WA’s akoya shellfish muscles in to SA dining scene — but how does it taste?

A billionaire couple have set their sights on SA as a new market, despite the state’s claim to already being the nation’s oyster capital.

It looks like an oyster but the akoya is a shellfish with a taste somewhere between abalone, scallop and mussels.

After quietly appearing on menus in restaurants such as Aurora on Light Square, its Western Australians backers are using the coming Tasting Australia festival to take it to more SA palates including hosting masterclasses for chefs.

Grown off Mistaken Island near Albany in WA, billionaire Nicola and Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest’s Leeuwin Coast company grows the akoya on ropes in depths from 3m to 14m in a pristine area with huge swells.

Chef Sam Cooper and Leeuwin Coast's Justin Welsh at Aurora restaurant at Light Square, Image/Russell Millard Photography

The plump, scallop-sized akoya mature in about 20 months and the company is scaling production towards one million per harvest, with long-term plans to have them in fishmongers after giving South Australians a taste for the sweet seafood delicacy in fashionable restaurants.

The shellfish has long been harvested in Japan for pearls but currents which brought it to the WA coast mean it also has an Australian heritage and the species has been grown in a hatchery at the Mistaken Island complex for the past eight years.

Leewin Coast’s Justin Welsh describes the aquaculture project as “one-third science, one-third experiment and one-third witchcraft.”

“It is not an oyster,” he stresses, “It is similar to a abalone-mussel hybrid.

“It is essentially a new animal that has been domesticated. It is in the bivalve family but is not an oyster.”

The Akoya at Aurora restaurant at Light Square, Image/Russell Millard Photography

Dr Welsh said this means it does not compete on menus with oysters, suggesting diners could have an oyster entree and akoya main with chefs free to plan the presentation.

“Akoya’s striking nacre-lined shell provides a magnificent backdrop for this little culinary delicacy,” he said.

Growth time is 20 months, the growing process is certified carbon neutral and akoya need to be frozen on harvesting for transport.

The Advertiser was provided with two akoya to sample and photographer Russell Millard likened his to razorfish.

Mine was sweet and a little chewy with texture of abalone, possibly something to taste for the experience — but a far cry from the pure joy of wolfing down a dozen Coffin Bay oysters.