Bretagne continued eating...

Onward on the food-laden streets of Bretagne, we arrived back in Quiberon after a thorough soaking on the bike adventure around Belle-Ile-en-Mer.  On the ferry over I researched a few restaurants, and the top couple on the list were already booked full.  Not too surprising for a Friday night on a big holiday weekend, but disappointing nonetheless.  We found a place with very good reviews that we were able to get into, Jules Verne, a bit down the quai.  Naturally we started with the Quiberon oysters just to see how good they were, and, well, they were incredible.  There's something about the sauce that comes with almost every oyster here that complements them perfectly, just enough acid from the vinegar and the shallots add a bit of spice.  I'm no oyster connoisseur, in fact I didn't have one I liked until a few months ago.  Maybe it was the fault of the oysters, or maybe I've just grown to love them, either way I prefer them with this concoction. 

Next up was some sautéed scallops with a butter cream sauce and sautéed thinly sliced apples.  Good, but really nothing to write home about. The wine was wonderful, but that seems to be par for the course; this time was a perfectly chilled Pouilly Fumé.  The restaurant itself was a bit odd...tables far apart as to create privacy for your conversations, but music so low you could hear every word of everyone in the room.  There was something just generally awkward feeling about the place...food was good but not astonishing, and I'd have to downgrade based on the bizarre ambiance. 

Next up was an early morning rush off to Quimper to try to get to the kayaks on time...picked up some sandwiches en route and managed to get in a nice traffic jam (bouchon) getting off of the presqu'ile of Quiberon.  Luckily the kayak people were willing to meet us at the start point, and would give us a ride to the car afterwards.  We grabbed some sandwiches (nothing to report) on the way but no photos were necessary as they were somewhat smashed from being in the kayaks.  After battling winds and reversing tides at the end we headed into Quimper for some dinner.  Again did some research and found an interesting créperie a bit out of the center of the city. 

The restaurant was called Les Délices du Cap Horn and I would highly recommend it.  When we first walked in it wasn't busy, but I think this is just due to the location.  The proprietor was the most impassioned by his products I have seen yet in France, and shared his love of all his regional favorites.  To accompany the crèpes we had a Cournouaille AOC cider, which was certainly the best cider I've ever had in my limited experience.

I had the forestière galette with bacon, egg, mushrooms, onions and cheese, but also got to sample the Cap Horn, with flambéed scallops, bacon, and mushrooms with a cream sauce.  Honestly the best I've ever tasted.  We also tried a crèpe with local camembert and honey, which was astonishingly good and just had enough sweetness to perfectly compliment the fresh local cheese. 

Sadly the trip was winding to a close, the next day we only had time for a lunch on the route back to Nantes before the evening trains.  Seems we saved the best for last in terms of seafood.  We called and were able to get into Chez Jacky which was called THE place to taste the Belon oysters.  Not only was the view and building gorgeous, but service was impeccable and the oysters were amazingly fresh, the Belon oysters particularly interesting...as I said I'm no Oyster expert, so I'll leave the descriptions to the experts.  I just know they were delicious.

This was followed by Scallops à La Bretonne.  The picture does them no justice.  Imagine scallops slowly marinating in a butter jacuzzi, with spices slowly thrown in.  The texture was more like a confit, I'm inclined to believe these will be similar to the scallop confit I bought in a confiserie and aim to cook this coming weekend...I don't believe I did anything but make "mmmmm" sounds with every bite.  Certainly the best cooked up Scallops I have ever had (can't really compare to perfectly sautéed because, well, the freshness was drowned in butter). 

This was the end of the Bretagne trip unfortunately, but it included the essentials: salted caramels, crepes, gallettes and wonderful seafood.   4 days wasn't nearly long enough....