I'm not really an oyster kinda girl. Well, no, that's not true. I didn't think I was one until last Thursday. I mean, I had eaten them perhaps three times before and the last time, they were covered up with so much crap that you couldn't even taste the actual oyster.
I got invited by my step-cousin to the Apéro quatre à HUITRE (hahaha, good one guys!) that was to be taking place at La Fabrique Annexe. Oysters from Sawmill Bay Co., based in Read Island, between the coast and Vancouver Island, were to be the stars!
I got there after work with my guest, we'll call him J. It's always nice to get invited to try new products and for me, to discover new thangs! Anyhoot, we got there and immediately went to my bros' cousin, Sim. He explained in detail how they harvest (is that the right word?) their oysters and why some oysters are different than others, etc...It was great to see someone so passionate and driven!
One specific type of oyster was the star that night and it was the Read Island oyster!
We were told that this was one of the creamiest oyster around and it suuuuure was! Dsamn, it was almost like putting pure cream in my mouth. Almost :p They are also smaller than other (but, I'm guessing, bigger than some) oysters. Apparently (I am no oyster expert!), the bigger oysters have a tad less flavour. Anyhoot, the brininess was present but not too much and they just tasted dsamn dideligood! It was basically heaven in my mouth! The only thing that was a tad displeasing was that, the shell not being as resistent as others, there were pieces of it around the actual oyster. I do not like biting on that, especially with my brittle teeth! OUCH! But OH, the creaminess! :)
J was saying how he preferred Atlantic oysters better than Pacific ones but I'd like to think that by the end of the evening, he would have said that he was 'in between'!
We had the choice of either having a little plate OR a BIG arse plate. Hello! Big plate for us please! We shared with my bro's friends who were also there, which was really nice! Man, we devoured 'dem' oysters!
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Hotsup and pinneapple |
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Scotch Bonnet |
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Mignonette |
We had an array of sauces and thangs we could put on our oysters! Hotsup was kind of a hot ketchup which went really nicely and brightened up the oysters, the pinneapple 'jam' which was a tad too sweet but I could definitely put on toast or what have you, the scotch bonnet sauce which was dsamn spicy but oh so good (surprisingly, the mix with the pinneapple one was greatness!) and the usual mignonette (red wine vinegar and shallots) which added to the natural brininess of the oyster! Ha, at some point, there was a competition of who could eat the most Scotch Bonnet sauce by itself. Some guy won but I swear I could have!!! If I'd only gotten there earlier :p
The place itself, La Fabrique Annexe (made for partays or meetings, or what have yous) was really nice and cozy! Quite small but with a nice terrasse outside where we spent most of the evening! A great place to chill, eat oysters and do some wonderful people watching! Plus, the dj, who was incedentally also the sauce maker and Sim's cousin (Aunt Thelma's) played wondeful tunes that included the Fugees and some more popular ones + 90's music, hello!. Mmmmmmwonderful! Me= loves Fugees! I almost felt like getting up and dancing! Almost.
Sooooo, with our entry 'price' came a free wine or beer glass. I obviously chose wine as I'm one of those people who despises beer. They had a couple natural wines to choose from and we first chose La Folle Blanche which was marvellous and dry and went really well with the oysters. Jer tried another one a bit later called La Bohème and he said it was too sweet. I'm just going to say this: we had around 8 glasses (5$ each! whaaaaat?) of wine each and La Folle Blanche remained the one to beat!
Let's talk about the service! Well, it was great! We actually were warmly welcomed by Sim's sister whom I had never met so that was very cool! Plus, there was this girl running around cleaning the tables and taking the empty plates so that you could just go get more. Lovely.
Alright! Now, the scores!
And I really DO mean SCORES cause there are a lot of em!
Hotsup: 7.5
Pinneapple: 4,5
Scotch Bonnet: 9
Mignonette: 7
Wine: 8.5
Oysters: an average of 7.5 (darn pieces!)
Service: 9,5! Wonderful and friendly!
Sawmill Bay Shellfish Co. actually delivers to many restaurants in Toronto and MTL!!! I would love to go to a restaurant in the Montreal area that serves these oysters!!! Come on, restauranteurs, dsooooo it!