France: Cancale for Oysters

 

A vendor at one of the many oyster stalls on Cancale's waterfront walkway. You pick your
type of oyster, flat (huitre plate or Belon) or round (huitre creuse), and you pick your size,
from No. 1 (the largest) to No. 5 (the smallest), The vender shucks them and serves them on a 
plate with half a lemon. Cancale oysters tend to be very briny, very good but not very meaty. 

     On Wednesday, May 14, we drove to Cancale (on the coast of Brittany) from Nantes and arrived in time for a late lunch. Cancale was on our itinerary for one reason: oysters. And that's what we had for lunch. We had oysters at every chance here except breakfast, though it's said that Louis XIV routinely had Cancale oysters for breakfast.

     Our two breakfasts here were where we stayed, La Mere Champlain, a homey hotel-restaurant on the waterfront. We had one dinner here, and the Dover sole was excellent. Our other dinner in Cancale was at the other end of the waterfront, at Cote Mer, a more upscale place where we started with a duck pate before going on to scallops and steak, 

     Walking and eating are the two main activities in Cancale. Our hotel was part of a strip of restaurants strung along a walkway overlooking the harbor, where at low tide many boats are totally out of the water and resting on braces. Turn away from the harbor and you can walk uphill into what seems more like a small town, a little grid of streets with shops and attached houses.  Go back down the hill and you're ready for more oysters.

Across the harbor. we were told, on a really clear day one can see Mont Saint-Michel, our next destination. We scanned the horizon but I'm not sure we saw it.

Here are some Cancale snapshots.

Oysters are farmed at Cancale, growing in cages that are exposed at low tide. Tractors go
out onto the flats to bring in oysters and to let tourists get a closer look at the operation. 

This is the tide coming in. At high tide the cages can't be seen at all.

A street connects the bluff-top part of Cancale with the harbor.

Small shops and homes above the harbor.

The town seems to be nestled into a curve in the shore.

An oyster vendor at one of several stalls on Cancale's harbor walkway.

What may look like rocks in this photo are actually oyster shells, tossed away by diners
who are eating plates supplied by the oyster vendors. I imagine some of these shells will
be put in cages to give oyster spat something to settle on,

For a more formal oyster-eating experience, restaurants along  
 the walkway offer table service and mignonette and other sauces. 

Parked near the oyster vendors, this truck offers wine
 and other beverages to people picnicking nearby.

A dozen flat oysters as served by one of the vendors.