You go to the Oyster Festival. At least once.
With the sample dishes from Artisan…
(marinated monkfish and cherry tomato brochettes with fragrant basmati rice and curry aoli)
and West…
(seared local scallops ‘in shell’ with sea lettuce Beurre Blanc and sauteed vegetables)
the cooking demonstrations tent…
the people in funny outfits…
the professional rugby players in the kitchen…
Brett Wilkinson bested Mike McCarthy in an all-Connacht Rugby cooking competition.
the world championship oyster-opening (not shucking; not here) competition…
The professional oyster-openers from the USA (I don’t know which state) and the Czech Republic (the only female in the competition). The eventual champion ended up being locally sourced – Michael Moran, the third-time champion from County Galway. I love their aprons.
the complimentary half-dozen oysters and free pint (not pictured because I went home to take a break, leaving my camera behind so I could enjoy myself; and besides, they were served in plastic and not worth the photo opt, but oh so delicious)…
So here’s a Creative Commons image from [cipher] on PhotoRee.
I’d say it was worth the price of admission. If only to experience it once.
The Galway Train 