One thing I couldn’t resist on a recent visit to my home town, Wellington, was the sight of plastic pottles of New Zealand’s finest Bluff oysters in the supermarket near our hotel. I was fearful we might have missed the season but I think we just squeaked in. The season was due to end on August 1 or whenever the 9.5 million oyster quota was reached.
The oysters were $NZ24.95 a dozen – a bit under $AU20 – but, as it turned out, worth every cent.
The server behind the fish counter popped the pot of oysters in a larger container and spooned in some ice. After a short detour via the wine aisle, we were back in our room at the Museum hotel, uncapping the wine and the oysters were nestling on a plate of ice.
Oh, those delicious molluscs. Cream and beautiful, just the right amount of sweetness, chewiness and salty sea flavours. Simple, unadorned and ably assisted on their last journey by a Church Road chardonnay.
