PHP Warning: Use of undefined constant VBA_SCRIPT - assumed 'VBA_SCRIPT' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in ..../includes/functions_navigation.php(802) : eval()'d code on line 1 ** MY DAY OUT BUYING "AUSSIE" SEAFOODS!!!
Being on the top of the totem pole in the culinary arts, I thought I would make up a great seafood Valentines Day din dins for my missus tonight. And why not, Australia has the best seafood in the world, simply a matter of popping down to the old seafood markets/shops/supermarkets and loading up with the fresh, delicious little devils I was after.
The menu comprised:
Oysters
Sea Scallops
Sandcrab
Prawns
Nice chunk reef fish
Hey, too easy!
OK, Woolies and Coles: Nah, sorry Mate, we don't stock that but tell ya what. Psssst! Got some great imported prawns, some great frozen Aussie prawns, some Pacific Oysters and some Jappy scallops.
Never mind, no luck there so down to Raby Bay Seafood Market. Egads! It has closed down altogether!! Guy tells me he went kaput selling quality fresh seafods, could never get the good stuff!
Slightly chuffed (p***ed orf!) I goes down to me local fish and chip man who says, "Sorry Mate, don't sell that sort of stuff but ............... yeh, same speil as the supermarkets!"
Hmmmmmm, not looking too flash now, so prowls the other four seafood (?) stores in and abouts Cleveland all of whom offered frozen scallops, frozen crab meat, pacific oysters, frozen prawns, imported prawns, defrosted prawns, pale pink looking little mongrel prawns from the Phillipines. Did get a nice chunk of snapper (I hope!)
In a semi state of panic now, I finally struck paydirt at another popular fish and chip shop and wow, was it great!
I finished up with imported and frozen Jappy scallops (real brown looking critters), disgusting frozen, watery and grey looking cr*p in a plastic bag that was supposadly sand crab (made soup out of it), and twelve really great Tassy oysters. There was a dish full of Aussie Scallops that looked like clones of each other and I am betting we are looking at the old stingray flaps here...!
So there you go, great fresh aussie seafoods really do abound everywhere!
End of an era I reckon!
If I had had the time and a brain I would have driven to Aussie Seafoods at Capalaba who are the only ones I know of on the Bayside where some decent stuff can be bought.
Hey PinkPanther the only decent place i could find fresh local seafood on the southside of brissie was Raptis and sons at Comslie and VJs seafood in the Mt Gravatt plaza. Unfortunatley my wife won't eat seafood so I guess its frozen pizzas again tonight. Very romantic
Go to Morgans at Scarborough. It is worth the drive.. you will not be disappointed.
You would have filled the menu easily there PP.
Not to mention the Muddies, Bay Prawns, Aussie Oysters/Scallops, SA Sardines, fresh whole fish of many varieties etc.
We go there about twice a week and never know what to buy, spoiled for choice.
Well yes, on Southside Brisbane the only place I could have gone would be Raptis at Colmslie/Morningside.....they also have the imported stuff but Raptis do have a large fleet of trawlers operating in Qld and NT waters and process and pack aussie produce at Colmslie for the export market. I have to say surprisingly, you can often get very good local (whole) Aussie product at Action Supermarket at Cannon Hill....they will even clean and gut it for free !!
Yeh, Action at Wellington Point used be a great place toountil Woolies bought it out and shut down the whole section!
I believe Cannon Hill Action is next on the list!
