Prince Edward Island and the search for oysters.

We drove from Halifax to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island via the Confederation Bridge which took about five hours. We had bad weather driving that day. The next day we drove north on the island to what they call the "Green Gables" shore. It's where all of you who are Anne of Green Gables fan know where the writer is from and the inspiration for her books. The county of Cavendish is where we ended up to see the house and area. It is what you would expect, pastoral with green rolling hills, really beautiful area. It's also very touristy and I'm sure locals must be tired of the association since really, there are much more interesting things to see and do on PEI. The best advice I have for anyone going to PEI is to go in the summer or early fall. We happen to hit a time where everything and everyone is still getting out of their winter slumber. We encountered a lot of closed parks and restaurants. It's a really tough time to visit and hard to imagine in a month things will be open and throngs of people will appear.
Charles and I had a utopian scheme to find and eat the very best oysters ever heard of, those by the name of Malpeque. Being as naive as we were we thought simply driving up to Malpeque Bay, we would be awarded for our efforts. It doesn't really work that way. We drove up to the harbour and there wasn't a soul in sight. What did we want? I guess we wanted to be showered with oysters since this was the home of The Malpeque Oyster. Feeling defeated by the quiet docks and with nothing open, we turned around. We had driven by a restaurant earlier that had looked like there were cars and activity so we thought we'd go and check in to see if they were even open, which we doubted. Pulling up in front of the restaurant, the posted sign said that they were opening May 9, it was May 8. Out of desperation I went in to ask if anyone in there knew of any other restaurants serving local seafood. What a lucky move that was! The restaurant was buzzing with people. There were people cleaning up and it looked like they were getting ready for their grand opening. I was told to speak to John Bil, one of the owners of Ship to Shore restaurant. The person instructing me to after I asked him where to find some oysters, laughed and said "Speak to John, he's the oyster shucking champion, maybe he'll get you some oysters". After meeting John and explaining we were looking for some good local food he invited us back for their Friend's and Family night. John also explained it was a trial night before the opening so our meal would be taken care of by him. I couldn't believe it, I had just met him and we got an invitation for a free meal. It was turning out to be a good day after all and an even better dinner.
We were so fortunate that night. John Bil is a champion oyster shucker and Charles also recognized him from a few shows he'd seen on Food Network. He had just recently bought the restaurant with partners that owned a mussel company. What they wanted was a nice casual place that served up good local food. Right away John hooked us up with the oysters. We also learned that under the name Malpeque there are other types of oysters. We had the Raspberry Points which is named for the area which they are 'finished' or where they were harvested. There is actually a lot to learn about oysters, here's a good online guide:

http://www.oysterguide.com/book/what-kind-of-oyster-eater-are-you

My confession is that for years I was convinced I was allergic to oysters. I probably had one or two bad ones as a child. I remember violently throwing up after eating them. The ones my mom fed us were these huge ugly blobs that looked like aliens to me. So all of my adult life I never touched them believing they were evil to my system. Last year Charles convinced me to try one and see if I was still allergic. The small Kushi oyster stayed down in my stomach. I was hooked! Once I had a taste I haven't been able to satisfy my craving for them, so to be able to get them as fresh as we did was a real treat.
We also had fried oysters, and oysters Rockefeller. We definitely got our fill of oysters that night. The other dish we had were the mussels, how could we not? The other two owners, Stephan and Julie, run mussel farms all over the island so we had to try them. We got ours 'Island Style', which is steamed bare with just some lemon and butter on the side. Food doesn't get fresher then this. We were so fortunate to stumble onto this restaurant in Darnley. It was a great relaxed atmosphere despite a first run night. We had the chance to chat with the owners who were super friendly. I'm sure they will do well in their new venture. I would love to go back again someday.