· 5 min read
There is no better place on earth to eat a Coffin Bay oyster than Coffin Bay itself - and the best way is to wade out and shuck it yourself.
There is a particular flavour to a Coffin Bay oyster eaten in Coffin Bay. Part of it is the oyster itself - sweet, briny, faintly mineral, grown slowly in the clean, constantly flushed water of a sheltered Southern Ocean bay. Part of it is everything around you: the turquoise water, the smell of salt, the boats coming in across the leases.
The oysters here are Pacific oysters, farmed since the 1960s in waters so rich in phytoplankton that the shellfish grow plump and full-flavoured. The prized large "Coffin Bay" grade can take years to reach size, and they are shipped to restaurants across Australia and Asia. But locals will tell you the best ones never leave town.
The definitive experience is an oyster farm tour. You pull on a pair of waders, walk out into the bay, and stand waist-deep among the racks while your guide shucks oysters straight from the water into your hand. A glass of sparkling wine usually appears. Eaten seconds out of the sea, they taste of nothing but ocean.
If you'd rather stay dry, the foreshore eateries serve them every way - natural, Kilpatrick, tempura, mornay - alongside Spencer Gulf prawns and local whiting. Order a mixed dozen and find a table looking out over the water.
A few tips: buy extra to take away (any local shed will sell them by the bag), keep them cold and cupped-side down, and learn to shuck before you go home. Once you've tasted them at the source, supermarket oysters will never quite measure up again.
