Steve Feletti explains what drives the search for quality and consistency at Moonlight Flat Oysters®

‘It’s all about the finish’

Steve, what’s the philosophy behind Moonlight Flat Oysters™?
From day one our philosophy behind the brands was to deliver direct to the very top restaurants a range of the finest oysters backed by Japanese food industry standards of customer service. And we wanted to do that with the minimum sets of hands involved between the grower and the consumer.

The main thing we wanted to achieve was great affinage. Great oysters, like great wines, are created by their provenance and affinage, or finishing process. Size is definitely not everything. We price and sell our products based on this affinage, not on size or type.

Our highest priority is to carefully manage the finish of our oysters to achieve a consistent signature flavour, the gout de la mer.

What needs improving in the local industry?
Oysters in Australia are generally under-marketed, poorly handled and badly delivered. We want to lift the standard of oyster growing from the ground up…product integrity and consistency in all aspects of cultivation and delivery. And we are focussed on handling oysters the right way through all stages of delivery to the consumer.

The way in which we enjoy oysters in Australia doesn’t do them justice. France produces 129,000 tonnes of table oysters per year. Australia produces about 10,000 tonnes. In France not a single oyster is sold pre-shucked and tap rinsed—in  Australia the bulk of product is pushed through opened and rinsed. This is the challenge. If we are to create real demand for quality product then the grassroots of the industry have to change. I’m astonished that Australians will pay good money to eat pre-frozen imported oysters laid out on those groaning hotel buffet tables, or buy chilled, shucked oysters when it’s easier and cheaper to buy live oysters in their shell and open them at home.

The relationship with leading chefs and restaurants is obviously very important to you?
We only sell direct to the finest restaurants who share our obsession with preserving the integrity of the product. We supply some of the best restaurants in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne. The ‘oyster partnership’ we have with The Boathouse on Blackwattle Bay restaurant in Sydney, one of our first customers, is a good example—from the very beginning our aim has been to supply The Boathouse with the finest oysters available. Seven years later Gourmet Traveller magazine ranked the oysters at The Boathouse among ‘the top 50 dishes in Australia’. In a world of false icons, knowing that our three brands are the top sellers at The Boathouse is a source of great pride in the partnership we work hard at, every week of every year. In fact our most popular brand, Clair de Lune Bouton, was born at The Boathouse as a trial oyster within our 2001 annual Oyster Taste Workshops. ‘One hand cannot clap alone’ goes the old proverb and our journey with The Boathouse has been a shared passion for oysters, backed by enthusiastic encouragement to innovate in all aspects of superior product delivery.

The process you describe, from the farm to the plate, sounds quite simple, even old-fashioned.
It’s a passionate, ‘slow food’ approach versus what I sometimes call ‘industrial’ oyster production. We are inspired by traditional French practices and processes, and oysters are artisinal products, but we are operating within a context of international oyster standards at the highest levels. And we are marketing ‘branded’ oysters that are the result of our very careful affinage—we stand behind those brands.

Is there much difference between the brands?
Yes. Because our oysters are generally more delicate and refined, the differences are subtle but nonetheless distinctive. There are differences in texture, colour, mineral/metallic flavour, depth of flavour, and so on. The Moonlight Flat Angasi of course is smoky and earthy, compared to the Sydney rock oysters. We go to a lot of trouble to make sure that the taste of each brand is consistent.

Are people becoming more interested in angasi oysters?
Yes, these are the native flat oyster—in the past they may have seemed a bit challenging to some consumers because of their texture and stronger taste, but superb handling by some of the restaurants is increasing their popularity.

Interestingly the angasi have recently been identified by DNA testing as being closely related to the French ‘belon’ flat oyster, and quite different to the New Zealand Bluff oyster. Our Moonlight Flat Angasi takes about three years to grow and is difficult to cultivate. It develops a stronger taste than other oysters and varies in colour—a dull mushroom pink in summer changes to chalky white in winter. It’s a world class oyster that I encourage all consumers to try.

Sydney is the best oyster city on Earth—where else can you get three types of oyster (Sydney rock, Pacific and angasi) in such great quality.

What’s planned for the future?
We are always tinkering with affinage and we have identified a number of other styles—they are not all easy to cultivate and some might only be available in limited quantities or for short seasons, but we expect to release more of these in the future. Our new ‘Rusty Wire’ brand is a recent example of this—we won’t have many of them but they are quite unique. We have some other styles coming through—we are just waiting to see if we get consistent gout de la mer and sufficient harvests to release them to the chefs and restaurants.

Clair de Lune Sel Saveur®
Our oyster savoury salt is made in the style of traditional French sel savuer, comprising wholly natural ingredients of seaweed, Moonlight Flat Oysters® and sea salt. READ MORE >


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