It’s just bread and butter, but it might be the best thing I’ve ever tasted
We have an ongoing search, my partner Jess and I, for the world’s most memorable mouthful of food. This isn’t a hunt for the best meal, or even the best dish. It’s just a single bite that is absolute perfection, a sensation so memorable and even transcendental that you’re never the same again.
And today, we’re going to add to the list. Not with Michelin-starred fine-dining or high-end produce, but with plain old bread and butter.
The city is St-Jean-de-Luz, a seaside haven in the far south-west of France. Nearby there’s foodie heaven San Sebastian, wine-country Bordeaux, the seafood-rich Atlantic. This place has gastronomic bona fides.
The market here is called Les Halles, a historic covered space that is open every day, though on Tuesdays and Fridays it gets distinctly swollen as local farmers arrive and set up shop around its uncovered exterior, selling fruits and vegetables, farmyard cheeses and house-made charcuterie to the appreciative masses.
Intoxicating: Les Halles, St-Jean-de-Luz. CREDIT: ALAMY
Inside, the permanent stall-owners sell oysters from Arcachon and Brittany; they peddle cheeses from the Pays Basque, this local area, everything from tiny, crumbly goats’ cheeses to big wheels of cows’-milk blue, hard alpine cheeses and fragrant washed-rinds; there’s someone selling coquille Saint-Jacques; another has pure-bred chickens and ducks.
It’s intoxicating just strolling around, almost overwhelming. There’s barely anywhere in the world better than a French market.
But still, I haven’t tried the butter. It’s Jess who insists on buying some. It’s unpasteurised, she says. We can’t get this anywhere else. We’ll take the demi-sel, laced with crystals of salt.
The stall-owner hacks off a wodge, slaps it onto a sheet of waxed paper and holds it up for our inspection. Perfect. We’ll take it. He wraps the paper up and hands over the package like a present, and we take it back to our accommodation with a fresh baguette from a nearby bakery.
We split the baguette with our hands, crumbs dusting the bench, then slather an obscene amount of the butter onto the jagged edges of the bread.
It’s mind-blowing. You have never tasted butter this good. It’s so fresh, so pure, so untouched by chemicals or processes. It’s creamy, umami-rich, with the salivating crunch of salt crystals, all balanced out, or at the very least justified, by the crusty fresh bread. Some mouthfuls of food, you just never forget. We have a new entry for the list.
Little Bay: The lesser-known eastern suburb in favour with buyers
While the many thousands of square metres of fabric have long since been relegated to the annals of history, the rocky cliffs remain the suburb’s most striking feature.
Little Bay garnered international attention when artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude created the installation Wrapped Coast there in 1969.
While the many thousands of square metres of fabric have long since been relegated to the annals of history, the rocky cliffs remain the suburb’s most striking feature.
Priced out of Coogee, professional development coach Tom Alfry moved into an apartment in Flowers Ward in 2020 and hasn’t looked back.
“When we moved in we had a five-year plan to see what it was like,” he says. “Within a year we’d made so many friends within the neighbourhood we couldn’t see ourselves moving anywhere else.”
Alfry loves the beach, which he describes as a beautiful, safe spot unaffected by big swells, and makes
good use of the coastal walking trails that border the suburb’s golf courses and wind down to La Perouse.
“Little Bay ticks a lot of boxes,” he says. “It’s got a lovely feel, quite removed from Sydney, and it’s very quiet, which we love.”
Where to eat & drink in Little Bay
Open from 6.15am every day, The Green Olive is a local favourite where the all-day breakfast menu includes a Japanese-style folded omelette.
You’ll find wood-fired pizza next door at Piccola Baia and more pizza and pasta across the road at Site Pizza Bar which, along with Nanoosh CharGrill, is open until 9pm.
Henry’s At the Coast, set within the scenic grounds of The Coast Golf Club, offers ocean views alongside steak cooked over charcoal. Nearby, The Boatshed La Perouse is a top spot for hearty seafood chowder.
What to see & do in Little Bay
A mecca for golfers, Little Bay boasts three golf courses, among them St Michael’s Golf Club which is considered one of the country’s most beautiful and challenging courses.
Joggers can access a 20-kilometre loop around the golf courses, and walkers can explore trails including the Congwong Walking Track. Families love the sheltered Little Bay Beach and there’s a playground nearby in the Coast Hospital Memorial Park.
Those wanting to understand a little more about the area’s history can visit the Prince Henry Hospital Nursing and Medical Museum.
Homes for sale in Little Bay
A covered outdoor dining terrace at this well-presented duplex lets you enjoy family barbecues all year round. Inside you’ll find raked ceilings, heated floors, a stone-topped island kitchen and a main bedroom with a walk-in wardrobe, an en suite and a north-facing balcony.
There’s storage galore in this neat family home which comes with a black and white-themed, skylit kitchen, two living zones and a north-facing rear garden. Set midway between Little Bay and Yarra Bay beaches, it’s close to Woomera Reserve and the La Perouse Public School.
