Great Places to Eat and Buy Victorian Seafood in and around Melbourne

Melbourne is one of the world’s great food cities with a broad and deep dining culture from fast and cheap street food to fine dining establishments. It is also a city that, more and more, is celebrating the rich and diverse resource of fresh seafood that is caught in the waters off our coast and raised in inland aquaculture facilities. Our top chefs understand the huge difference in quality that fresh, local seafood offers and make a point of using it to star on their menus. They often buy directly from Victorian fishers but also use retail outlets located around the metro area and peninsulas. Here’s a quick list of go to Vic seafood dishes and Vic seafood retailers.

The sand whiting at Movida Next Door has become a modern classic. Whole cleaned Lakes Entrance sand whiting are rolled in seasoned semolina and deep fried. This type of dish is typical of Seville in Spain where the fish are eaten by hand, sucking the sweet flesh from the bone. Movida chef Frank Camorra is a big supporter of Victorian seafood and runs daily specials as the fish are delivered to his kitchen.

Rosa Mitchell was born in Sicily and at her west end of Little Bourke Street restaurant Rosa’s Canteen she makes the most of Victorian seafood with dishes like stuffed sardines, grilled octopus, roasted Victorian barramundi with black barley and tomato agrodolce.

Another advocate for Victorian seafood is Peruvian born Alejandro Saravia from Farmer’s Daughters with a menu led exclusively by Victorian produce. An ambassador for the Apollo Bay Seafood Festival he is famous for his use of lesser loved species in his cured by citrus Peruvian dish ceviche. He also uses trout from Alpine Trout Farm in Baw Baw, which he bakes and serves with a cream sauce flavoured with mountain pepper and topped with some luxurious pearls of trout caviar.

Gerald Diffey and chef and business partner Mario Di Lenno from Gerald’s Bar in North Carlton are also big advocates of local seafood. The menu changes daily depending on what is being caught and delivered but look out for some superb mussel dishes.

A great little dish of charred calamari can be found at city restaurant Hazel. Meaty and smoky it is served with mushrooms and the intensely flavoured and umami rich house shoyu (soy sauce). The team spent a huge amount of time and effort to ferment their shoyu and its rich salty notes works perfectly with the Victorina calamari.

In season Figlia Pizzeria in Brunswick East serves up iki jime (head spiked) Port Phillip Bay snapper with the rich accompaniments of fermented tomato and silky sea urchin. Look out for more Port Phillip snapper in spring and summer at Public Wine Shop in Fitzroy North as well as Corner Inlet garish, simply grilled, and served with a tangy sorrel butter sauce. A few blocks away at Bonny Bar in Fitzroy you can find more Corner Inlet seafood, this time whiting with Japanese shokupan and a mornay sauce. Other dishes could also be pickled Portarlington mussels. Out in the rapidly gentrifying Reservoir chef Adam Racina at La Pinta has an ever changing daily menu that includes Victorian seafood such as rainbow trout, grass whiting, calamari, Australian salmon and garfish.

Buy Victorian Seafood Like a Chef

To Market

Melbourne is the only Australian city serviced by a central and suburban food markets in the traditional European style and with a broad offer of fresh seafood. Traders at the markets source their fish from the Melbourne Seafood Centre, direct from fishers and other suppliers selling Victorian seafood. They sell local seafood alongside Australian and imported product. Ask the fishmongers what local seafood they have in stock and make the most of seasonal product such as school prawns from Lakes Entrance.

Queen Victoria Market, South Melbourne Market, Prahran Market, Preston Market, Dandenong Market , Camberwell Fresh Food Market

Off the Boat

Williamstown

There’s a little boat moored off Gem Pier in Williamstown selling some of the best and freshest fish in the state. This is Gem Pier Seafood, the retail outlet for The Olver Family. They have been fishing Victorian waters for four generations and have a fishing boat that works the coast and Bass Strait out of Apollo Bay. They also have a shop in the South Melbourne Market.

Queenscliff

Bellarine locals love buying their fish from Mishells direct from the fisher down on Queenscliff harbour. Open Thursday to Sunday this is a good outlet for fish caught just off the coast.

Portarlington

Down the southern end of Port Phillip Bay is the historic town of Portarlington and an important mussel farming region. Buy freshly harvested mussels from Mr Mussel by the Portarlington pier. Fresh seafood from the Jenkins family is for sale from their store on the edge of town. Look for exceptionally fresh local seafood such as snapper, flathead and calamari from Jenkins & Son Fresh Fish.

Mornington

There is a mussel farm off Mount Martha and these native mussels are sometimes called Mt Martha Mussels but also known by the correct name of Bay Sea Farms. Buy them from the factory in Bennetts Rd in Mornington or by the McCrae lighthouse on Sundays.

Baxter

The Cripps family have been fishing the shallow waters of Corner Inlet for over 150 years. They have vans at Victorian Farmers Markets but also sell direct to the public from the Cripps Family Fish Farm on the Moorooduc Highway in Baxter.

Flinders

Harry Mussel farms mussels in the cool clean waters off Flinders and are favoured by top chefs such as David Moyle. He sells his Flinders Mussels from his flat bottomed boat tethered to Flinders Pier. On the other side of the pier you can buy locally farmed angasi oysters from Flinders Oyster Company.

*Beautiful farmed Angasi oysters from Flinders Oyster Company*

Melbourne Fishmongers

A list of selected fishmongers who stock or specialise in local Victorian seafood.

Bayswater

Red Coral Seafood 20 Michellan Ct Bayswater

Carlton North

The Fish Mongers Son 703 Nicholson Street, Carlton North

Carrum Downs

The Big Fish 2 Aster Drive, Carrum Downs

Collingwood

The Fish Shoppe 248 Smith Street Collingwood

Fairfield

The Seafood Station 110 Station Street Fairfield

Footscray

D & K Live Seafood Unit 3/28A Leeds Street Footscray

John & Kevin’s Seafood, Footscray Market, 18 Irving St Footscray

Lower Templestowe

The Seafood Depot 21 Macedon Rd Templestowe Lower

Moonee Ponds

The Seafood Depot 20 Pratt Street Moonee Ponds

Richmond

Hai Xuong Fresh Fish 158 Victoria Street Richmond

Fish Pier Seafood SPO19 Victoria Gardens, 620 Victoria Street Richmond (also at Box Hill, Broadmeadows, Camberwell, Craigieburn, Doncaster, Doncaster East, Epping, Forest Hill, Fountain Gate, Glen Waverly, Keilor, Keysborough, Narre Warren, Point Cook, Ringwood, Werribee)

Ripponlea

Ripponlea Fish Supply 49 Glen Eira Rd, Ripponlea

Springvale

Seafood Smart, 46/58 Buckingham Ave, Springvale

Tooronga Village

Steve Costi’s Seafood Shop 17, 766 Toorak Road Glen Iris

Williamstown

Alvamira Seafood 336/338 Kororoit Creek Rd, Williamstown

Where to BuyBy Richard Cornish13 January 2023Melbourne