Fish Butchery, Paddington

The Fish Butchery is an interesting place.

"Sustainably caught, under utilised species, expertly prepared for you to cook at home."

Mostly a place to pick up high quality rare seafood to prepare at home, although they do some made to order takeout.  It comes from the team behind one of Sydney's top seafood restaurants, Saint Peter.

Given my love of seafood, and trying new things, I couldn't wait to try it out when I was recently in town.

Fried, Fried, Fried ... and a Salad to Balance it out.

Since I was hotel living, I couldn't just get the raw products to prepare at home, and I was alone, so I couldn't get a huge feast, but I did try an assortment of items.

I ... wasn't in love with it.  I do think I picked poorly from the menu though.

Signage.

I had a hard time finding it.  I actually walked by before realizing I had done so.  This, literally, is the sign.  It is kinda an awesome sign, to be honest, but if you are looking for a sign that says "Fish Butchery", you will easily miss this.

Pantry Items.

A pantry area is stocked with fascinating pickles, preserved lemons, sweet and sour sauce, and batter for frying yourself, along with bread from a local baker.

Refrigerated Items.

In the fridge, along with aged, smoked, and cured seafood products, is jars of their house made sauces (mignonette, yougurt tartare, bacon killpatrick mix, cocktail sauce, tomato jam, prawn oil), bottles of curry stock and squid ink, assorted seafood terrines, a crab lasagna, crab cakes, housemade ling pie.

It made me wish I had a kitchen to return to.

Seafood Display.

But I was there for fresh seafood, which was available on full display.  I hadn't heard of many of the varieties, as they are native to Australia and not imported to the US often, but also, as they are mostly rarer species.

Here we had several types of prawns, king whiting sausage, black cod, john dory, and coral trout.  Each had information on the exact variety and fishing location.  All available by the kg.

More Seafood.

The lineup continued with mahi mai, trevally, yellowfin tuna, marlin, albacore, ocean trout, and broadbill, plus, um, their special creation, the T.M.T. Galantine (far left).  Yes, the last of which is  ocean trout, stuffed with murray cod and yellowfin tuna!

Prep Area.

The rest of the space is mostly an open work space, where the staff are busy prepping seafood with precision and care.  I believe most of this is headed to Saint Peter for service?

Dine In / Takeaway Menu.

For fresh prepared food there is an assortment of items available to dine at at the 8 little counter seats, or, as I did, takeaway.

I had a really, really hard time deciding what to get.  I kinda wanted it all.  I really wished I had someone to share with, or a kitchen for leftovers.

Did I want fried whitebait & aioli?  Sure, that sounded different.  King prawn toast with hot cocktail sauce?  Yes, particularly once the cashier told me it was his favorite.  The fairly famous tuna burger that folks have been raving about, complete with optional swordfish bacon?  Absolutely.  And then of course there is fresh fish and chips made with local ling, a tuna roll, a prawn cutlet, fresh prawns with cocktail sauce, a variety of sides (including an amazing looking potato scallop ...).  Not a large menu, really, but like I said, I wanted it all.

I settled on a bunch of small things, so I could try an assortment: one fried seafood, one fried side, and one salad.  Oh, and a bunch of extra sauces.  In retrospect, maybe I really should have just gotten the tuna burger or king prawn toast ...

Takeout Bag.

Everything was prepared to order in a back kitchen.

It took about 10 minutes for my order to be ready, during which time I browsed around the shop and admired the handiwork of the chefs in action.  I was not bored.

My order was handed over in a cute paper sack, which I choose to take outside to a nearby bench.

Albacore Bacon.

While I waited, one of the fish butchers offered me a generous slice of the albacore bacon.  I was *thrilled* to get a chance to try this unique product, in its simple form, just cured, not cooked or added to the burger.

It was fascinating, certainly not like anything I've had before.  Really quite interesting.  It had a great chew to it, and I loved the salt level.  I was surprised by how unfishy it was.  Was it bacon?  Not exactly, but it was quite enjoyable.  I'm curious how it transforms if you fry it up.

