Restaurant is ready to mark National Oyster Day

An Edinburgh restaurant is getting ready for National Oyster Day this weekend.

The Cannonball Restaurant & Bar on Castlehill has appointed the Capital’s only dedicated alfresco oyster shucker in time for National Oyster Day on Sunday, 5 August.

Cannonball is situated on the site of a 16th century townhouse at the top of Edinburgh’s Royal Mile. Appropriately, the building’s foundations are packed with discarded oyster shells from centuries ago – fast food from days gone by.

Cannonball’s head chef and official oyster shucker, Adrian Knibbs, 41, from Auckland, New Zealand, will be showing off his oyster shucking expertise outside Cannonball House between 3pm and 6pm.

Shellfish lovers will get the chance to get stuck into delicious Cumbrae and Isle of Mull Oysters from the West Coast of Scotland, as well as Lindisfarne Oysters from the East Coast of Scotland.

Cannonball’s head chef Adrian Knibbs

Adrian can skilfully shuck an oyster in just a few seconds, having had over 20 years on the job training.  He said: ‘Fresh Scottish oysters are just delicious, especially the varieties we source at the Cannonball Restaurant, near Edinburgh Castle.

‘If you’re shucking your own oysters at home, it’s always best to shuck them away from yourself or you can get injured by the sharp oyster shucking knife.

‘At Cannonball, we often take our oysters out of shell, crumb them and deep fry. We also like to cook them under the grill with cheese, bacon and Worcestershire sauce.’

Cannonball House at the top of the Royal Mile (Photo: Derek Anderson)

All of Cannonball’s oysters are served fresh from the shell or can be served with 2000-year-old Roman sauce, red wine vinegar and shallot dressing or lemon and tabasco. For something extra special, they can also be served Kilpatrick-style Isle of Mull Cheddar, Worcester sauce and crispy bacon.

Carina Contini, owner of Cannonball Restaurant & Bar, said: ‘We’re really excited to be getting involved in this year’s National Oyster Day and sharing this unmissable alfresco dining experience with all of our diners.

‘During our own refurbishment of Cannonball House, the foundations were excavated to reveal layers of discarded oyster shells dating back over hundreds of years – clearly showing this wonderful native shellfish was as popular back then as it is today.

‘We dedicate a huge amount of our time to sourcing produce direct from the very best suppliers from across Scotland, including our Scottish oysters, with 90 per cent of our ingredients coming from more than 70 trusted Scottish artisan producers.’