COME Friday it’s full to the brim with Catholics.
I’m not talking about the confession booth at St Patrick’s Basilica, but Seafresh Myaree.
The large suburban store has an amazing range of fresh fish and seafood, and is effectively a mini fish market.
The produce is beautifully presented with glistening fish perched on beds of ice and there’s a cascading waterfall at one end of the store.
I’m a regular and one of my favourites is “Sweetlips”. It sounds like the name of an adult film star from the 1970s, but it’s actually a type of snapper which is slightly cheaper and more palatable to younger kids.
A local told me Seafresh also do excellent lunch fare – sushi, sashimi, poke bowls and chowder – so I fired up the Chook jalopy and went down to investigate.
On a Tuesday lunchtime, the shop was relatively quiet and you could get served quite easily (there are staff at various stations who get the fish for you).
Come the weekend it’s busier than Capatin Ahab on speed, but the staff are efficient and polite, so there’s never a long wait.
On a cold winter’s day, the small cup of chowder ($6.99) was a welcome tonic.
The staffer ladled the chowder out of a hotpot and there was crusty bread for dunking. The soup was super thick and creamy with large chunks of white fish and carrot.
A superior chowder that was packed with flavour.
$6.99 may seem expensive for a small cup, but it’s very filling with high quality ingredients.
Next up was the Kingfish sashimi ($11.52).
The delicate slices of fish had a subtle sweetness and came to life when dipped in the soy sauce.
It wasn’t the best I’ve had, but a solid sashimi that was good value (the portion could easily do two people).
The teriyaki salmon sushi (six large wheels for $8) went down a storm with the kids.
Sometimes salmon sushi doesn’t have much salmon in it, but these were crammed with pink chunks of fresh fish.
The kids wolfed it down and said it was some of the best they’ve had.
I couldn’t go past the delicious looking scallop meat (six large scallops for $24.96).
On returning home, I seared them in a pan with butter. A little squirt of lemon applied the finishing touch.
They tasted delicious and had a gorgeous creamy flavour with a subtle fishy reprise.
Across the table my wife “Special K” was enjoying her sashimi salmon poke bowl ($13).
It was a beautiful medley of colours and flavours with cubes of raw salmon scattered over a bed of avocado, edadame, seaweed, chickpeas and rice.
“It’s a lovely mix of flavours and textures and I can feel the nutrients rushing through my body,” my wife said.
“The little tub of soy sauce adds a salty twist and really complements the salmon.”
When I visited, there was quite a few office workers buying lunch at the sushi station, so it’s clearly popular with folk who work nearby.
I was impressed by the lunch offerings at Seafresh Myaree, especially the seafood chowder, and it’s another fishy string to their bow.
Maybe they should go a step further and start selling Pope-related merchandise on a Friday.
Anyone fancy a papal hoodie?
Seafresh Myaree
488 Marmion St, Myaree
facebook.com/SeafreshMyaree
by STEPHEN POLLOCK