Shanghai oysters: Where to eat, and how

Once known as the ‘poor man’s food’ sustaining the stomachs of blue collar workers, oysters are nowadays a sexy luxury item. With supplies of oysters rapidly depleting, it looks like the current status is set to stay.

David Laris, the man behind Laris’ famed Claws, Wings & Fins seafood bar reveals that his love for fresh oysters began when he was eighteen. He says, “My palate was maturing and the taste was so simple yet at the same time so complex.”

Fresh oysters should smell of the sea as opposed to a strong seafood odor; and if it is freshly shucked, it should wriggle when you touch or squeeze lemon juice on it.

— David Laris

For Franck Pecol, chef and owner of French bistro Franck, his first encounter with oysters came at the age of twelve. “I was hiding next to an oyster buffet where a cook was opening fresh oysters for some guests. I ate as many as I could before I was luckily (and finally) caught by my mom after two dozen!”

“I fell so sick for a few days after that,” he continues. It took him more than ten years before he started enjoying oysters again, though he may not be as keen to eat a couple dozen in one sitting.

Raw oysters that have gone bad can cause some painful results, as we discovered when The Fat Duck, a highly renowned UK-based Michelin-starred restaurant, earlier this year fell a bit foul of the hygiene laws.

Besides the bad publicity, it caused more than 400 people to fall ill. We’re sure this headline alone turned off many potential oyster eaters.

To avoid the same outcome, Laris advises that fresh oysters “should smell of the sea as opposed to a strong seafood odor; and if it is freshly shucked, it should wriggle when you touch or squeeze lemon juice on it.”

Pecol adds, “Oysters should be heavy, well closed and full of sea water when shucked.”

While everyone agrees that oysters should be slurped, people are sometimes divided as to whether one should chew or swallow an oyster whole.

Pecol’s answer is simple: “Of course chewing is necessary! That is how you enjoy the fleshy, sweet, sea water flavors!”

But David Laris takes a more neutral approach. “It depends on the oyster and how it is dressed. For smaller oysters, I bite once to release the flavor and then swallow whole. For creamier and richer varieties I only chew slightly, otherwise the flavors will change too much.”

If eating oysters for the first time, Pecol recommends having it “raw and plain with just a side of pumpernickel bread spread with salted butter” in order to taste all the delicate and natural complex flavors.

Ingredients

• 25ml Japanese light soy sauce
• 25ml Japanese dark soy sauce
• 50ml mirin
• 100ml hot water
• 3g hondashi (fish powder)* Can buy it in the supermarket in Jing’an Temple
• Squeeze lemon juice Sake (to taste)

Method

• Mix all the ingredients together
• Serve cold with a few drops in each oyster
• Finish with a bit of caviar on the top.

getting there

Franck
Ferguson Lane, 376 Wukang Lu, near Hunan Lu 武康路376号, 近湖南路
Hours: Closed Mondays and Tuesday. Lunch: Noon-2:30pm, Dinner 7-10:30pm
+86 21 6437 6465

Laris
6/F, 3 Zhongshan Dong Yi Lu, near Guangdong Lu 中山东一路3号外滩3号6楼, 近广东路
Hours: Lunch (closed Saturdays) Noon-2:30pm, Dinner 6-10:30pm
+86 21 6321 9922
www.threeonthebund.com