Shellfish tour of Brittany/Normand, France - last stop

Honfleur

 

 

This is the most pretty, well preserved harbour town I have visited in the whole journey

  

 

There are a lot of classy galleries, fine food shops, cake shops to cater to the flood of tourists from overseas and Paris.

fish/shellfish conserve shop

 

Supply is good and is a wonderful place to wander around for a day.

Unfortunately it was Sunday and there was only one fish shop open, with mostly cooked stuff, so cannot access its shellfish supply potential.

 

Purchase:

Scallop - Euro 18 for 3 kg (around 1euro each)

 

Shellfish tour of Brittany/Normand, France - stop 7

Granville

 

 

Yet another harbour town, quite big, enough population to have an all days open market, plus a number of fish shops.

  Fish shop and restaurant - Au p'tit Mareyeur
  Rue du port
 

 
 Purchase:
 Sea urchin (from Iceland) - euro 27/kg, around 2 euro each
 Praires (hard shell clam)- euro 12/kg
 Also available in tanks are lobsters (euro 48/kg), crabs and spider crabs.

 

Sea urchins are very small but the shop lady reassures that they are full of eggs inside. Indeed she is right, and sweet too.
 
Praires are collected from the sea and is fine to eat raw. Very good marine taste, meat firm and not tough.

  

Outside the covered market there is a good fish counter - Deshayes Maree
 
 Purchase:
 Langoustines ( from Scotland ) - euro 30/kg
 Bouquet (local shrimp) - euro 59/kg

Scottish langoustines

bouquet

Fish shop owner explains that it is faster and cheaper (!)for them to get langoustines from Scotland than from nearby Guilvinec, Brittany. The size of these Scottish langoustines are much bigger than those from Guilvinec. This bigger in size is the reason for the higher price.

The taste is as sweet, but the flesh is a little bit flabby compared with the Brittany ones.

Shellfish tour of Brittany/Normandy, France - stop 6

Cancale

Another harbour town worth a visit, famous for oyster farming

oyster beds

 Les Viviers la Houle

With a large selection of oysters and other seafood.
 

Purchase
 Oyster round flat - size 0, eruo 13 for a dozen

The same round flat type oyster as in Golfe du Morbihan, where the oyster seeds were produced, then transported here for cultivation.

Shellfish tour of Brittany/Normandy, France - stop 5

Erquy

Julien in the last fish shop recommended us to visit this nearby town, Erquy, a fishing harbour mainly for lobsters and scallops.

Indeed a pretty little town with semicircular sandy bay and colourful fishermen's cottages along the waterfront.

 
Poissinerie Le Panier d'crabes

Purchase:
Abalone (ormeau) - euro 42/kg, around 4euro each
Shrimp (bouquet) - euro 69/kg
Scallop - euro 4/kg, around 6euro for 10 pcs

This is the first time to have abalone in France. Remove the flesh, discard internal organs, blanch in boiling water for 5 seconds to clean the outside. Slice and serve, crunchy with mild marine taste.

This shrimp is found in the rocky area of the shoreline and have to be collected by foot - "kicking" to expose the shrimps. They only grow to maximum 1inch long, have the most striking red lines, small but meaty, and tasty.

Shellfish tour of Brittany/Normandy, France - stop 4

Ploubalay

  Fish shop -Les Viviers du Breizhou
 

 Purchase:
 Dive picked scallop - euro 5/kg
 Spider crab- euro 9/kg, this one is euro 20.
 Lobster - euro 29/kg
 
What a charming, cheerful young owner, Julien, always with a huge smile and ready to answer all your questions.
 

The scallops are hand picked by a diver along rocky shore where fishing boats could not reach. It was said that being picked instead of trawled, the scallops are less stressed.

Indeed when tasted side by side, the hand picked scallop is slighter sweeter and have a firmer texture.
 

Rare to find a big spider crab, this over 2kg male (steamed for 30 minutes) is bursting with flesh, which is softer and sweeter than brown crab. 
 

Shellfish tour of Brittany/Normandy, France - stop 3

Dinard

oyster boat

Fish shop - Perle du Greve

A well decorated shop with all types of shellfish being kept in water, just like in the Hong Kong seafood market, the first I see in France.

Purchase:
Lobster - euro 32/kg
Scallop- euro 6/kg
Praires (Hard shell clam)- euro 9/kg



 



Brittany blue lobster is famous for being sweet, this one is as good as expected. 1.1kg lobster steamed for 7 minutes.

 

Scallop and clam are reasonably tasty, but feel that the tastes are a bit mild, like having too much water inside. 

Shellfish tour of Brittany/Normandy, France - stop 2

Guilvinec

This is the place to be in France to have the most fresh live langoustines. Fishing boats go out every morning and return at around 4pm.

 After auctioning, the langoustines will arrive at fish shops around 7 pm. 

Fish shop - Poissonnerie le Dundee
 

Purchase:
Langoustine (live) - euro 20/kg
Brown crab (live)-euro 6/kg, bought a 1.5kg female one for 9 euro.
Scallop(live)-euro 7/kg, around euro 1 each

I like to steam langoustine for just a minute, the flesh is sweet and firm. 

Equally good to eat the next day in a cold salad or warm up with a little butter.

Brittany scallop is transported live to every corner in France, it is an affordable delicacy from November to April.

Great both raw and quick seared both sides, sweet with a dense jelly texture.

Steamed this 1.5 kg female crab for 20 minutes.

Full of bright red coral, and firm meat, very filling, but not really that tasty compared with other species of crab.