Lunch from Sydney Fish Market

Sydney Fish Market
Bank St, Pyrmont (NSW) (map)
02 9004 1100

On our way home to Melbourne from the Hunter Valley, we changed our flights and made an impromptu stopover for a few hours in Sydney to see I, a dear family friend who is in very poor health. We had lunch with I's partner C, who decided to show us the Sydney Fish Market.

I'd never been to Sydney Fish Market before, and had not been aware of how HUGE it is! The largest in the Southern hemisphere, and the second largest worldwide (after Tokyo) in terms of the variety of seafood on offer.

If only Melbourne had a fish market like this! As well as buying fresh fish to take home, you can buy lots of stuff at the market already prepared. The tables, deli and bottle shop which also sells plastic glasses means that you can dine there in the market, if you wish. We chose to take seafood back to I and C's apartment to eat there.

A man was shucking oysters in an impressive feat of dexterity and speed.

Mmmmmmmm, so much to choose from! It ALMOST makes one want to live in Sydney... ;)

Sashimi sashimi sashimi! We went a little crazy with the sashimi ordering, but we couldn't help it, it looked so fresh and delicious. It was great to watch the sushi chef slice it before our eyes.

My mouth waters every time I look at this photo. C arranged the sashimi on a platter with seaweed salad running down the middle and served it with "proper" wasabi. I just love the way he arranged the freshly chopped ginger in a little star, and served the fish roe neatly on a slice of lemon!

As well as the sashimi platter, we had a dozen Sydney rock oysters from Port Stephens, and a dozen Pacific oysters from Coffin Bay, plus the obligatory "prawngasm" (according to family tradition, a prawngasm involves of a gigantic bowl of cooked prawns served with dipping mayonnaise and, if my sister Birdie has anything to do with it, sweet chilli sauce). For this particular prawngasm we bought king prawns and tiger prawns.

As if that wasn't enough, we had a second course of fish as well. C roasted it simply, allowing the flavour of the snapper to do the talking, with ginger, garlic, lime and spring onion on the inside and a coating of salt on the outside. C didn't use that much salt - by contrast when my relatives in Italy prepare "pesce al sale", the fish is literally buried under a mound of salt flakes. In any event, C's snapper was sublime.

And what better way to finish off an amazing meal than with amazing cherries. Every summer I become quite the cherry fiend and eat them non-stop - and purely conincidentally, I'm eating some right now as I type this! :)