Page 14 - David Burr Rooftops Magazine Winter 2017/2018

Customers – and the owner Ewan isn’t too concerned. “When I was one to go out on the boat and land the
in Ireland I loved oysters so much I’d eat them for my starter, main and dessert. Now I think I’ve over-oystered! I still love to cook with them but I leave the eating to our diners – and Piers.”
He’s also thrilled to spend time with Richard Haward, seventh-generation oysterman and owner with his wife, Heather, of the famous Company Shed on Mersea Island. At 72, Richard still keeps a close eye on the business from the water’s edge, his son Bram now the
– of the Church Street Tavern can’t get enough of the Mersea Island oysters served up at this
popular Colchester restaurant by head chef Ewan Naylon.
“Do you need all these oysters?” Piers Baker, owner of the Tavern, sweeps through the kitchen and barely waits for an answer from head chef Ewan Naylon before picking a shell from the heap waiting to be prepped.
oysters. “Together we get the blame for bringing the tourists to the island,” he jokes. “But you can’t please all the people all the time.”
Dredged from the River Blackwater, the oysters are laid on the Hawards’ own oyster beds. There they lay over the summer months in warmer waters to fatten and strengthen and take in rich nutrients from the surrounding marshland. This is what gives Mersea Island oysters their distinctive saline taste
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Shelling out
A Colchester restaurant, a chef, and a love affair with oysters