I think it would be fantastic on a BLT alongside tomato, or on their burger of course.

Thanks for letting me try this!

Fried Food Box.

My fried items came in one box, with my assortment of sauces included inside.

Salt & Vinegar Onion Rings. $6.

I was sooo excited for the onion rings.  I had been on a bit of an onion ring kick (super random, but I was ordering them every chance I could get), and the idea of a salt & vinegar onion ring, made entirely fresh to order, just sounded amazing.  They came with a vinegar dipping sauce too.

But ... wow they were oily.  Just, way too greasy.  I'm not opposed to oil, to grease, and I knew they were a fried item, but, this was just too much.  I couldn't actually taste the onions at all.  Just grease.  I appreciated the assorted sizes of rings.

The batter was really crispy, and had a bit of a slight vinegar taste to it, but the coating entirely fell off, and didn't cling to the rings well.  They were well salted.

These made me so sad, and I kept eating them, dabbing off the extensive oil, just trying desperately to like them, but, I really, truly did not.  Fascinating item, but, I think, flawed execution.

MOOLOOLABA KING PRAWN CUTLET. $7.

Next was the prawn cutlet, literally a huge, fresh mooloolaba king prawn (which I saw whole and raw in the display earlier!), crumbed, and fried.  It came with sweet chili mayo on the side, which I couldn't wait to try.

It too was fairly oily, but not quite as bad as the rings, as the coating was still crispy, and I think just soaked the oil up a little differently.  Also well salted.

Juicy Prawn Cutlet: Inside.

The prawn was good, clearly fresh, soo juicy and succulent.  It went great with the sweet chili aioli, or even just drizzled with the included lemon wedge.

Yogurt Tartar Sauce ($1 extra) / Sweet Chili Mayo (served with prawn) / Vinegar (served with onion rings).

The sauces were a mixed success.  Two came with my meal, one with each fried dish, and I added on the third, the tartar sauce, because I wanted to try it.

The yogurt tartar sauce was ... a healthier style of tartar sauce, clearly.  Tangy from yogurt.  Not really my thing, but I appreciated the generous bits of pickle in it.

The sweet chili mayo was great, this is the one that comes with the prawn, and it was creamy, slightly sweet, slightly spicy.  I really liked it, not actually with the prawn very much, but with chips that I dunked in it later.

The vinegar comes with the onion rings, to complete the salt and vinegar aspect of the dish, and, with the rings, it worked actually.  On its own, eh, just vinegar dipping sauce, but with the dish, it was good.

SAVOY CABBAGE, HAZELNUT & CURRANT SALAD. $11.

Yes, I know, I went to fish place and ordered a salad.  But I had read so many reviews of how great this was, and I wanted something non-fried to round out my meal.  Also, I love cabbage.

The serving was huge, and I planned to save much of it for later anyway, but, it was already dressed.  It sadly got soggy fast, although it was really fresh and crisp when I got it.

SAVOY CABBAGE, HAZELNUT & CURRANT SALAD: Close Up.

It was actually a pretty good salad.

Fresh, crispy cabbage, chopped up into enjoyable pieces.  It was a "good eating salad", as in, it was actually enjoyable to eat, given this base.

In the mix was tons of little currants, which looked like too much, but they actually were entirely necessary in that quantity, providing all the sweetness and little pops of chew.

And then, the hazelnuts.  Swoon.  I don't know what they did to these hazelnuts.  But I loved them.  Roasted and toasted, and just sooo flavorful.  At first I thought maybe Australian hazelnuts were just awesome, and started trying them everywhere I went, but, no others were quite like this.  They were awesome.  Also, added some crunch.

The last element, besides the fantastic scattering of fresh herbs, was the dressing.  This ... is where I didn't like it as much.  A buttermilk based dressing, creamy, but, for some reason, I just didn't care for it.  I wish I had asked for it on the side, as then the slaw would have held up, and I could have used a different dressing.

Overall, a very nicely designed salad, thoughtful, flavorful, textural ... I just didn't like the dressing.  Sadness.