This is less of a food and travel guide and more of our time spent in Montpellier. A short 24 hours of bistro food, gothic buildings and oysters. 

BROC CAFE

When we reached Montpellier, we were hungry. It was only 4 or 5 pm. Somewhere between lunch and dinner. I needed something sweet and Roy had to have his coffee. A cafe perhaps? It was the only agreeable place at that time. So we shuffled into Broc Cafe where students from the nearby university were enjoying frites, roasted camembert and wine. After a cappuccino and a chocolate cake with a side of cream, we decided to take a look around the city. As we were leaving, a teenager with tousled hair and gold-rimmed glasses was slicing bread for dinner. Next to him, the cooks were prepping the beef on the grill for their burgers oozing with Saint-Marcellin cheese. I knew there and then that we were coming back for dinner.

COQUI THAU 

The real reason we went to Montpellier was because of oysters. Oysters from the Bassin de Thau. Coqui Thau was opened by Christian, the first generation owner of the oyster farm. On the day we visited the farm, his son Eric was out on the boat looking after the oysters at sea. A mid-morning pan of Bouzigues mussels was simmering a la brasucade. With the tang of the ocean mingling with the crisp cool air, Eric shucked the oysters so effortlessly as if he was paring an apple. My memory of raw oysters are those spritzed with fresh lemon. I had thought that that was the only way to eat a raw oyster. But that could not compare to the oysters “Nino style”, a recipe from their friend in Alicante which I had not been able to put a finger on. A drizzle of olive oil paired with something luxuriously pink made the oysters taste like heaven.