Dinnertime, and the Living is Easy . . .

I always wanted to be a travel writer someday, but writing little pieces like this is probably about as close as I'll come to achieving that dream . . .
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Suppose you had a rough and tumble week at work, and were well and truly ready for some serious relaxation this weekend, and you had a sudden hankering for night out at a fine restaurant with excellent food and service, followed by a night in a really good hotel ? If that's the case, then I'm going to share a little secret with you, but you have to promise not to tell anyone, ok ? Raise your right hand and swear ? This may be one of the best kept secrets in all of France. This could be one of the best kept secrets in the entire world, for that matter. The secret is the fabulously good restaurant and hotel run by Patrick Jeffroy at the Hotel de Carantec, in the town of Carantec, which is on the northern coast of Brittany, close to the small city of Morlaix, overlooking the sea. But really, you have to promise not to tell, I'd hate to see this place get swarmed by such big hordes of tourists that I could no longer get my favorite table by the windows . . .
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From New York you can now take the new A380 service offered by Air France to Paris, and then it is a three hour TGV train ride to Morlaix. From the station in Morlaix it is perhaps a 15 minute taxi drive to Carantec on the coast ; then you can check into a few nights of paradise on Earth . . .
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How I would love to invite all of you over for a long and leisurely dinner here where we could share our tales of blogging adventures . . . and talk of everything else east of the sun and west of the moon . . .
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The blue lobster sculpture on the facade gives you a little clue as to the orientation of the menu, but lobster is far from the only specialty to be found there. I would strongly recommend the "filet de bar" (sea bass), perhaps accompanied by a meursault white wine from Burgundy ? But that is just one of many terribly tempting possibilities here . . . however, if you stay for a week, you can try nearly all of them, between lunch and dinners.
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Should you feel you've eaten too much, you can always work off your excesses with brisk walks along the coastline, enjoying the beautiful views on the water and many small islands, or go out at low tide to the isle Callot for a longer walk with unbeatable Brittany scenery. Or spend entire days afield visiting a myriad of possible destinations in the region from Brest to Quimper, to the central hills of Brittany where a multitude of small and fascinating villages lie hidden, usually with historically interesting treasures of one sort or another . . .
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Some of the hotel rooms are under the eaves, in turn under the blue Brittany skies . . . There is a saying in Brittany : The weather is nice several times a day. True, there may be some clouds and drizzle from time to time, but there are also stretches of gorgeous skies, which change all the time.
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The view from the large bay windows in the restaurant is unbelievable, out over the Bay of Morlaix. No wonder they're called bay windows ! Watching the light change on the water as the sun goes down and the sky turns dark, while the first courses are being washed down with a glass of wine (from their fabulous wine list) . . . it just doesn't get much better than that.
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Two mirrored signs outside for the hotel and the restaurant . . . I've never stayed in the hotel, as we stay in my mother-in-law's house just up the street from the hotel. But I've looked at the rooms, and they look wonderfully comfortable. Simplicity and good taste reign here . . .
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I love the red lobster who holds up the menu case near the entrance outside. The entire menu is on their website in French. I'm not going to go into the details here, as I would probably be accused of cruel and unusual temptation to feloniously good dining, but I can assure you, every dish is beautifully and artfully presented, in perfectly mouth-watering splendor. Patrick Jeffroy is an entirely extraordinary culinary wizard.
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On your way out don't hesitate to pick up one or two of their beautiful bookmarks so you'll have a souvenir of the wonderful night you just had, and their phone number for the next time you wish to make a reservation . . .
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