Breton scallops are dredged in the Bay of Saint-Brieuc from October to April and cooked plainly in Rennes: seared in salted butter, or raw in thin slices with citrus and oil.
Where to eat it: 3 restaurants across 1 city.
The Bay of Saint-Brieuc, an hour and a quarter west along the north Breton coast, is the largest natural scallop bed in France, and the fishery is tightly rationed to protect it: a short season, a small number of licensed boats and dredging windows measured in tens of minutes a day. That scarcity is why Breton scallops sell at a premium and why they arrive in Rennes fresh in the shell rather than frozen. The name comes from the pilgrim shell of Saint James, and the classic gratin preparation baked in the shell with mushrooms and cream is nineteenth-century restaurant cooking. Rennes kitchens now mostly do less to them: a hard sear on one side, brown butter, and nothing much else.
Common allergens: Molluscs, Dairy
Tip from the editors. Cook them in two batches. Crowding the pan drops the temperature and you get grey, poached scallops with no crust.
Peska is a Mediterranean-leaning fish bistro on Rue Saint-Malo in Rennes, Pauline Iafrate cooking sole meunière and marinated mackerel to order.
Signature: Sole meunière, Marinated mackerel focaccia
Order: Sole meunière with fermented rhubarb and fish jus
Racines is Virginie Giboire's Michelin-starred room in Rennes, a fish-led tasting-menu restaurant rebuilt in 2020 a few steps off Boulevard de la Liberté.
Signature: Line-caught fish tasting menus
Tip: The menu changes weekly and leans hard on Breton seafood; book several days ahead for Friday and Saturday nights.
Coquille is Arnaud Guilloux's locavore bistro on Rue Nantaise in Rennes, generous seasonal cooking from Breton producers with a second room in Cesson-Sévigné.
Signature: Seasonal Breton plates
Order: The seasonal fish of the day from Breton ports
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