On our last day of the holiday, and as we were on the coast, we decided we would go for some fresh fish. As my wife was nagging for 3 days about bouillabaisse, we looked for a typical fish restaurant in Nieuwpoort-Stad, just a cross the fish mine. How much fresher could it be?

Off course, high season, almost every restaurant is a tourist trap. As we both don’t like the typical tourist menu’s, it’s a matter of choosing the one which looks the best. Of course it’s a very personal matter, but my wife and I hate places which are too crowded, and the food is predictable. We will always go looking for small, typical restaurants, where local people eat their food as well.
We found La Maree (http://www.nordexlamaree.be/), and from all the establishments in a row, this looked like the best option. Choosing a fish menu (starter, main and dessert for € 31) and a very nice bottle of Chardonnay for € 24 was an excellent choice. The wine was superb, unfortunately no pics this time. My wife, obviously, had the bouillabaisse as a starter, and this was outstanding. The fish soup was very rich, with mussels, a variety of white fish and salmon, and was accompanied by a well-seasoned rouille and French toast with melted cheese on top. As my wife was already stuffed and still expecting the main course, we even tried to teach the kids to eat mussels 😉 Not a very big success yet, but the other fish was well received. I had the shrimp croquettes, accompanied by some fresh bread and farm butter. And again the kids liked it as well 😉
The main course arrived, I had the sole fillets in brown butter and some fresh, crunchy French fries. Nowadays you rarely get fresh French fries, so we were not unhappy at all. My wife had cod, in creamy sauce with freshly peeled shrimps, which was really succulent! Way too much, but from excellent quality! We even asked for the leftovers!
We could choose any dessert we liked, my wife had the ‘Dame Blanche’, but ordered it especially for the children as she was still stuffed from the main platter! I craved for a moeilleux, but they ran out of it. Feeling sad, the waitress promised to make a special dessert for me, with some chocolate mousse, crème brulée and ice cream! An excellent ending of a very good meal (total of € 86), even in a touristic area the food was of a high quality! A must do when you are in the neighborhood!

Score: 8 out of 10