I was feeling very nostalgic for home the other day. The World Oyster Opening Championships were on in Galway at the local oyster festival and I was remembering many happy occasions, standing watching (champagne in hand, nothing like a glass of fizz to colour a happy memory) the champions do their stuff. The current title holder is Xavier Caille of Belgium who opened 30 oysters in 2 minutes 40 seconds; 'shucking' is the term used for opening an oyster.

So it was interesting to find myself the other side of the shucking last night at the launch of the Oyster Festival in Soho restaurant Patara, competing with 11 other bloggers to see who could open a dozen oysters the fastest. And I won! Well, with the help of my team-mate, the deft-fingered Mark from Hedonist's Guides, pictured here with me and managing director Kessuda Raiva.

And though we were the quickest by far - standing around chatting while everybody else finished their dozen - we were slightly marked down for presentation - pah! who cares what they look like! - and so shared the prize of 48 oysters and a couple of Patara recipe books, with another couple, the London Foodie (great blog, check it out) and @qinxiesays (yes, us writers have strange names ...)

Head to Patara until the end of November to try their new oyster menu, featuring cooked and raw oysters, with restaurants located in Soho, Oxford Circus, Knightsbridge and Fulham - more details on www.patarathailand.com/london. Patara's oysters are suppled by Richard Emans of Maldon Oysters, a man who knows a thing or two about shucking - in fact, I can say he taught me everything I know. They produce 1.5 tonnes every day, you can buy Maldon oysters in London's Duke of York square every Saturday or get them online here.

And so I went home triumphantly holding my box of oysters aloft, surrounded by the faint smell of the sea. I may have been in muggy, noisy, late night London but a little bit of me was back in the west of Ireland, listening to the cheers of the oyster-hungry crowd and smiling.

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See our great recipe for oysters in whiskey cream