My Top 10 Irish Dishes of 2017 #8

No. 8 Native Oysters at Klaw, Temple Bar  

Its always a treat to sample the classic “native” oysters, even when they are a little undersized. The marine flavor is bold and briny. There’s a sea salt and mineral aroma of the tidelands and a pleasant chewy texture. Irish natives are stouter than any oyster found in North America.

And its a seafood experience that become increasingly rare. The oyster species Ostrea edulis is fast disappearing from the planet. Once the dominant oyster of Europe, these are the oysters that Nero ate. They are known in Ireland as “Native oysters,” to differentiate them from the transplanted Asian species Crassostrea gigas, which have become the most common oysters of Europe.  

Crossostrea gigas is the oyster species farmed in such famous regions as Marennes.

Native oysters are known in Europe as “plats”– famous place names for these old-fashioned oysters include Belon and Cancale in France and Colchester and Whitstable in England. But in fact, Ireland has the largest stocks of wild “native” oysters.

 And Klaw, a casual cash-only seafood stand in the Temple Bar area, has one of the largest oyster selections in Dublin.