Destination restaurants and sustainable seafood

Every morning around 7am, you'll find Christopher Coutanceau here at the fish market. Around ten wholesale fish merchants come here to sell the day's catch. Down through the years and decades even, these coastal men have come to trust one another and form lasting friendships. Hardly surprising then that the best turbot, sea bass and shellfish are reserved for the menu of this Michelin-starred chef... 

Laurent Hurtaud has been farming organically for many years now. His mussel stakes help to combat dune retreat in the Bay of Aiguillon. When Laurent's finest produce arrives in July, a classic dish graces the restaurant's menu: genuine Mouclade Rochelaise, flavoured with saffron and curry... 

On the Vendée coast, the beaches at St-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie and St-Hilaire-de-Riez are popular with shellfish pickers at a very low tides. Depending on the season and your level of experience, with a little bit of luck, you can fill your basket with banded wedge shells, sand shrimp, winkles, clams and crabs. Although be sure not to collect more than the legally allowed limit of 3kg. If you are feeling less adventurous, you can always visit the tanks at Vendée-Crustacées, the historic Saint-Hilaire wholesalers. 

An island tradition that dates back to the 5th century, the culture of harvesting salt in Noirmoutier's marshes has profoundly shaped the landscapes here. According to local salt workers, the canals and basins where coarse salt and the more delicate fleur de sel are harvested represent almost a third of the island's entire surface area. Some 3,000 oeillets (clay basins where salt water is allowed to evaporate) are still operated today by a hundred workers. These passionate producers, many of them young, are keen to preserve their way of life and share the fruits of their work.

This is where you can watch the ballet of the lasses–the traditional, flat-bottomed boats used by oyster farmers. Between the slipway and Bourgneuf Bay, the area is covered with pockets of cultivated oysters at different stages of maturation–it takes three years for an oyster to reach maturity. Scattered huts on the banks allow you to taste and buy oysters in situ. What could be more authentic than savoring them in front of this tableau?

The Baudet family has been passing on their secrets for over 50 years. These days, Hugo and Marion run the farm: 22,000 stakes spread out between Saint-Nazaire and Saint-Brévin, only 30 minutes from the Port de Gravette harbour. This location enjoys the advantage of freshwater currents arriving from the Loire river which encourage the growth of plankton. A rich blessing for mussel farmers...

Shaped like a back-to-front L, the little port of Audierne is still a meeting place for locals. It was here that former seamen, retired long-distance captains, line fishermen and sailors boarding supply ships for oil platforms, or tuna boats returning from the Indian Ocean would come to exchange news. At Audierne, the quays are a bit like the rural bars you might find in the countryside.

Between September and June, Christophe Orveillon prefers to harvest by hand rather than trawling the seabed. His abalone and scallops are simply amazing and delicious. This method of fishing allows him to favour quality over quantity and respects the natural cycle of the scallops. Although the Rance estuary is his playground, he also ventures to the slipways at Jouvente and La Passagère.