Sydney chef Colin Barker says the Far South coast’s pristine oyster leases have drawn him back to next month’s Narooma Oyster Festival.
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The award-winning chef and keen fisherman regularly serves oysters from up to 17 different estuaries to his diners at The Boathouse at Blackwattle Bay, in Glebe.
Mr Barker believes connoisseurs appreciate the flavour of direct-harvest oysters.
“For an area to be direct-harvest, it has to be of the highest standard,” he said.
Mr Barker said the term merroir had become popular in recent years. In the same way wines from different regions express terroir, the marine environment influenced an oyster’s flavour.
“Every estuary is unique, and even different parts of a single estuary will impart a different flavour,” he told the Narooma News.
Some of our customers stockpile their ‘oyster papers’ – we have serious aficionados.
- Colin Barker
“Our floor staff are highly educated and have very specific information on the estuaries.”
It’s all in the fine-dining print – the Far South Coast’s oysters are included in a culinary dossier for Boathouse shellfish aficionados.
“We provide some customers with detailed printouts on the oysters they eat,” Mr Barker said.
“Some of our customers stockpile their ‘oyster papers’ – we have serious aficionados.”
Mr Barker said the Narooma Oyster Festival helped spread the concept of merroir, but was also an opportunity to put faces to the names of his suppliers.
“I’ll do a cooking demonstration and we are going to have time to get out and see a couple of leases,” he said of his visit to the May 5 event.
”It’s a great festival,” he said.
We’ll have loads of cooking demos and really showcase the oysters and also showcase other produce.
- Kelli Eastwood.
Bermagui’s Kelli Eastwood said she loved the idea of diners who understood merroir.
“They would be passionate customers,” she said.
Ms Eastwood will be the festival’s Master of Ceremonies, “having learnt a lot more about oysters since moving to the area”, originally as a part of the River Cottage Australia team and more recently with her Eastwood’s Deli and Cooking School.
“We have an amazing line-up of chefs,” Ms Eastwood said of the oyster masterclass event.
“We’ll have loads of cooking demos and really showcase the oysters and also showcase other produce we have in the region.”
Other produce includes the Eastwood Deli’s own brioche donuts, filled with local produce and fermented overnight, but be warned: “You need to be early in line – they sell out quick.”
