The oyster shuckers, with host Patrick McMurray, front, and eventual winner Gordon Reekie, fourth from right. Photo: Susie Lowe

A shell of good show by oyster champ Reekie

Chef Gordon Reekie, of Glasgow pop-up restaurant concept That’s Yer Dinner, has been crowned Scotland’s 2018 oyster shucking champion after beating nine other contestants at the Stranraer Oyster Festival at the weekend.

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"Suck-off" winner Gordon Reekie will represent Scotland in Galway. Photo: Susie Lowe

Reekie will now go on to represent Scotland at the World Oyster Shucking Championships in Galway, Ireland at the end of the month.

The Scottish Oyster Shucking Championship, organised by Seafood Scotland and hosted by world record shucker Patrick McMurray, was one of a number of attractions at the festival, which was first held last year.

‘Absolutely crazy’

Festival committee chairman Romano Petrucci said the number of visitors had comfortably exceeded last year’s total of 13,000.

“It was absolutely crazy. We haven’t done any totals as yet, but on the Friday night there were probably between 2,100 and 3,100 people [to witness] bringing the oysters onshore. Last year it was 900 to 1,100.

“I think the total for last year was round about 13,000 for the whole weekend, and I would say after Saturday that total was already beaten this year.”

This year’s festival was partly financed by the Big Lottery Fund, but Petrucci is hoping there’ll be less of a shortfall for next year.

Self-sustaining

“We started off aiming for self-sustainability, so we’ve been doing collections, getting donations from the public, and hoping that when we’ve counted all that we’re going to have a fair sum towards next year’s event. By 2020 we’d like to be self-sustainable,” he said.

“The oyster shucking was fantastic, it was one of the highlights, along with the chef demonstrations – we had Nick Nairn – and there was the Big Bash, Samsam Bubbleman for the kids, an absolutely full-to-the-brim market with about 70 stands, and this year we introduced a main tent where we had food, education about seafood, drink and music. You could barely get in the door the entire weekend, it was absolutely jam-packed.”