The Galway International Oyster & Seafood Festival – Seafood Trail

Natives. Flats. Native flats. Ostrea edulis – whatever you call our native oysters they are as much a part of the food fabric and history of Ireland as our butter. Fatty yet not fatty. Nutty without any nuts. A hint of citrus without any fruit. And that unequalled lingering sweet iodine flavour. There is nothing quite like the Irish native oyster.The Native Oyster Season has begun and to celebrate that restaurants throughout the city and county and giving the humble oyster and all of the fruits of the sea pride of place on their menus.

These authentic Irish delicacies are coveted everywhere from the bistros and brasseries of Paris, all the way to China. With brown bread, butter and a pint of stout or a glass of bone-dry white wine, this is as good an Irish food experience as there is.

Galway’s leading chefs all have a profound grá and respect for the Irish native oyster as a key ingredient on their menus.

The 2020 Galway International Oyster & Seafood Festival Seafood Trail features 17 of the city’s leading seafood establishments from McDonagh’s world-renowned seafood restaurant on Quay St, to the city’s best known oyster houses Tigh Neachtain and Chef JP McMahon’s Tartare.  The trail extends all the way out from the city to West at the Twelve and then joins up with the BIM  “Taste the Atlantic” Bay Coast Seafood Trail along the Wild Atlantic Way.

“Irish Seafood is exceptional and affords a unique opportunity to connect with the natural environment”, so says Máirtín Walsh of BIM in welcoming this initiative.

The best news of all is that, packed as they are with zinc, vitamin A, protein and iron, oysters are great for your immune system.  So, now more than ever, you have the perfect excuse to indulge yourself – our humble Native Oyster is just what the doctor ordered!

The Galway International Oyster and Seafood Festival is supported by Failte Ireland.