Along the eastern shore of the Lège-Cap Ferret peninsula, facing the calm waters of the Bassin d'Arcachon, a string of oyster-farming villages — L'Herbe, Le Canon, Le Grand Piquey, Piraillan, and Cap Ferret itself — operate wooden cabanes ostréicoles that sell oysters direct from the water. These are not restaurants in any formal sense: you sit on rough wooden benches at long tables, order by the half-dozen or dozen, and drink whatever cheap wine the hut is selling that day.
The ritual is the same everywhere: crusty rye bread, good salted butter from the supermarché up the road, and oysters pulled from a bucket of seawater and shucked in front of you. This is some of the best eating on the Aquitaine coast, and one of the cheapest. L'Herbe has several huts clustered around a small harbour and is the most picturesque of the villages. Cap Ferret village at the tip is the most sophisticated. All are best visited on a weekday, when the Bordelais weekend crowds have gone home.