In the far west of France is a peninsula that pushes out 250 kilometres into the Atlantic. Brittany is nurtured by the warm Gulf Stream and caressed by constant sea breezes. This has helped to make it into a huge natural stage with a wide variety of features, including storm-tossed cliffs, palm groves, fields of artichokes, endless sandy beaches and everywhere beautiful views.

One of the most stunning of these can be seen from the terrace of Le Coquillage, a restaurant outside Saint Méloir des Ondes. The reputation of the restaurant’s world-famous chef, Olivier Roellinger, is just as dazzling as the view of the coast.

The chemist has acquired three Michelin stars and a permanently booked restaurant in neighbouring Cancale on the basis of his firm belief that there is a definitive spice mix for every dish which he simply needs to find or invent. The restaurant was one of the most successful in France. However, at the end of 2008, Roellinger returned his three stars and closed the Maison de Bricourt. Here, in the slightly smaller Le Coquillage, he wants to find the time and the peace to focus on the essentials: his spice mixes.

“I believe that I am a palate in the universe of tastes, just like a nose in the world of perfumes,” he says. The descendant of spice importers, he makes sure that interested guests can also benefit from his exceptional gift for spices in their own kitchens. Everything which Roellinger develops is also available from one of his nearby shops or by mail order.

Anyone who chooses to forego a visit to Le Coquillage, because they have bought the master’s greatest secrets in the spice store, is missing an unforgettable and highly pleasurable experience. Guests sipping their aperitifs on the terrace hear the crunch of gravel behind them and find a discreet waiter or waitress ready to serve just the right thing at the right time. The appetiser of salmon, mackerel, tiny seaweed biscuits and champagne prepares the palate for the menu.

This includes tuna with wild fennel, oysters from the bay, seafood in vegetable stock, small soles pan-fried in salted butter, Cancale-style lobster grilled over the fire and char-grilled Breton squab and it almost seems an impertinence to read it. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if someone were to appear and help you to make the impossible choice?

Minutes later, you’re sitting inside and your dreams are coming true, one after another. The shellfish marinière in which the fillet of bass has been poached contains coriander, turmeric, dried mango powder and a secret ingredient. This is so much the right thing at the right time that all you can do is tip your plate up carefully to spoon out the very last drops. The waiters and waitresses move elegantly across the room as if they had agreed before starting work on a melody to which they would dance through the restaurant.

This even applies to tiny Valentine who pushes the heavy cheese trolley up to the table. After the cheeses, each of which is accompanied by an appropriate chutney from Roellinger’s kitchen, the chef de rang comes to the table and asks a strange question: “Do you have any questions?” How did he know? “Why does the sea bream tartare taste like that? It tastes green, although it looks white.” He knows the answer: “Seaweed or, more accurately, a very special alginate.” If we want to find out more, he says, the woman who makes it is based nearby.

Christine Le Tennier sits on the first floor of a bare and unadorned building not far from the little town of Rosporden, surrounded by seaweed in all its forms: in jars, dried, fresh in bundles, concentrate, powdered. The entire building smells of the beach. On the floor below fresh seaweed is transformed into food, packaged and sent to gourmets all over the world. Salad mixes, delicious seaweed tartare, sardine spread with three types of seaweed, maritime bouquet garni, seaweed chutney, jam, seaweed pesto, mustard and a vinegar which is the perfect accompaniment to oysters represent just a selection of the range of products available.

Christine Le Tennier believes seaweed to be the most valuable food of all. “It was there before us, it will be there after us, but most importantly it is there for us. It can solve the hunger problems in the developing world, help people in the developed world to lose weight and add the finishing touch to dishes of all kinds.” Then comes a suggestion: “Try covering the base of a pan with brown seaweed and putting a couple of langoustines on top. You don’t need any water or seasoning. Everything’s in the seaweed. Cover the pan with a lid and put it on the hob. After 20 minutes you’ll be eating the best langoustines you’ve ever tasted.” It seems that seaweed also gives you self-confidence: “I know the best seaweed chef in Brittany. You can eat there this evening.”

A mere three hours later I am sitting in Le Nautile, a restaurant built over the sandy beach of the stunningly beautiful Hotel Les Sables Blancs in Concarneau, with a menu on the table in front of me that no other guest has ever seen. “I’ll cook this especially for you!” says the best seaweed chef of all, otherwise known as Guy Diquélou. “Everything is based on seaweed, including the dessert.” Rushing back to the kitchen, he looks over his shoulder to call out “Bon appetit!”. He didn’t need to. The oyster and bass tartare with sea salad and seaweed waffles tastes as fresh as a spring day on the beach. The langoustines with nori seaweed leave me feeling elated and the turbot baked in seaweed with a puree made of artichokes and “haricots de la mer” pays homage to the restaurant’s name.


This is how it would taste 20,000 leagues under the sea if it had been cooked in Jules Verne’s fictional submarine the Nautilus. Seaweed also seems to encourage sympathy. The dessert made from Breton shortcrust pastry which contains a healthy portion of green seaweed is served by the chef himself, who asks “Is everything still all right for you?” with a friendly wink. Monsieur Diquélou didn’t need to ask that either. Everything certainly was all right. In fact, it was very much more than just all right!

Text: Hans Kantereit



Where to go in Brittany

LE COQUILLAGE AT THE CHATEAU RICHEUX, 
Le Bout, 35350 Saint-Méloir-des-Ondes, Tel. +33 (0)299 896476,
http://maisons-de-bricourt.com/index-en.php


EPICES-ROELLINGER SAINT-MALO,
12, Rue Saint Vincent, 35400 Saint-Malo, Tel. +33 (0)618 804410,
http://www.epices-roellinger.com/

ALGUES DE BRETAGNE, Zone industrielle de Dioulan, 29140 Rosporden, http://www.algues.fr/

LE NAUTILE IN THE HOTEL LES SABLES BLANCS, Plage des Sables Blancs, 29900 Concarneau,
Tel. +33 (0)298 501012, http://www.hotel-les-sables-blancs.com/