The lure of a pure ocean taste

Australia's favourite food blogger, Not Quite Nigella, aka Lorraine Elliott, exercises her palette with a range of sumptuous culinary delights on a night out with the girls.

I once watched a documentary on schoolkids in China. They taunted certain kids because they were slow eaters whilst simultaneously bestowing praise upon the good eaters. I have to admit that as strange an asset as this sounds, I really like choosing dining partners based on whether they're good eaters. Strict dieters, the terminally fussy or the plain bewildering are just not ideal dining companions. So tonight when we were dining at Sean Connolly's new restaurant The Morrison, I have Laura, the vegetarian who offers such classic lines as "is it wrong that I will only eat chips cooked in duck fat?” She was bringing along Peta who she claimed was a very good eater. One should never underestimate how much girls can eat…

So it seemed only appropriate that we try a good portion of the menu. "That's quite a bit of food” our waiter says to us. "You've never met us, you'd be surprised what we can eat” we answer. The vibe at The Morrison is quite noisy, slightly meat-marketish with guys perched on bar stools with a ready raised eyebrow and "hey ladies” smile.



The main room has dining tables lining the two large windows and a bar area in the middle. To the left of the bar area is the oyster bar where they feature freshly shucked oysters and past that is more dining space. The atmosphere is bathed in warm yellowy tones with glowing upturned jar lights on each table – and heated floors no less, which make this windy spring evening very warm indeed!

Ex-Astral chef Sean Connelly is the executive chef at The Morrison although he isn't in this evening. The menu is one page long although a newspaper sits on the table with the wine list and a back page oyster menu 30 oysters long and at any one time, a selection is served.



There are three types of oysters tonight: Pacific, Rock and the lesser known Angassi. I must admit, I got quite excited about trying Angassi oysters but alas it was not to be. Instead, there were Port Stephens Rocks, Pambula Rocks and Coffin Bay Pacifics. They were served ice cold with fresh lemon and a house made tomato and horseradish sauce which was lovely and spicy. And I wasn't really joking when I said that we should order a hundred as they tasted of the pure ocean.

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