15 July 2012

VIVE LA FRANCE

If I had been better organised we may have booked and eaten at one of the many good restaurants around the city which had special menus in honour of Bastille Day. However, I think we hit the jackpot!

Last week in my Listener column I wrote about oysters. For years food writers like me have banged on about how poor it is that restaurants do not shuck oysters so they can be enjoyed as they should be; right out of the shell, still complete with briny seawater within minutes of shucking - No plastic pottles of oysters, ever!

I also wrote that I would be celebrating Bastille Day with fond memories of my visits to Paris. Whenever we visit Paris our first stop is Brasserie Bofinger near the Place de Bastille, or a little specialty oyster bistro, Huîtrerie Regis, just off the Blvd St Germaine. It’s mandatory we order a very large platter of freshly shucked oysters with a glass each of Sancerre white wine. Briny oysters arrive on a bed of seaweed and ice, with accompanying lemon wedges and brown bread. Heaven.

But things have improved here lately. The goods news is that Pacific oysters, part of our vital aquaculture industry, are cultivated in many sheltered harbours around New Zealand and shipped to restaurant in the shell, unopened. So we can enjoy fresh oysters the way the French do. And, they’re at their best right now in this colder weather.

Here at home, we did exactly that too. Our feast was just as I imagined. Fresh oysters from Mahurangi Oysters (Andrew and Lisa Hay put them in the cute little wooden crate and sell them at La Cigale French market. Their oyster fritters are legendary.) And my friend Barbara brought around a bottle of Puligny Montrachet which we sipped while I shucked. And then we opened a bottle of Felton Road chardy which may be almost as good as the Burgundy. A prefect night and three cheers for La France!