Most mornings the first boat ties up at Portside just after five. By the time the sun clears the harbour wall, we have already tasted from three growers and chosen the oysters that will sit on ice at the counter that day.
Cold water, short distance
An oyster tastes of the water it grew in, and it tastes best the day it leaves it. We buy only from farms within forty miles of the restaurant, which means nothing on the raw bar has been out of the sea for more than a day.
“If it would not be good with nothing on it, it does not go on the ice.”
What we look for
Weight first: a heavy oyster is a full one. Then the shell, which should close tightly and smell like a cold rock pool. Finally we open a few and taste them plain, standing in the wind, before anything is written on the chalkboard.
