Visit Chiswick’s Devonshire Road on any given Sunday and half the neighbourhood will be out and about. The small street is a culinary mecca for any occasion. Coffee at Tamp. Breakfast at Beehive or Urban Pantry. Focaccia sandwiches at Arcane and award-winning pizzas from Napoli on the Road. There’s cosy Italian at Vinoteca and Michelin-starred French at La Trompette. For sweet treats, Duci’s or Rozie’s. Walk past them all, and at the end of the block, you’ll find the pearl, The Whistling Oyster.
Fishmonger by morning and seafood bar by afternoon, The Whistling Oyster is located less than a 20 minute walk from the Thames Path. It was established in 2022 by Sasha Mantel, John Robinson, Rob Gillon, three friends obsessed with the ocean’s delicacies. According to its website, the place is recommended by Rick Stein, who can sometimes be spotted at the seafood bar if you’re lucky.
This elevated oyster shack’s shell is painted bold marine-blue with simple, pink oyster patterns as its emblem. Step inside and you’ll find the fishmonger counter, shelves of ocean delights and sea-adjacent products, two high-top tables and counter seats wrapped around the restaurant. It’s a compact space so best to get there early, especially on weekends with good weather and pleasant outdoor seating. While the ground floor is reserved for starters and small dishes, upstairs is where the high-rollers go – where small plates do not suffice and larger parties and platters reign.
My neighbour and I were lucky to find the last two open seats, high stools at the very end of the counter seating, where the window ends and the stairs begin. Not the most comfortable seating, but we don’t care, we’re here for the food.
Scallops with wild garlic pesto
Oysters
Crab claws and garlic mayo
Peruse the wine menu and you’ll find a grand selection of English varieties – reds, whites, rosés and oranges that, despite the terror of climate change (and the dedication of fantastic English producers), are positive outcomes of England’s warmer weather. (If nature takes us out, at least we’ll drink well before it happens.) I choose the house white. It’s crisp, dry and pairs great with the menu. No complaints here.
First up, grilled scallops with a wild garlic pesto arrive at the counter space. Served in pairs, they come bubbling hot and beautifully plated, with the savoury pesto slathered in their shell. It is everything I would want in a grilled scallop with wild pesto, served with lemon and just enough bread to finish the scallops and mop up the leftover sauce.
We follow the scallops with two pairs of crab claws, ready to crack open and served with a side of garlic mayo. Despite being great at eating seafood, I’m terrible at cracking shellfish open and digging for the meaty bits, so my neighbour kindly guided me to glory with juicy chunks that were immediately dunked in garlicky goodness.
Finally, The Whistling Oyster’s whistling oysters. Like Anthony Bourdain said, it’s “the perfect food”. And like the English wine here, there’s variety of choice, depending on the season and catch. On one visit, there were only Carlingford and Barra oysters, but when visiting with my neighbour, options ranged from Atlantic Edge, Islay, Native and Maorach Beag, all between £3 to £5 per shell. They come with lemon, tabasco and mignonette. We order two of each.
When the oysters arrive, we take a moment. We gaze at the trey of grey, briny matter, each shell placed next to its kin and lined in a circle. We notice the differences in each shell’s shape, curve and pattern. We acknowledge the fishmongers who wake up at the ass crack of dawn to clean, shuck and prepare these snotty aquatic gifts, all for us to gulp down our gullets at light speed. This is why we’re here, what we’re looking for: slimey, slurpy seduction. We choose our first victim, toast like it’s a shot, then toss it back. We savour the reward, and repeat as needed with swigs of wine and conversation in between.
The oysters’ sweet aftertaste is dessert enough.
46 Devonshire Road
Chiswick
London
W4 2HD
May 2025
