H2O, Harbor 2 Oursin

lundi 28 avril 2008

The forecast for today was showers by the afternoon, so we were hoping to get everything done as quickly as possible.  And no, oursin isn't our sin.

First stop was Cassis, a small seaside town not too far away from Marseille; it is also the name of an apéritif.  As soon as we got to there, I imagined returning there for a month or two while working on a script.  It has vibrant colors in its architecture, which is typical for Provence.  Even though it was a bit cold and the sky was menacingly gray, the town was still enjoyable.

The highlight for today was definitely our discovery for lunch.  Like any harbor town, there are numerous restaurants lined up along the harbor waiting for tourists.  We found one a little further away called "Le Mistral."  It was obviously a family-run business as the two portly gentlemen who greeted us at the door and behind the bar greatly resembled each other.  Its feature, like many other restaurants in town, was "dégustation de coquillages du 1er septembre au 1er mai," meaning "taste of shellfish from the first of September to the first of May."

I had wanted the seafood platter with oursin (sea urchin, uni for those of you familiar with sushi), oysters (huîtres), and an assortment of mussles, but oursin isn't in season.  So I settled (settled probably isn't the best choice of words here) for the bouillabaisse.  Just as a side note, I had always hated oysters in the past (cooked) until recently when my cousins N-bah and J-bah forced me to try a raw oyster for the first time.  I was actually very tasty.  I don't understand why the Taiwanese (and some other cultures) eat oysters cooked; it changes the texture to one that is plastique and... I guess disgusting would be the right word here.

So Didier and I ordered the bouillabaisse.  To be exact, we didn't actually have the bouillabaisse.  The menu states it was a fish soup cooked like the bouillabaisse.  Didier says it's the best he's ever had.  Me too, since it was my first.  Perhaps you need a special license to cook bouillabaisse, and they couldn't claim it to be that since they didn't have the license.  Who knows.  Later that night, Alim would order the bouillabaisse from a different restaurant; it was bland and poorly made in comparison to our non-bouillabaisse.  

Indeed our lunch was delicious, and the price (18 euros) couldn't be beat.  Huge - and I mean huge portions (some of you know how much I eat) - for each of us, with flavorful croutons and a great blend of sauce called rouille.  There were four kinds of fish, along with tender potatoes that have soaked up all the flavors of the fish.  Marvelous.  If you happen to come to Cassis, you must try this restaurant.

By the time we reached Marseille, it was starting to drizzle.  Marseille and Lyon fight for the title of the number two city in France.  Personally, I didn't care for Marseille that much, but keep in mind this judgment is based on a short visit of a few hours on a rainy day.  The traffice was awful (I was told that Marseille has this reputation), even though there were beautiful tramways that mostly went empty.  The trams looked quite new, with beautiful wooden benches inside as seats.  Heck, I'd take that over driving.  The city also has two metro lines, which is not too impressive compared to the fourteen that Paris boasts.

Marseille has an area called "vieux port," the old port, which is the napping place for tons of sailboats, similar to the Marina in San Francisco.  Again, plenty of restaurants along the harbor; we chose one and were quite disappointed.  Typical tourist routine - I knew it was bad before we entered since they served French food and sushi (what kind of a combination is that?), but it was raining and I didn't want to complain (more).