Giant Oysters

Fresh oyster? Uh.. I think you can eat all of it. I was at Nogawa Japanese Restaurant in Le Meridien, Singapore, with a fellow foodie. Nogawa is reputed to have really authentic Japanese food of the highest quality, using the freshest produce in season.

Now, normally I do not like raw oysters. Not after several consecutive bouts of food poisoning after oyster consumption (all at reputable restaurants, mind you). Just a whiff of that oystery smell would make me gag. My dinner partner on the other hand loves them. So we ordered one. One ? So stingy ah.. but the waitress took the order without batting an eyelid.

I ordered Uni – sea urchin for myself and a plate of sashimi moriawase, grilled cod with salt, boiled kurubota pork slices and a gohan set to share.

Then the oyster came. Wow! It was HUGE. I have never seen such a large oyster. So large that it was sliced into 5 portions. You can see in the photo how big it was. It measured 18 x 10cm. It was thick and plump, in no way resembling the flat deflated sad looking creatures that are passed off as fresh oysters in most places.

You try it first my foodie friend said. If you don’t like it the uni will remove the taste from your mouth…. With great trepidation, I took an end slice (were there oyster guts there? What’s that black streak ??) dipped it into the ponzu sauce and placed it gingerly into my mouth. I experienced an epiphany of sorts.. I would never view fresh oysters with the same jaundiced eye again. It was scrunchy, not at all slimy, closing my eyes, the taste brought me to the beach, fresh sea breeze blowing.. almost sweet. Oh! I like it, it’s delicious!! All the past bad experience must have been with oysters that were not fresh – fresh fish should never smell fishy and likewise, now I know, fresh oysters should never be “oyster-y”. Oh dear, this could become an expensive habit. This one oyster cost us $20. But then again, a half dozen poor quality deflated versions sold in other places would cost the same or more.

So what type of oyster was this ? “Japanese Oyster” said the waitress. Humph. Yes, we know it came from Japan.. what is it called ? It comes from Ibaraki Prefecture she said. Famous for seafood. Googled Japanese Oyster – lo and behold there really is such a thing! This creature is actually called Japanese Oyster or The Giant Pacific Oyster (Crassostrea gigas) and is farmed in quite a few places in Japan and on the North West Coast of the US.

Relinquishing the remainder of the oyster to my friend, I tried the Uni. Normally we get uni served as sushi. Here, it came au naturel (nearly). Having lectured on first aid for marine creature stings many times, I was intrigued. Fingered the spines, turned the creature around to inspect the shell… Did you know that contrary to common belief uni is not sea urchin roe, but rather, the organs that produce the roe. That’s right. The gonads. Haha! This creature, belonging to the class echinoidea has as it’s fellow foodie victim the sea cucumber. Another trivia fact is that echinoidea species display pentamerism – so star fish (another echinoidea), have 5 arms, the uni come in 5 golden streaks.. I’m not sure what happened to the poor sea cucumber.

Anyway. The chilled uni was delish. Had to scoop it out with a small spoon. Creamy, slightly salty, almost fragrant like a faint whiff of sea spray. We had to do a barter trade – I’ll exchange a scoop of uni for another slice of that oyster please.

The rest of the dinner although very high quality, was almost eclipsed by the novelty and freshness of these two items. Cod was grilled to perfection, melt in the sweetness, the taste accentuated by the flaked salt that was served alongside. The much anticipated kurobuta pork was quite ordinary. Tender, delicately seasoned with shoyu and goma oil, served with finely chopped scallions on a bed of tender lettuce. But not spectacular.

That was a good dinner. Can’t be repeated too often, unless you have an expense account. But definitely worth it.