Oysters at Ootoya

Perhaps, it had been the initial excitement of having discovered that seasonal Hiroshima oysters were available on the menu at Ootoya that we came down with eager anticipation to try them. These levels of excitement are usually no good because I tend to get disappointed. Which was what happened here. We left the place feeling not so satisfied with what they had served. For one, the fried oysters weren't as juicy or creamy as I had expected and perhaps, being seasonal had made me expect much more out of them. Even the nicely breaded shell didn't save them from the fact that they were lacklustre.

 

Likewise with their steamed oyster rice which was a tad shrivelled looking in comparison with the fat succulent shellfish we had imagined. Freshness was probably not the question at hand here since they did taste pretty okay. They just appeared visually disappointing and while at that, had the textures of how they looked like. The flavour of the oysters did not so much permeate the rice as they had claimed and in fact, the hijiki seaweed were more pronounced.

 

What salvaged the dinner was the charcoal grilled pork rice bowl and a chicken karaage with stewed root vegetables served on the side of the oyster set. The former was a consolation with a nice char grill flavour but had too little rice to go along with. I guess I'll be back to just one option for fried oysters for the time being. This episode has certainly developed me a craving.