would have been only a week ago i was at woolies and commented to the wife about all the imported seafood [smiley=wreck.gif] [smiley=wreck.gif].....i was always under the same impression too that we were surrounded by water (ie...local seafood )
paz
I knew this was a gloomy story when i first spotted the bit you wrote "Australia has the best seafood in the world" - I am sure you believed and so do many others, but until you actually study Seafood technology and Marine resource management, only then do you realize that Aussie seafood is pretty crap. Thats not to say we dont have clean water, because we certainly do have pristine water, and seafood is Australias 4th largest export by $$$ value is seafood,but thats only because of a few very well managed fisheries, number 1 money fishery and probably the best managed fishery in the world is the WA Rock lobster catch. Australia exports whiting to vietnam, has them fillet it and then buys it back and then sells it here in the shops, and thats why you are paying top dollar for it. There are many other problems with Australias fisheries, especially in the north, and apart from the fact that we have a large variety of fish, the truth of the fact and biggest problem is that our water lacks nutrients - there is no cold upwelling in the north, therefore very little plankton is produced. The plankton is the begining of the food chain, u aint got that then you will only ever have a low volume fishery. There are many factors that contribute to the reason for the crap seafood and lack thereof in Australia - certain people would have you believe that they export all the good seafood to Japan, but thats crap. I originally came to Japan to study at Tokyo fish market, and let me tell you there really is bugger all Australian product on the floor - I think australias biggest export market now would be Hong Kong/China and Singapore.
I can eat the freshest of seafood here every night for a lot cheaper than beef, and the variety of fish is amazing - i could go on about this forever but i wont, but before i stop let me let you all in on a little secret............................................ .......... The best place to buy the freshest and most reasonably priced seafood in Brisbane is "Sams Seafoods" at hamilton. The reason I know this is that Sams seafood shop at hamilton is joined to the government agency for food and fibre sciences, seafood division, and those guys know more than anyone about keeping seafood fresh, as government scientists are doing all their research and quality control on the seafood there - if its not fit for consumption and the highest of qualityl it wont make it to the shop shelf - cheers
and oh by the way, japanese scallops arent from japan - it is a term used for leaving the roe on the scallop
i went down to a very popular club at southport couple weeks ago and they had that pacific dory on menue and new zealand pearch. i was discusted in the club. i wonder where the steak came from. this overseas and asian shit really pisses me off.
Raefpud, Some very interesting insights there mate.
But I hate to disappoint you, by saying that although Sams Seafoods does have some good produce, they cant hold a candle to Morgans.
For sheer variety Morgans is a clear winner, hands down, no question. Just look at the size of the joint.
For quality, Sams does good on some items, but in all the years I have bought from BOTH shops on a regular basis (I live a lot closer to Sams), Morgans is still better.
For price, well I have bought from Morgans, then stopped at Sams on the way home (as I drive past - down Kingsford Smith Drive) and usually see Sams about a dollar dearer per kilo.
Dont get me wrong, Im not knocking Sams, I still buy from there regularly, its just that Morgans is much better, if a little further out of the way.
I just wanna add that any prawns you buy have been frozen as that's the first thing the trawlers do when they catch em, cook em and freeze em. I buy frozen prawns from a farm up in cairns regularly by the 5Kg box and they're bloody great.
a couple of points i think are important when buying food in general.
1. you don't go to a buy food with a "fixed" menu", you buy whats good quality at that time.
2. dont support poor product by buying it in the first place, withdraw your financially support for inferior product; as you are sustaining it in doing so!
i look around brisbane, i see a hell of alot of kfc's, mc'donalds, subways, dominoes and any crap food franchise you could think of- why have medical insurance, insure your health though your way you live and eat.
0. its because alot of people in brisbane buy their food the same way they drive their motor cars on the roads!
and these people vote.....is there any hope?
concentrate here.............syncronise to survive.
a tip from a small fish in a big pond ;-)
damon
ps- panther the real trick is to listen only to "the voices" that really care for your wellbeing~
i have no chance of living like a "king", but i can sometimes' eat a better meal then a king........
- it would be out of the rarest necessity that i might eat macca's or a servo pie.
i think alot of us could have a richer life just by paying more attention to our dinner plates and the people sitting at that same table with us............
i never freeze fish and i cherish every mouthfull that i catch or is fresh caught-nothing you can buy is as good as what you catch on the day you eat it and put great effort in keeping it "primo".
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so I guess its frozen pizzas again tonight. Very romantic
(ie...local seafood 
)
