Chez Lanchois

Best beachside cabana of 2018

At one end of Sète’s Parc Aquatechnique, Josh (known as “Lanchois”), his girlfriend Fred and their chef Marilou bring the Étang de Thau to life inside this former boat garage that’s been transformed into a lovely cabana. You’ll find Pantone awnings, a bar fashioned out of a ship’s hull and big bay windows with views of the setting sun… The perfect setting for apéros and a few rounds of pétanque, while your dogs run around off leash, but the true exoticism takes place on the plates. Served à la carte the night we went: squid salad in its ink, seasoned with marinated ginger, dill and piment d’Espelette (€9); gilt-head bream enrobed in a Thai broth with chilies, tarragon and lemongrass that almost brought a tear to the eye, completed with green tea noodles and a hake mousse (€22); genius bun bo xao with pork meatballs, gigantic spring rolls and shrimp sautéed in garlic (€19); before a delicious orange blossom crème brûlée or a chocolate-chili-raspberry ganache (€7 each). To drink, there’s Flying Solo rosé from the Domaine Gayda (€4 a glass), La Malpolon, a white beer with wild fennel seeds (€6 for 330 ml) or Rasta Roquette cocktails made with agricultural white rum, vanilla-infused limoncello and… mozzarella and arugula (€12). À la carte €36-40. // D.N.