Where Brisbane Chefs Buy Fresh Seafood (and How They’re Serving It for Easter)

If Easter means one thing, it’s seafood – especially on Good Friday, which for many is a day to keep it strictly pescatarian, and for others an opportunity to pay lip service to the tradition. But where to buy the good stuff in Brisbane (and Southeast Queensland)? And what should you do with it once you get it home to feed the family? We called chefs. They had tips.

Daniel Miletic – Owner and Chef, One Fish, Two Fish

On the occasion when he’s cooking seafood at home in Milton, Daniel Miletic will pop down to The Fishery on Baroona Road to pick up whole red emperor and Dory, or to peruse fridges stocked with Patagonian toothfish, mussels and crab meat from Fraser Isle Spanner Crabs.

“We’re pretty close to Murray and Tracy [Dalton], the owners there,” Miletic says. “They do cooked seafood but they do fresh seafood as well. It’s fresh and Murray gets it all in himself, cleans it up and looks after it well. He’s been doing it for 20-odd years.

“He’s got oils and pre-made stocks and stuff, if you want to make something easy at home.”

Further afield, Miletic might visit The Fish Factory in Morningside, or head to Sunnybank Fish Market for live yabbies and baby coral trout.

Miletic will be head down this Good Friday preparing the latest edition of One Fish, Two Fish’s annual Great Friday six-course menu and takeaway picnic packs. But once at home, he’s looking forward to putting on a spread of oysters and prawns.

“I’ve been getting into cooking more fish at home – Murray cod and rainbow trout,” he says. “Sometimes I like to do something different. Rainbow trout is really easy to prepare, it’s really easy to bone at home. I do it pretty fast, clean the fillets off and bake it in the oven so it doesn’t make a lot of mess.

“I’ll serve it with some nice fresh salads. And I don’t put too much flavour with the fish because if it’s fresh it will have its own beautiful flavour.”

Sebastiaan de Kort – Owner and Chef, Nota
“We deal mostly with Sunnybank Fish Market,” Sebastiaan de Kort says. “They’ve just got really good produce all the time. They have really good reach and are really helpful. They’ll get really beautiful squid, scallops and the sashimi-grade selection is awesome.

“It can get a bit hectic out there. You’ve just gotta stand your ground.”

As for what he’s cooking this Easter for friends and family, it’s crabs, oysters, prawns and a whole baked fish.

“Freshly cooked muddies on buttered white bread – the crab sandwich is always a go,” de Kort says. “But that’s very simple. We can get a whole parrotfish and oven-bake it. One of our favourite ways to eat fish is with a ginger and shallot sauce.

“And [Sunnybank Fish Market] is shucking oysters every day so you get the best of the best with the oysters and the prawns, so you just kind of load up and put a big spread out.”

Alec Carney – Owner and Chef, Gemelli
Before opening Gemelli on James Street last year with brothers Paul and James, most of Alec Carney’s cooking was done on the Gold Coast at the original Gemelli and Gemellini restaurants. So whether for work or play, that’s where he likes to buy the majority of his fresh seafood.

His favourite spots include the Gold Coast Fishermen’s Co-Operative on the Spit at Main Beach, Miami Fish Market and Charis Seafoods.

“Charis is a favourite,” Carney says. “The biggest thing is that they’re family-owned. The company’s been around for decades. They get their seafood picked by hand at the markets every day – they have a buyer there.

“The other big one for us are the king prawns out of Mooloolaba at Fisheries on the Spit. They have the big fat belly on them. We just marinate with garlic, chilli and olive oil, and cook them on the fire.”

For Easter, the Carney family cooks up prawns for an entree alongside freshly shucked oysters, followed by a whole fish cooked in the oven with lemon and herbs, or salt-baked – Sicilian-style.

Katrina Ryan – Owner and Chef, The Golden Pig
If Katrina Ryan isn’t visiting The Fish Factory at Easter, she’s in the southwestern suburbs perusing the catch at both Inala Fish Market and Duong Dong Fish Market at the Inala Civic Centre.

“They have a really fantastic range of seafood that’s really fresh,” Ryan says. “I discovered them while searching for Asian fruit and vege out there. You can get anything and everything.

“Every range of fish you can buy either whole or filleted. Or you can pick the whole version and they’ll go and fillet it for you.”

As for what to cook for her family during the holidays, Ryan likes to buy a whole Ora King salmon and bone it out completely before stuffing and wrapping it, and cooking it on the barbeque.

“That’s been a tradition for us,” she says. “Sometimes I do an Asian-style stuffing with rice and prawns and coconut milk. And other times we’ve done onion and breadcrumbs and pine nuts and raisins, and wrapped the whole thing in prosciutto. And then you wrap it in non-stick paper and foil. On a moderate barbeque it takes about 10 minutes per kilo for the fish to cook.

“Keep the lid up and flip it once. And then you can just serve it with a big spoon because you’ve taken all the bones out.”