottage pie: mashed potato on top of meat.

There was too much salt. Too much tarragon. Not enough meat. Though my partner believes that there was enough meat. Did not notice the tarragon. Commented on the saltiness but did not object to it.

The mash on top was light and fluffy -- very little body. Air, fat, a little bit of potato... so it seemed to me. I believe that the carbohydrate (potato, rice, pasta) provides bland substance: it allows the diner to chose the level of taste for each mouthful, it fills the stomach while the meat satisfies the taste buds.

But then, when a dish is called "Parmentier", I accept that it will be French style. And French food is famous for richness, European food tends to be very heavy on the salt. So I am happy with the Bistro interpretation but -- from personal preference --would not choose it again.

For dessert my partner had chocolate soufflé, I chose the profiteroles.

The soufflé was delicious. But what to do with the spoonful of icecream ?! A single spoonful -- delicious but too little. And it was already melting off the spoon ! Worse yet, it was melting off the spoon onto the plate -- which had a paper serviette on it. If the icecream melted onto the paper, it was gone... My partner quickly dropped the single blob of icecream into the soufflé, where it could do some good.

My profiteroles were also delicious. But...

The difficulty of making a profiterole is to get the pastry "just right". It's too easy to let the pastry go stale... or leathery, which is worse. Guillaume "solves" this problem... by not using pastry.

The profiteroles were made as a biscuit. Firm, crunchy biscuit. Not pastry. Easier to mass produce, less chance that it will go wrong. A reminder that this is a franchise rather than a restaurant with a dedicated and expert chef.

My profiteroles were absolutely delicious. There was enough icecream. The chocolate sauce was not too sweet, a good balance with the icecream. It was just a bit disappointing to find that the pastry was not really pastry.

The cost was, as expected, exorbitant. The food was average, the experience was excellent. The experience -- as an occasional treat -- was value for money. A very enjoyable meal, with a favourite partner.

We had our coffee in the foyer of the casino hotel. Comfortable seats, fascinating crowds, good coffee. A very pleasant break between dinner and the show.

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"Let not the sands of time get in your lunch" ... per Ginger Meggs