The palates of oyster lovers will be put to the test when an influx of the delicacy grown in pristine Western Australian waters heads east.
Some of the best Sydney Rock Oysters are grown in WA at a farm backed by the nation's richest man - and it's ramping up production.
Leeuwin Coast, jointly owned by Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest and his ex-wife Nicola Forrest, has started its first commercial-scale harvest after picking up three gold medals at this year's Sydney Royal Easter Show.
The 150-hectare farm in Albany, on the WA south coast, is set to dominate the local market this season, with more oyster beds set to open in the coming years.
But it remains to be seen whether east coast seafood lovers will warm to the newcomer that's renamed their native species Albany Rock Oysters.
Aquaculture manager Richard Kohne was tight-lipped about the company's aspirations nationally and the number of oysters it expects to sell during the harvest.
But there's no doubt the Leeuwin Coast team has eyes on the traditionally undersupplied national rock oyster market, with sales to east coast buyers already under way.
"Consumers love choice, and what we're providing here is another estuary that they can try and one from Western Australia that we know stands up to the quality they have over east," Mr Kohne told AAP.
"One of the main things that we're trying to highlight when we sell to the east coast is that we provide some diversification for consumers from the different weather patterns over here and the different environmental conditions."
Mr Kohne said the farm's isolated location could be a strength.
The site is 3000km west of the majority of commercial rock oyster growers on the NSW coast, which has been hit by parasites, floods and extreme temperatures in recent years.
"It's not to say that we won't have our challenges in the future, but where we can counter supply when they are having issues keeps consumers eating rock oysters and that's good for the industry," he said.
Head of Aquaculture Rob Michael said the time was right for a new entrant to the rock oyster market and the farm's new lease would allow it to supply oysters for more months of the year.
"This current harvest will be going all over Australia," he said.
"It's controversial but ... I've eaten my oysters all over Australia and I do think these are the best."
The farm is located in an open estuary fed by two rivers, which was named Oyster Harbour by European settlers due to the local oyster species they found in abundance there.
"That means every day we get a good tide exchange of salt water mixing with the fresh so the water quality is really high," Mr Michael said.
"There's no industry here that feeds anything into the system and we've got a national park behind us.
"It's a lovely system."
Albany restaurateur John Saville Wright said his customers loved the creamy oysters that feel like velvet on one's tongue and tasted of the Great Southern Ocean.
"They're yummy, they're moreish," he said.
"They're the best oysters I've ever tasted."
NSW Farmers oyster projects manager and royal agricultural show judge Andy Myers said oyster eaters should be "shellfish" and treat themselves to a tasting challenge of oysters harvested from different estuaries.
"Like a fine wine, there are nuances in an oyster's flavour, which are a reflection of the environment in which it’s grown," he said.
"Oyster aficionados refer to this as merroir."
Mr Myers said a big oyster wasn't always the best tasting.
"Good things come in small packages, with smaller oysters tending to be slightly sweeter and less intimidating to those trying for the first time," he said.
The Royal Agricultural Society of NSW also awarded six gold medals to NSW producers for their Sydney Rock Oysters at the 2024 Easter show.
There are about 230 oyster farms in NSW from the Tweed River on the Queensland border south to Wonboyn Lake near Eden.
*The AAP reporter travelled to Albany with the support of Leeuwin Coast
