London's coolest crustacea bars

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Wine and dine: a glass of crisp white wine to wash down oysters at Wright Bros in Borough Market

Wright stuff: a plate of native oysters served at Wright Bros

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September's here, there's an “r” in the month and the first of the new season's native oysters have arrived in the capital's best restaurants and seafood bars. You can eat Pacific or rock oysters all year round, but there's nothing quite like the British Isles' own mineral-rich, aphrodisiac and delicious “natives” that are only in season from now until April (spot that “r”). You'll find them in the smartest venues from this week but we like them best freshly shucked and with a glass of champagne at the counter of one of London's coolest crustacea bars. Here are our favourites...

Wright Bros Oyster and Porter House
Wright Bros in Borough Market is known in the restaurant trade as wholesaler for the finest oysters you'll get in London. Since 2002, the company has supplied the capital's best restaurants with an astonishing variety including Scottish oysters from Cumbrae, Irish oysters from Carlingford Lough and even some rarities from America's Pacific North-West. For a unique “spit and sawdust” approach to oyster eating, a world away from Champagne Charlie hangouts, make tracks to its Oyster And Porter House. Order yourself a half-dozen oysters (perhaps the sweet Colchester natives from £15 a half-dozen) washed down with a half of porter, the traditional London way.
11 Stoney Street, Borough Market, SE1
(020 7403 9554)

Le Pont de la Tour
In pole position right on the Thames, Le Pont De La Tour is waiting for the first oysters to arrive in town from the historic oyster beds of Essex and Kent. This Friday the riverside brasserie will host the final leg of the Thames Festival Oyster Run, an old tradition when six oyster smacks race along the river to get their cargo from the coast to the city. The boats are scheduled to reach Le Pont De La Tour at 1pm for shucking and serving oysters, as fresh as you like, for lunch. The Brightlingsea and Whitstable oysters are served all next week (or until they run out) at £8.50 per half-dozen. A glass of chablis, £9, and a few rays of sun are the only accompaniment you'll need.
Butler's Wharf Building, 36d Shad Thames, SE1 (020 7403 8403)

Le Bouchon Breton
to find out more about the aphrodisiac superfoods, try the monthly oyster masterclasses at this grand French brasserie. Learn how to shuck oysters and pair them with drinks as diverse as sake and champagne, and enjoy tutored tastings of the many varieties, including Belon and Fine de Claire from France, and Rossmore natives from Scotland. Classes, £50pp. Oysters at the bar from £11 a half-dozen.
8 Horner Square, Old Spitalfields Market, E1 (08000 191 704)

Green's Restaurant and Oyster Bar
It has taken nearly three decades, but venerable St James's oyster bar Green's, opens its second branch tomorrow. It occupies a distinguished City address: the former HQ of Lloyds Bank, now with magnificent horseshoe-shaped seafood and crustacea bar The Runner in the hall on the ground floor. It's pretty posh, being owned by a Parker Bowles (Camilla's former brother-in-law, Simon), so where better to slurp down native oysters, the seabed aristocrats? Look out for the tie-up with Laurent-Perrier: two free oysters with every glass of ultra brut champagne, £14. Oysters, from £16 per half-dozen.
14 Cornhill, EC3 (020 7220 6300)

Lutyens
Sir Terence Conran's latest big-hitting restaurant is Fleet Street's Lutyens. Gregarious Irish head chef David Burke serves new season native oysters in the bar and the restaurant, but perhaps the finest spot is at the marble counter that doubles up as both über-modern sushi destination and classic crustacea bar. There are only six slots at the counter so consider them the Square Mile's most exclusive. Taste your way through a mixed half-dozen including West Mersea natives from Essex, and France's finest, the prestigious Spéciale de Claires. Such quality is best enjoyed with just a wedge of lemon or a dash of “mignonette” shallot vinegar. Other tasty variations include Rockefeller rock oysters (gratinated with spinach), £6.95, and Welsh rarebit with oysters, £8.50.
85 Fleet Street, EC4 (020 7583 8385)

The Oyster Bar at J Sheekey
It was always a bit of a squeeze — a fun squeeze — in the bar at J Sheekey. The vintage theatreland spot, beloved of thespians ever since the days when Sir Laurence Olivier was a regular, was extended and refurbished last November and is now more fabulous than ever — great news for shellfish fans who can now chow down on their bivalve of choice seven days a week. Any time of year, there's little better than a silver tiered plateau of fruits de mer, £27.50 per person, loaded with brown shrimps, whelks, winkles, and mussels, or the signature J Sheekey fish pie, £9.75. This month, however, we'd be fools not to take advantage of their wicked offer: a glass of champagne and a half-dozen West Mersea oysters, £15.
28-32 St Martin's Court, WC2 (020 7240 2565)

 

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