Known as the largest working fish market in the southern hemisphere and the heart of Australia’s seafood trade, the Sydney Fish Market in Sydney, Australia is any seafood lover’s dream.
Every day, somewhere between 50-70 tons of more than 100 species of fresh seafood are auctioned to 160 buyers and sold to individual customers. Annually, 500 species of sustainable seafood move through the market—via individual fishermen, fishing operations and aquaculture farms in Australia, New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific region. This makes the Sydney Fish Market the third largest seafood market based on variety in the world.
But we didn’t visit the Sydney Fish Market as a restauranteur looking to buy crates of fresh uni from auction or even as a resident learning to cook fish at the Sydney Seafood School or purchase ingredients from the six seafood retailers, we came as diners looking to enjoy a fish-focused brunch on a Saturday morning.
Vendors have every kind of edible from the sea. Choose individual oysters to have shucked right before your eyes, chili crab, octopus on a skewer, an aburi station where various shellfish are filled with cheese and melted to a bubbling brown and dozens of other options.
Prepared foods are available from all the retailers so it’s best to take a tour through the market first and plan your meal accordingly. Best of all, the market also has a bottle shop, produce store, bakery, butcher, sushi bar, full-service restaurants and a deli. Picnic tables shaded by umbrellas line the dock of the market in Blackwattle Bay but watch out for the birds—they know how great the food is too.
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