Get shucked! Oysters: yay or nay?

March 23rd, 2012

Ask a local Tasmanian if he reckons the island kind of looks like an upside down Australia and he’ll say, “What? You mean to say, Australia looks like an upside down Tasmania.”

On a recent visit to a little known island off Tasmania I discovered that the only thing more delightful than a Tasmanian’s down to earth character, is it’s oysters.

You either love or loath the slimy little suckers.

But for those that love, I tell you, Bruny Island oysters will fill your mouth with the flavour of the all the oceans at once.

Mmmm

They are slightly larger than a Sydney rock oyster, creamier than those from Nambucca Heads and have more bite than New Zealand’s famed Bluff oysters.

Plump, tangy and creamy, these oysters are altogether the most tasty Tasmanian treat ever.

Fuel for love

Flavour aside (if you can) the bivalves are famous for their aphrodisiac properties. Apparently, they are rich in the amino acids that trigger increased levels of er, um, happy hormones. It’s the high zinc content which aids the production of testosterone.

Casanova is supposed to have eaten 50 for breakfast daily.

At the only restaurant pub on the wee island you can gorge yourself on oysters natural, kilpatrick, beer battered, on pizza, and in chowder.

Oysters, fuel for love!

Though for the most unique Bruny Island experience try Get Shucked! A caravan and a picnic table makes up this roadside, seaside eatery. It is as simple and pure an experience as you’ll find in Australia.

If oysters aren’t your thing (that’s fine, more for me) Tasmania’s boutique gastronomy is vast and varied. Cheese, wine, and chocolate could easily become your staples. Or scallop pies, venison pizza…

Keri Algar

Having once had to sit on the washing machine to stop it from bouncing into oblivion, Keri is today delighted with the new (smoother running) technologies that make housework easier every day. A self-confessed lazy-bones, Keri seeks out quirky inventions that ease the human workload, such as the robotic vacuum cleaner (wow). And as soon as someone figures out a Jetsons-like self-cleaning house, she will happily lay her pen to rest and retire from appliance journalism. Until then, her pick is a fridge that will tell her smartphone when it's time to pick up more beer on the way home. Magic.