Introducing Federico Fiorillo, one of our Oyster Boys and Shuckers at Bentley’s and also the current reigning 2018 Tabasco British Oyster Opening Champion!
At the championships last year Fiorillo was very much seen as an underdog, being a last minute entrant with the least experience amongst the 16 competitors. Despite the tough competition he won the title shucking 30 oysters in an impressive 3 minutes and 19 seconds. Several months later our Oyster Boy was invited to take part in a global oyster shucking championship in China, where he came an astonishing 5th out of 40.
With the pressure of last years success on his shoulders, Fiorillo went on to smash his personal best at the 2018 British Oyster Championships held in London last month, with a new time of 2 minutes and 47 seconds. This automatically entered him for the World Oyster Championships in Galway where he came a respectable 15th. Next year Fiorillo hopes to take a big chunk off his time; his secret weapon? The purchase of a new knife and a new opening technique; he just needs a bit more time to adapt and next year he’ll be championship ready!
Born and raised in Milan, 25 year old Federico Fiorillo came to the UK in 2014 and secured a position as one of Richard Corrigan’s Oyster Boys soon after. Our master shucker, Helio Garzon took Fiorillo under his wing and with their fellow Oyster Boy companions they shuck up to 1000 oysters daily at our award winning 102 year old restaurant.
