We are planning on eating at the Fish Market while we are in Sydney. Is it only open during the day for lunch or will it still be open in time for dinner? We love the sound of eating picnic style on the pier with lots of fresh seafood. Also, specifically, what kinds of seafood are offered there?

And if anyone has been on the morning tour, please post an opinion or review. Is it worth the early wake-up call???
Thanks!

Most people who visit the Sydney Fish Markets, go there to purchase their seafood, and drive home. There are a few restaurants, some with outside alfresco dining, but its not my idea of great seafood dining, a bit grubby and lots of seagulls. Sorry to be a bit negative on this one, but there are better places to eat at.
Tim & Liz, I have never met anyone in Sydney, who has visited the Markets early in the morning. I know of people who attend the seafood cooking classes.

Thanks tropo. Here is a link to the tour we are considering.
http://www.sydneyfishmarket.com.au/e...=Auction+Tours

I actually agree with Tropo. I reckon the fishmarkets are a bit grotty and smelly. By all means buy your fish, prawns and oysters etc here but go elsewhere to eat them.
BTW we have had fish and chips at Doyles takeaway at Watson's Bay and always found the fish to be dry and disappointing and the chips soggy. Is it the same story at the fishmarkets?

One of those tours sounds interesting - at least you'd be seeing something different - and the fish karket is interesting.

I love the fish markets, I guess I like a bit of character. To one it is character to another it is grotty. lol. The only thing I really dislike is the overpass and the carpark But once inside the mall it is great.

I am real sad they say they are/have? going to demolish and rebuild like a mini clone of Darling Harbour probably.

I know last time we went three ate enough seafood to feed 4 people and it only cost about $45.00. We went to Oyster Bay by Circular Quay, two people, had a light snack before a show and it was about $110 with wine. It was bland, boring, didn't fill up tummy and way overpriced. The food at the fish markets we ate was fantastic, freshly chucked oysters, mixed grilled seafood plate and bbq squid.

The fish markets actually has fishermen and fishing boats and pelicans and the sort of character Sydney Harbour used have before it became more for tourists than for the people who live here. The Sydney I am starting to miss big time.

I doubt it is open for dinner, maybe the restaurnat there is but it is widely known for lunch.

Certainly not elegant, but its a fish market, and like Jane, I like it the way it is. When I lived in Sydney I made the 20mile plus and often traffic-jammed trip from where I lived to fish market often, because of the freshness of the fish and seafood and the fantastic selection. To fortify myself for return journey always ate there, cheap and delicious. Would expect a fish market to have a fishy odour, nothing compared with one recently visited in Hanoi where it was 90F with no refrigeration.

I know a of of asian aussies and they think nothing of driving down to fish markets to stock up every week, bypassing so many seafood retailers enroute, parking hell, traffic jams but they still do it.

Of course if you are tourist you go on the light rail and have no traffic worry!

It realy boils down to how much you like seafood. I am totally seafood addict so I just love the place. I drooool hee hee.

If you are more into the ambience than the food you will be let down as it is really crowded with seafood nuts, fisherman and seagulls. It is madness with every conceivable type of seafood you could imagine. There is a great cheese place, with yummy bread and a wine shop that will give you plastic glasses if you want a glass with your lunch. (we bring our own though, wine much cheaper at Dan Murhphy's...yet another story in itself)

btw the places closes at 4.00pm ( I checked) seems only later if you do a seafood cooking class, (very popular, but I have never been)

So if you love seafood have a little trip that way and see what us Sydneysiders do on the weekend.

also please note though it is generally run down and sort of grown with no regard to architectural sensitivies it is very hygienic. You get closed down in Sydney if you pose any slight health problem and the Fish Market is heavily regulated.

Pat

Off on a slight tangent as we do.

What I think Cairns needs is a fish market/ great fish and chip place. In traditional sense, not fine dining sense. You know what I mean?

Or do they have this downtown but I missed it? Couldn't be possible I know every nook and cranny by now!

Jane, this is absolutely true and when I arrived in Cairns 12 years ago was absolutely devastated at the lack of fresh fish and seafood here. All you could get was frozen - the good stuff which is caught here had all gone to Sydney, Melbourne or Japan. It was, and I think still is, illegal to buy direct from a fisherman, but if you knew one, you would. Thankfully, things have improved, there's a very good fish/seafood market in Portsmith, Cairns, but it could not approach Sydney's for variety. Recent fishing bans on GBR have put a lot of fishermen out of business, good for the reef in the long run, but it's certainly played havoc with prices.

Thanks for all of the info. We think it sounds like a neat place to visit. We are much more into the food rather than the surroundings. A picnic with wine, bread, cheese and seafood sounds terrific to us.

Pat, just adding to your last reply, I often hear from various people in the fishing industry here in Hervey & Bundaberg, that with the "new" GBR fishing boundaries, that reef fish, etc, will in the long run, be harder to obtain, as fishermen will only fishing a set number of reefs and probably will get overfished, and thus less fish going to the markets. Is this the same feeling amongst fishermen in the Cairns area? I have the latest maps for the GBR Marine Park boundaries down this way, and it appears that even recreational fishing will be disallowed in certain areas altogether.
I must say, wherever the fish go to (probably to the larger city markets, like Sydney), we seem to only have a small variety of seafood to buy here in H/Bay. The prawns are bloody terrible, they all seem to hard to peel, really hard shells. The reef fish are nice to eat, especially my favourite, sweetlip.
I was in Noosa Heads yesterday, and was surprised at the high prices of fresh seafood in a shop at The Junction, eg. king prawns $36.95 per kg, and reef fish the same price.

Wow -- we just had lunch there today! Fabulous fresh fish -- we had the grilled snapper prepared fresh. The scene is frenetic, with birds competing with you for your food, but it was a great experience and I would highly recommend it. Oysters of every description, and cold beer for sale. What could be better?

Hi trop - same here - top quality tiger prawns were about $36 a kilo the other day - don't know if this is seasonal or due to change in fishing boundaries. I live quite near a prawn farm - good medium sized tigers for $20kg. Easy to peel, sweet and tender. Fish is getting very exxy too -I bought fresh barra fillets on special in Coles Cairns the other day for $23kg - but now usually about $40kg. There's been a lot of furore in press about new fishing bans, fishermen are saying they've been put of business,and the ones who haven't say fish will become too expensive for average consumer.