Bibendum and my first Irish oyster of the odyssey

Michelin Man ("Bibendum") in stained glass at the Michelin building

Everyone knows the Michelin man, but not everyone knows his real name is Bibendum. The figure was inspired by a pile of tires at an exposition in the late 1800’s. The name comes from a poem in Latin by Horace in which one line is “Nunc est Bibendum” meaning now is the time to drink. By drink Michelin meant cups of nails and shards of glass to illustrate the durability of their tires. I think it now has a more modern connotation.

Bibendum is also a restaurant in the Michelin Building in London, a beautiful art-deco building. Actually, it is two restaurants — a formal emporium of the finest food upstairs and a oyster/shell fish bar downstairs. I love both, but this visit was downstairs.

The Bibendum shellfish bar downstairs

This was also my first time on this “oyster odyssey” to sample an Irish oyster, and not just any Irish oyster. This was labeled on the menu as a “Donegal Bay Divine Rock Oyster”.  After a little deciphering, it turns these are “sélects” or “speciales” meaning very plump and in this case large — probably a #2 (small numbers are larger oysters). I generally prefer a #3 or maybe a #4 (I would say the Hog Island Oyster company oysters would generally be a #4). But, this one ran small and tasted great. The others on the plate are Brittany’s fines de clair, a favorite of mine.

Great experience for my last oyster of the trip.

The building itself is a great example of Art-deco architecture from the early 1900s. In the 1980s Sir Terence Conran purchased the building and restored many of the original details. Great place to eat oysters and other crustacea, buy flowers and shop in Conran’s design store, all in one marvelous building.