SydneyÂ’s top 10 seafood restaurants: Where to get the platters that matter this summer
Our food critic Amy Harris hunts down Sydney’s top 10 venues to get your festive seafood fix.
Whether it’s on the beach or in the inner west, a traditional seafood platter or something more exotic, high end or more wallet friendly there’s something to suit all tastes and budgets.
The Gretz, Enmore, $140 for two people
IT’S an unlikely source of a great seafood platter — miles from the beach and tucked into one of the inner west’s trendiest bar strips. But The Gretz, a hole-in-the-wall bar from the people behind HartsYard in Newtown, offers its own unique take on the seafood spread.
Not surprisingly The Gretz’s owner Greg Llewellyn, a dyed-in-the-wool New Yorker, loads it up with hard-to-find gems like imported Alaskan king crab and diamond shell clams as well as local offerings like Moreton Bay bugs, Sydney rock oysters, cold Queensland mud crab, Mooloolaba prawns and raw scallops served in the shell topped with smoked caviar.
Throw in sourdough bread served with condiments like American-style cocktail sauce, horseradish and whipped dijonnaise. The only catch? It’s only served on Sundays.
North Bondi Fish, North Bondi, $120 for two
IF ever there was a restaurant where a good seafood platter should be de rigueur, it’s Matt Moran’s swanky beachside eatery overlooking Bondi Beach. His tips for a great crustacean collection? “Everything fresh and cooked on premises, laid out on lovely shaved ice,” says Moran. “Lots of condiments. And definitely no fried calamari.”
His offering includes whole blue swimmer crab, eight Sydney rock oysters from Pambula, a Balmain bug, raw kingfish, Queensland tiger prawns, Cloudy Bay scallops and condiments including marie rose sauce, mignonette and ponzu dressing.
Opera Bar, Circular Quay, $140
A world-class backdrop can be enjoyed with nothing less than a ravishing shellfish feast. So it’s just as well a recent menu upgrade to Opera Bar included a new seafood platter. Among the jewels are raw scallops served in the half shell, a whole cooked blue swimmer crab, Sydney rock oysters, sweet raw scampi meat and Moreton Bay bug meat.
Ananas, The Rocks, Petit Plateau ($75) or Grand Plateau ($240)
There are a few places in Sydney that give fresh seafood the royal treatment and the seafood platters at Ananas in The Rocks are no exception. It may come with a slightly heftier price tag but the Grand Plateau is something to behold and a “special occasion” dish that will shoot you to the top of the Instagram popularity tree. For the full experience, order a bottle of the Veuve Clicquot Rose and work your way through imported American lobster, Sydney rock oysters, king prawns, spanner crab chunks and lashings of Balmain bug meat.
The Boathouse, Shelly Beach, $110
Owner Andrew Goldsmith recently flung open the doors of the new Boathouse at Shelly Beach and with it an exotic twist on the traditional seafood platter, which has been sexed up with things like trout pate, tuna sashimi, tiger prawns and Hiramasa kingfish. Various salads have also been added to the mix, something Goldsmith says was inspired by seafood feasts at home.
“When you have cold seafood at home, it’s always nice to have a variety of salads so we added a few different things,” he says. A favourite on the Shelly Beach platter is the feta, orange and poppy seed salad piled with fresh herbs and served with a garlic flatbread.
Coogee Pavilion, Coogee, market price
When Merivale took up residence in this famed beachside palace, the first order of business for head chef Joachim Borenius was changing the menu to reflect the area. And that meant seafood — and lots of it.
Included in that is a seafood platter with all the trimmings including half a southern rock lobster, half a mud crab, Moreton Bay bugs, king prawns, raw Hervey Bay scallops, raw scampi, and a dozen freshly shucked oysters.
For diehard crab nuts there’s a pot-roasted whole mud crab served with black pepper and caramelised garlic or a white soy, chilli and garlic chive broth, brought to the table with hammer and tongs.
West Village, Petersham $60 for two, $110 for four
There might not be much in the way of an ocean view but it’s easy to overlook that detail when confronted with the seafood platter on offer at West Village — the new gastropub on Petersham’s Terminus St.
Served on a wooden block with a hefty slab of napkins, the value-for-money seafood platter is made up of offerings like tempura prawns, poached prawns, salt and pepper calamari, natural oysters, hot smoked trout, scallop ceviche, crab claws and a house-made sweet chilli seafood sauce.
Cafe Sydney, Customs House $135 for two
One of Sydney’s landmark eateries which is loved by locals and tourists alike, Cafe Sydney has somewhat of a reputation for its famed dessert platter, which costs $50 but includes three desserts which normally cost $19 each.
Prior to that it’s worth checking out their seafood platter, a tiered spread of Moreton Bay bugs, oysters, blue swimmer crab and scampi served with mayonnaise and cocktail sauce. Cafe Sydney also serves marron as part of its crustacean extravaganza — a rare treat.
BayBlu, Blakehurst $99 for two
One of the few that includes hot seafood, the seafood platter at BayBlu deserves a mention purely for the volume of shellfish on offer for what is a very decent price; six cooked king prawns, six natural oysters, smoked salmon, and a whole blue swimmer crab coupled with hot grilled green prawns, scallops and octopus as well as the more traditional fried calamari rings, fish fillets, prawn cutlets and hot chips. Because sometimes the simple things in life are the best.
Fish At The Rocks, The Rocks $130 for two
A longstanding favourite of Sydneysiders which takes up an unassuming spot high in The Rocks, this little seafood bistro serves a huge range of seafood dishes including their platter which comes with a tray of dipping sauces and salads. Among the delights are grilled scampi, king prawns, soft shell and blue swimmer crab and Moreton Bay bugs.