Sète is where the Canal du Midi meets the sea, allowing the town to style itself "the Venice of Languedoc". Sète's tourist literature alludes to "the effortless energy that exhumes from the Canal". Notwithstanding such breathless hype, Sète makes a great base for the food lover, or more specifically, for lovers of flesh. My day starts with a swing along the banks of the Bassin de Thau, where are farmed some of France's finest, fleshiest oysters.

There are stalls everywhere offering bivalves by the kilo, plus opportunities to visit hatcheries by motorised skiff. I while away the morning in the village of Bouzigues dunking croissants into café crème then necking moist molluscs. For lunch, I present myself at Côte Bleue, a restaurant and 1970s motel owned by an oyster grower. The place is sort of posh, the food impeccable. An aperitif of Noilly Prat is followed by le roudoudou - a platter of oysters, clams, sea snails and mussels. Turbot poached in sea water is an indulgence, but a bottle of oaky, bony wine from the local Picpoul grape anaesthetises one to the bill.

The beach beckons, so I meander to Cap d'Agde, honestly unaware that this is France's largest naturist resort. Some 40,000 unclothed nature lovers are abandoning themselves to the Cap's beach, hotels and malls. You'll be relieved to know that I remain determinedly textiled, if made to feel a little tweedy.

I repair to Sète to chase the sun down over the canals with chilled Noillys at le Grand Hôtel, which is nicely refurbished, and grown-up funky. Sète is France's largest Mediterranean fishing port and has grown wealthy over the centuries. Lining its canals, the gabled houses of prosperous merchants have been renovated and converted into chic shops and bars. Whether due to my fish lunch or the sights at Cap d'Agde, I'm in the mood for meat tonight.

Lou Biou is a family restaurant grown out of a butcher's shop. The modest entrance delivers you into a corridor flanked both sides by walk-in, glassed-in chillers where hang whole sides of meat. Past these, the restaurant has seats for 40, wipe-clean tables and a clever log-fed grill that's belting out heat. It is attended by a bull of a man who has a bad hip, causing him to walk with a screw kick. His wife, son and daughter attend to me, bringing bread, a pitcher of wine and a meaty menu. Carpaccio of beef, grilled andouillete or a bowl of tripe? Everything looks good, but is only a bit-part player to the fillet of beef, Lou Biou's star attraction.

Fillet is so often an exercise in soft texture rather than full flavour, but at Lou Biou is a pumped-up piece of prime, served lightly charred, deeply juicy and perfectly relaxed. There's a cartoon on the wall of a steer whose speech bubble says "Monsieur! Tendre pour vous". My fillet is tendre as a kiss. Potatoes that taste of potato are served on the side. They are dressed with warm cream and specks of bacon, and I feel very happy, very full, and rather fleshy.

· Motel and Restaurant Côte Bleue, Bouzigues (0033 4 67 78 30 87, la-cote-bleue.fr). Le Grand Hôtel, Sète (+4 67 74 71 77, legrandhotelsete.com). Restaurant Lou Biou, 28 rue Lazare Carnot, Sete (+4 67 74 82 18, webfrance.fr/loubiou).