24 September 2015 / leggypeggy

Who needs rich and famous when you can lunch like this?

Australia, beaches, food, French Riviera, Libby, military, oysters, prawns, restaurants, Sainte Maxime, St Tropez

Where we bought the prawns and oysters. Check out the typical striped shirts

Our order

We were in Sainte Maxime’s—a mere stone’s throw from St Tropez, France’s playground for the rich and famous and a whole lot of wannabes..

To be honest, we were on the way to St Tropez when we decided to check out the wonders of Sainte Maxime’s. First we stopped at the beach, Plage de la Nartelle. The beach is nothing all that special if you come from Australia—the land of amazing beaches—but we found something to intrigue us.

The French military (I assume the Navy) were having exercises on and near the beach. We weren’t allowed to cross the sand near the sea (because that’s where they were landing their equipment), but once we were up by the road we could walk among the vehicles and talk to the soldiers. Not that we had enough French for any sort of discussion.

Libby and Daniel, daughter and son-in-law, went for a brief swim on the beach and then we set out to explore and find lunch. That meant driving on a bit farther and finding a precious parking place. As principal driver, I was pleased to find something free and convenient.

Then we strolled through the streets of Sainte Maxime and were lucky enough to come upon the town’s covered market. It’s tucked out of the way, and probably quite easy to miss. But we’re all market experts, so it’s unlikely that a market would go undetected by us.

We strolled in to check out what was on offer. Luckily Daniel has enough French to figure out that it was possible to order a meal at one of the seafood counters, and then have it prepared and delivered to the eating area, which is named, of all things, Daniel Coquillages.

So we ordered a selection of prawns (shrimps) and oysters. Libby and I went on to order some duck rillettes (sort of like paté) and finely sliced ham, while the fellows found a table and ordered bread and wine.

The tables around us were filled with locals (except for one German couple), so we knew we were in the right place for people who didn’t feel the need to be among the rich and famous.

It was a most amazing choice. The food was superb. Plus, about the time we finished our carafe of white wine, the woman who was serving us insisted on giving us an extra half carafe for free. Our collective French couldn’t figure out why, but we polished it off and made Poor John, our non-drinker, drive us on to St Tropez.

The tail-end of the extra wine

All in all, it was one of the nicest meals we’ve had in France.

The food was excellent and people were quite happy to have me take pictures in the market itself.

If you’re ever in the neighbourhood, be sure to stop by. As an aside, I often post reviews on Trip Advisor. I posted one about this place and was the first person to ever do so. Still surprised that such a great find is so little known.