sprink

Six years ago, whilst researching a holiday in Sicily (which was sadly not taken) I read - I think in The Times - an article in which prominent chefs/hoteliers/people of interest to travellers, imparted their hidden travel secrets.

Giorgio Locatelli wrote about his favourite, unassuming restaurant in Sicily, describing the fresh seafood it served up, the menu dependent on the best of the day's catch. I remember thinking how generous it was to give such a special place to the masses and thought him even more generous when in his recent programme Sicily Unpacked he took viewers right there, to visit his friend Vittorio and eat an awesome lobster.

Many people have their own gems; a shack by a remote road or a hard to find restaurant in the middle of nowhere that they want to keep secret. I had one too, but in the spirit of Giorgio, who is a very nice man, here is L'Océane, a road side restaurant with scrubbed tables and plastic chairs in Epine, on the Ile de Noirmoutier off the west coast of France.

We found it on a really hot August day after cycling across the island from La Guérinière and had the best oysters/mussels/frites/ice cold white wine that I'd ever experienced, taking a good few hours to get through it all before reluctantly wobbling away on our bikes.