Seafood platters

Eating a seafood platter by the ocean is one of the great pleasures of a holiday in Brittany. Best eaten freshly caught, shellfish bring the taste of the sea onto your plate. Enjoy the flavours of the ocean on a harbour terrace or beside the beach.

©Franck Hamel

What’s in a seafood platter?

The ideal seafood platter contains cooked and raw shellfish: spider crab, brown crab, prawns, langoustines, oysters, periwinkles, whelks, cockles, various types of clams and more. What’s best to have with it? A tasty rye bread, salted butter and home-made mayonnaise.

When can you eat it?

Seafood can be eaten all year round. The composition of the platter varies according to season. You won’t find spider crabs in summer!

Some top seafood platter restaurants

La Perle Noire in Saint-Coulomb is the ideal place to eat on the terrace with a view of the sea, away from the bustle of Saint-Malo’s walled town.
At the Port de la Houle harbour in Cancale, Au Pied d’Cheval is a specialist seafood restaurant. This oyster-farming family has been offering tastings of products from their own oyster farms for four generations.

Our tips for enjoying it at home

Several fishmongers offer delivery services all over France, delivering impeccably fresh seafood platters direct from Brittany (pre-prepared or for you to make up yourself): poiscaille.fr, laperledemariejo.com, boutique-paon.fr, luximer.com, etc.
Serve seafood on a bed of seaweed, rather than on crushed ice that causes products to lose their flavour.
For the best tasting experience, don’t forget those vital utensils: shellfish tongs and picks, and lobster forks for crustaceans. A bowl of water garnished with floating lemon slices is perfect as a finger-bowl.