What is the first thing you do when a plate of oysters is placed in front of you? You count how many there are, says Richard Errington, chief executive officer of West HQ, in Sydney’s west. And so when the entertainment precinct was organizing what it bills as Australia’s largest inland oyster festival, it decided to “do something special” and sell oysters in plates of 13.
Even for a dozen, the $18 price tag is a bargain, but for 13 oysters and a mignonette dressing on the side, it really is the catch of the day.
It seems counter-intuitive to go inland in search of oysters but over the next few weeks, the best place in Sydney to enjoy oysters is West HQ in Rooty Hill.
World Oyster Day
The festival was launched in Sydney on World Oyster Day earlier this week. It continues over the next month at four dining venues in West HQ. Highlighting premium New South Wales oysters from East 33, the inaugural festival builds on the success of oyster promotions held at Sean Connolly’s Steak & Oyster Co over the past few years.
Connolly wasn’t at the launch, but in a message broadcast from the United Kingdom where he is visiting family, the long-time supporter of NSW’s Sydney rock oyster industry said he had sold five million oysters in his restaurants over the course of his career.
Two years ago, his Steak & Oyster Co restaurant in West HQ sold 40,000 oysters in a one-month promotion. That success was repeated on a much bigger scale last year when 175,000 oysters were sold at Steak & Oyster Co.
This year, with four West HQ venues on board and a full-scale festival under way, organizers are expecting 225,000 oysters to be consumed.
The oysters are sourced from East 33, part of the Yumbah Acquaculture Group, and come from the Wallis Lake and Camden Haven estuaries on the mid north coast of New South Wales.
West HQ chief marketing officer, Michaela Chan, says choosing oysters as the festival theme was all about offering customers “affordable luxury”. And with extreme weather events increasingly a challenge for oyster producers, it was great to support the growers too.
West HQ is hoping the Western Sydney Oyster Festival will ‘flip the coastal monopoly’ for oyster festivals and become a key event of the Australian aquaculture calendar.
Look out for the information displays about oysters placed around the various venues in West HQ. Meet oyster experts Matt Toan and his colleagues from East 33 every Sunday in August as they share how to farm, source, shuck, and serve oysters.
Affordable Luxury oyster deals offering 13 Sydney rock oysters for $18 are available Sunday to Thursday throughout August across all West HQ signature dining brands, includingSteak & Oyster Co by Sean Connolly, CHU Restaurant by China Doll, Pizzaperta Manfredi and New Town Thai, each with their own bespoke dressings.
West HQ
33 Railway Street
Rooty Hill NSW 2766
Australia
Tel: +61 (0)2 9625 5500
www.westhq.com.au