WHAT WE LIKE Mozzarella salad, beet salad, lobster stew, crispy oysters; all steaks; apple crisp, carrot cake, ice creams and sorbets.

The duck, pork and seafood (deep-fried crispy oysters; crab with black bean) are renowned - but come for the dim sum (£1.90 to £3), especially at weekend lunch.

Recommended dishes: Porcini mushroom ravioli, crispy oysters, corned beef sandwich, pan-seared Atlantic salmon, braised veal, Key lime pie.

A glass of wine goes well with the crispy oysters on yucca root chips with habanero honey aioli.

Jorge Liloy, Patria's wine director, likes to pair a manzanilla with crispy oysters and fufu, spinach and huacatay sauce, made from an Ecuadorean mint.

Choices from the descriptive menu ("Salad of greens, crispy fried oysters, aioli and pancetta on an herbed crepe") arrived so quickly, and were removed so fast, the meal became a blur.

The meal might begin with crispy oysters on yucca root chips with habanero honey aioli ($11.75), and continue with an entree of osso buco ($25.75).

At the same meal, crispy golden oysters (not a spa dish), with a roasted red pepper remoulade, rested on field greens and were lightly battered.

RECOMMENDED DISHES - New England seafood chowder, crispy golden oysters, crispy lobster spring rolls, hazelnut-crusted rack of lamb, grilled salmon, profiteroles, maple pecan pie.

A starter like crispy breaded oysters is typical: three large oysters, lightly breaded, crisp-edged, served in a succulent creamy leek purée with a garnish of American caviar.