From fish and chips to scallops with foie gras sauce, our guide to the best things to eat – and what to avoid – at the freshly opened precinct.
I thought this would be a quick story to research and write – head to the new Sydney Fish Market on opening day, try a few dishes and report back on what snacks and takeaway packs you should gravitate to and what can be skipped. Gee, did I underestimate the number of lunch options on offer under that big sustainable glue-laminated timber roof, though. It would take at least two weeks to get across them all.
There are octopus-filled takoyaki balls that will set you back $12 for eight pieces at Nicholas Seafoods; there is live king crab for $279 a kilogram at The Boat Shed and you can whack a 2010 Dom Perignon on the bill for another $600 if you’re feeling particularly flush. In between, there is a rainbow of sushi across multiple vendors, gemfish and chips, beef brisket banh mi, po’ boy sandwiches, countless fish cocktails, lobster ramen, crab crumpets, giant grouper belly claypots, sardine pizza, sea urchin dumplings, and a one-kilogram rib-eye for $250 at Mediterranean restaurant Hamsi Taverna.
Overall first impression? Impressed! Sure, it would be ace if a few more high-profile chefs could be lured on board to open something (a version of Josh Niland’s Fish Butchery, say), and the washing of oysters under tap water irks me no end, but it’s about 836 times better than the old site, which is what you might expect for $836 million. I didn’t encounter anything worth waiting more than an hour for, like at peak queue times to just get into the building on opening day, but if you can make it down in the evening, go for it. The new Fish Market is open until midnight Friday and Saturday and 10pm every other night of the week.
What food do you want to prioritise when you do visit, then? Anything at Tam Jiak, really, the smart sit-down restaurant helmed by Ho Jiak owner-chef Junda Khoo, with views of the Glebe skyline and Kauri Foreshore Hotel. (Speaking of, I love the idea of international tourists popping over to the Kauri for an education into what proper Aussie pubs are like.)
Khoo could have gone the easy route and replicated Ho Jiak Haymarket’s Malaysian menu, but he’s created a new concept where every dish has elements of both surf and turf. Scallops ($14 each) are served in the shell with diced cheong fun rice roll and a foie gras sauce that thumps with umami. Chicken skin bolsters grilled octopus with black pepper and sambal ($28). I’m stinging to return for the char kway teow noodles with king crab, pork lard and lap cheong sausage ($35).
If you’re more in the zone for takeaway dishes you can eat outdoors – perhaps with a VB or chardonnay from one of the little booze stands – note that seats at the communal tables will be difficult to nab at lunch. The Good Food team resorted to a spot on the stairs facing Blackwattle Bay, which is far from the worst spot to eat fish in Sydney. More research is required to name which vendor does the “best” fish and chips, but I can confirm the $17 battered flathead from Get Fish was a wholly respectable version of the form.
I was on a mission to find somewhere frying fish and chips to order (there are many pre-fried fillets sitting under heat lamps across several stalls), but Get Fish was so rammed with customers at lunch, the battered flathead bain-marie was replenished every five minutes with fillets straight out of the fryer. Ordering at the counter was a shemozzle, however, with much customer confusion about where the line started, and then you had to queue again to pay for the food after ordering.
We have now arrived at the paragraphs where I gripe about the handling of oysters. NSW has some of the best oysters in the world, and a key part of an oyster’s deliciousness is that briny liquor in its shell, the “merroir” which changes between estuaries and regions. So when Fish Market retailers wash shucked oysters under tap water before placing them in those ubiquitous blue trays, you’re copping the nuances of Warragamba Dam more than Merimbula, say, or Pambula or Wapengo. This has been happening in Pyrmont for as long as I can remember.
I was hoping the new digs would have a counter which shucks to order and champions the great oyster farmers of Australia by showcasing six or more estuaries at a time. It does not. The best way to eat oysters at the Fish Market is to order them from a dine-in restaurant shucking to order, such as The Boat Shed, or buy a dozen unshucked Sydney rocks from Claudio’s and pry them open yourself with an oyster knife purchased from The General Store.
It was also disappointing that newcomer TJ’s Po’ Boys doesn’t offer a fried oyster po’ boy, which, with a fair splash of Tabasco, is my ideal filling for the Louisiana sandwich. The stall does sell a terrific king prawn po’ boy though, on a baguette of requisite crunch also filled with lettuce, tomato, pickles and lemon myrtle mayonnaise. I’m just not sure how many punters will want to pay $31 for a prawn roll, even with skin-on fries included.
In other baguette adventures, Leyrd banh mi shop sells a $35 “Pho King” sandwich stuffed with a heavy helping of beef brisket and light amount of acid and crunch. It’s intense. Consider the $17 lemongrass pork crackling banh mi instead. For dessert, the best thing we tried was Cow and Moon’s Fish Market exclusive granita, served with fresh cream and brioche for $16, and available in a combination of two flavours of your choice (we landed on strawberry and chocolate, but mango and lychee coconut sounds like a swell time, too).
Get Sashimi and Claudio’s both have top-shelf selections of raw fish to eat onsite or take home, and the February opening of two-hatted omakase restaurant Sushi Oe, relocated from Cammeray, is hotly anticipated. Lua by Luke Nguyen, “a celebration of Asian fire-kissed cooking” will also open in the coming weeks, joining Hamsi, Tam Jiak, Cantonese-focused Mani, Japanese Ichie and ambitious all-day cafe Touch Wood on the list of “full-service Fish Market restaurants we will likely review independently for the Good Food Guide”. Meanwhile, keep an eye out for our guide to seafood shopping at the market with chef Rick Stein next week.
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