Côté Bassin, Cap Ferret

Côté Bassin is an oyster cabin and seafood restaurant on stilts above the Arcachon Basin at Cap Ferret—the long finger of pine-covered peninsula that separates the basin from the open Atlantic. Cap Ferret is Nouvelle Aquitaine's most exclusive coastal destination: a discreet, low-built village of wooden summer houses where Paris's creative and professional elite spend July and August, and where the combination of pristine nature, extraordinary oysters, and studied informality has created one of France's most distinctive eating cultures. Côté Bassin sits at the edge of the water on the Avenue du Sémaphore with a terrace that looks directly across the basin to the Dune du Pilat on the opposite shore—a view of one of Europe's most spectacular natural landscapes from a table where the food costs the same as a modest Paris bistro. The menu is the pure Cap Ferret formula: oysters from the local beds harvested that morning or the day before, grilled prawns with aioli, moules marinières, a grilled fish or langoustine platter, and a cold carafe of white or rosé. Nothing is complicated; everything is fresh. The saucisse grillée served alongside oysters—the classic pairing in the Arcachon basin—appears here as at all the best basin cabins. The restaurant operates April through October; outside of these months Cap Ferret largely shuts down. Reservations are advisable for weekend lunch from June onward.