If you love the world’s favourite bivalve, then you’ll know that an oyster isn’t simply an oyster. Size, taste and texture can all vary depending on factors including whether it’s a Rock or Pacific, where it was grown, and the environmental conditions, whether they’re at peak season, and how far they’ve had to travel. Sometimes this will be laid out for you, other times not. So, it’s good to have that little bit of knowledge stored away, and especially when it comes to homegrown product like Albany Rock Oysters.
There is significant oyster production around Australia – from Albany stretching east to the leases of South Australia, up to New South Wales where their regions have different seasonal peaks: north coast of NSW (spring and summer), mid-coast of NSW (summer to autumn) and south coast of South Australia (late autumn into winter). Tasmanian oysters, mainly Pacific, are in season from late autumn to early spring, their peak being in June and July.
For diners in Western Australia, they’d perhaps be more accustomed to Pacific oysters from South Australia and Tasmania by sheer volume. They are a faster-growing species that are generally larger than the rock oyster and have a strong briny characteristic. The rock oyster by comparison, is often said to be more complex, with creamy and mineralisation notes added to the hallmark oyster brine.
In Albany the season moves with the weather, the rains opening and closing the season. As spring draws to an end and the last significant rains abate the season is declared as open, and can run for six months, through the summer and up until around Easter – with the Leeuwin Coast farm team making a call on when to start and end the season based purely on the condition of the oysters. Many chefs in the West agree that, within that window, they want to be using Albany Rock Oysters. For some, it’s pride in produce, others it’s environmental, a matter of taste, or all of the above.
Evan Hayter who co-founded and now helms de’sendent in Margaret River (WAGFG, New Restaurant of the Year 2025) says he’s still getting his head around many aspects of production, having recently visited Albany and the Leeuwin Coast team. He’s known as a chef who meticulously sources his produce and is driven by sustainability. “What was impressive, was the growth of algae to feed the tiny oyster spat in the hatchery,” he says. “There are several types of algae that they’re growing and then they make a mixture – the perfect formula for the spat to feast on before they head down to the nursery at Oyster Harbour. There’s an abundance of food and the spat grows as quickly as possible. It all makes sense. From a product point of view, and even from a waste point of view, that you have healthier spat, better oysters, less wastage and the product’s better at the end.”
Since opening de’sendent in early 2025, Hayter says that they’ve had South Australian oysters on “when Albany’s aren’t available.” There’s a real difference he says. “Last season, Leeuwin Coast’s Albany Rocks were great and then this season they’re unbelievable so far – eating them straight out of the baskets on the ocean was a pretty special experience because they’re about as plump as they’re going to be, they are filtering water at the time, so you let a bit of that water go and eat the oyster.”
While he wouldn’t use the South Australian product if it fell below his exacting standards, Hayter says that there’s a definite difference and an advantage to using Albany Rock Oysters.
Hayter highlights freight conditions and that Leeuwin Coast’s Albany Rock Oysters get to him in Margaret River in just 48 hours. “The other thing I find is that quality wise they sit on the shelf longer, stored at the right conditions they’ll go well over a week. Like you’d get two weeks out of them if you needed, and they’ll be pretty damn good” he says.
The product, its season set by the rains and the ocean temperature, not an entry on a marketing spreadsheet, is a better one he says. “So, there’s no lingering bitterness, or too big a hit of zinc-iness; they’re just lovely and creamy and subtle. There are no gaps in the flavour, nothing that stands out as offensive. You could polish off 40 or 50 very easily.” For those oyster-sceptics, who are maybe not too adventurous in their tastes, or have been spoilt by an oyster that’s too aggressively bold, Hayter feels that the subtleness of Albany Rock Oysters is perfect.
“I’ve had a lot of people say they don’t like oysters, and I’ve said, well try this, it might just change your mind. And then they’ll say later, that’s the best oyster I’ve ever had.” While he serves them by the half dozen over summer, Hayter’s method with a single elevated oyster as a small starting course is to steep them for a few hours in sparkling sake, fresh Nashi juice, and premium Japanese rice vinegar, then to put them back in the shell and serve them ice cold, finished with his own olive oil. It’s a meeting of skill and seasonality, a celebration of West Australian quality.