How To Eat Oysters

A brief guide to the fine art of oyster eating.

Step 1:
On a sunny afternoon bundle dogs, family, friends, and a chilly bin full of oysters and wine into the oldest, rustiest Land Cruiser you can find.

Step 2:
Head to the nearest beach, and jump straight in for a swim.

Step 3:
Crack open a bottle of crisp white wine (or even better, champagne) and take a sip. Ahhh.

Step 4:
Open your chilled oysters, and eat as many as you can before anyone else counts them.

Step 5:
Sit back, relax, and watch the afternoon go by. Afternoon naps are encouraged.

Easy huh?

The Coromandel Oyster Company

As summer starts to dwindle away before our eyes, we begin our good-byes to balmy nights, salty skin and sandy feet. But, one thing I will not say good-bye to yet is a favourite sea-side fish and chip shop of mine called The Coromandel Oyster Company.

Located just on the outskirts of Coromandel town, The Oyster Company is a regular stop-in for weekenders, locals, and tourists alike. As for me, it's a must visit almost every time I am holiday bound.

On this occasion, James and I stopped in on our way back to Auckland for a bite to eat. Oysters are, of course, the crowning glory and are available to buy either in the full shell, half shell or the pot.

After a couple of oysters we both ordered good 'ol fish and chips, gurnard for myself and snapper for James. The fish was beautifully light and fresh, served with crunchy fries.

The food at The Coromandel Oyster Company is delicious, although the menu is about as basic as it gets. But it's the raw wooden benches, the rope bound stools, and the salty air that make this place so special.

An Early Summer + Ceviche

When the sun makes an appearance on those rare October summer days, you know you're in for a treat (and usually some sunburn).

Wanting to make the most of it, the girls and I decided at the last minute to head out to Tauwharanui Peninsula for the day. So, with a picnic packed, and with our towels and books in tow, we made our way up North to the beautiful beach.

After a gorgeous day of sunbathing, swimming, reading, and being attacked by seagulls, we were absolutely shattered. The sun had beaten us. It was time to head home for a drink, but more importantly something to eat.

Keeping on theme with our beach day, we decided to have seafood for dinner, so first stop on the way home was the Matakana Coast Oyster Company where we grabbed two dozen oysters to take home (this is The Oyster Weekend after all).

Second stop was Farro, where we picked up the ingredients for one of my all time favourite dishes, ceviche. Ceviche is a raw fish salad, WAIT- before you turn you nose up at this let me tell you; the lime in the salad acts as an agent that kind of cooks the fish, making this raw fish salad not very raw at all, but incredibly, amazingly delicious.

Ceviche (serves 4)

• 400-500 grams fish fillets. Ask your fishmonger what fish would be best suited to a raw salad (I usually use Tarakihi), and ensure the fish is very fresh.
• Juice of 3 limes
• 1 green capsicum, diced
• 1/4 red onion, diced
• 2 fresh chillis, diced
• 1 avocado, cut into cubes
• 1/3 cup coconut milk
• handful of coriander, roughly chopped

Slice the fish into small slivers or cubes, and stir through with lime juice. Leave this mixture in the fridge for 5 minutes or so while you chop up the rest of your ingredients.

By the time you've chopped everything else up, your fish should be looking slightly opaque, that's the lime doing it's thing!

The next bit is easy, throw all of the remaining ingredients into the bowl, stir through, have a taste test, and when you're happy with it, put it back in the fridge until you're ready to serve (it is best chilled). 

Once we had showered off the sand and the salt, and the ceviche and oysters were safely in the fridge, Alice whipped us all up some cocktails with gin, soda, sugar syrup, lime and mint, to go with our seafood feast. She may not like cooking, but she makes a good drink! 

With the cocktails in hand, we popped a bag of corn chips (the best way to eat ceviche), and started tucking into our seafood feast. The perfect way to end a beautiful pre-summer's day.

Kermadec

The other day Allie, Alice and I were looking for some way to spend our afternoon. We wanted to do something cultural so we looked up what was happening at the museum and started driving that way (bear with me here). On the way I was reading the description of the 'Moana- My Ocean' exhibition:

Moana – My Ocean takes you on a journey that starts with the flight of the godwits on the east coast, then dives into the waters of the Leigh Marine Reserve and into the middle of a Hauraki Gulf boil-up. You then go deeper, into the midwater, a world dominated by the language of light, before finally going down 10km to the largely unknown waters of the Kermadec Trench before emerging at the Kermadec Islands.

You can probably guess what happened next. All culture was thrown out the window as we made a swift turn in the opposite direction towards Kermadec...Kermadec the restaurant that is.

Kermadec has been an institution on the viaduct since the America's Cup heyday of the 90s, and it's still every bit as fresh and fabulous as it was back in the day. Actually I have no idea what it was like back in the day (I was 4), but Mum reckons it was pretty good.

The restaurant was quite empty, but that was probably because we went at 3pm at that awkward in between lunch and dinner stage. We had already had lunch so weren't super hungry but Alice and I were craving oysters so we ordered some along with bread and whipped goats cheese and a bottle of wine. It's about time The Oyster Weekend lived up to it's name!

Allie's not a huge fan of oysters but Alice and I are obsessed. They are full of vitamins so we think they're the best hangover cure too, although slimy seafood might not be your thing when you're feeling a bit peaky. But hangover or no hangover we order them at every opportunity (to the detriment of our bank accounts).

After finishing up we walked back to Alice's house and started getting ready for the night ahead, and with all those vitamin filled oysters in our belly what could go wrong?

We'll save that story for another day...