Topped oysters make top oysters. These sea-salty bivalves make good friends with fresh and zingy dressings, smoky bacon, and gentle heat from horseradish and chilli. And as always, butter, especially Analiese Gregory’s seaweed butter, makes everything better (oysters included).
Buy a dozen or more of the most popular varieties this festive season and shuck on.

Leigh Street Wine Room’s oysters with pepperberry mignonette

Sean Moran’s freshly shucked oysters with tarragon dressing

Barbecued oysters with finger-lime mignonette

Bennelong’s oysters with lemon-pepper granita

Analiese Gregory’s grilled oysters with seaweed butter

Raes on Wategos’ oysters with lemon-aspen vinegar, anise-myrtle oil and finger lime

Oysters with spicy fennel

Grilled oysters with lemongrass creme fraiche, fried garlic and lime

Curtis Stone’s oysters with Champagne and caviar

Beau Clugston’s grilled oysters with tapioca

Barbecued oysters with bacon-chilli-tamarind sauce

Lightly steamed XO oysters with bacon crumbs

Oysters with wasabi nori and lime dressing
