A “bucket list” of new experiences are on sale today. Plus: the market’s must-try new restaurants.
Leading chefs from Good Food Guide hatted restaurants including a’Mare, Pilu at Freshwater and King Clarence will teach cooking classes at Sydney’s $836 million fish market after it opens in Pyrmont in late January.
The guest chef program is part of a “bucket list” line-up of new experiences announced today for the new Sydney Seafood School, which is due for a significant upgrade when it moves to the mezzanine floor of the Sydney Fish Market, says manager Sally Webb.
“We want people to feel like they’ve come to more than just a cooking class, like they’ve come to a must-do Sydney experience, in an iconic Sydney building,” she says.
The 36-year-old institution will feature a 60-person amphitheatre, hands-on induction-powered kitchen and oyster shucking bar, as well as its own 130-person wine bar (serving exclusively NSW-made wines) and restaurant with panoramic views across Walsh Bay.
Webb says the school’s program is locked in through to June with chefs including Danielle Alvarez (culinary director at Sydney Opera House), Khanh Nguyen (executive chef at King Clarence), and Joel Bickford (culinary director at Shell House and The International).
“We’ve also got Giovanni Pilu (Pilu at Freshwater) and Alessandro Pavoni (a’Mare, Ormeggio at the Spit) doing a class together,” she says. “That’s going to be a pretty hot ticket.”
New classes will be added to the school’s regular programming, including Land and Sea, focused on integrating native ingredients into everyday kitchens; Seafood Discovery, a shorter educational class targeted towards visitors to Sydney; and an oyster shucking class.
Tickets for classes in the new Sydney Fish Market go on sale on Monday.
What can I eat at the new Sydney Fish Market?
After seven years of development and significant delays, construction of the new site has reached practical completion and keys were handed over for retail and restaurant fit-outs this week.
The hospitality offering will include Sushi Oe, an exclusive two-hatted Japanese fine-dining restaurant moving over from Cammeray; Lua, the newest venture from TV presenter and restaurateur Luke Nguyen; Touch Wood, a restaurant from the team behind Glebe cafe Dirty Red; and Hamsi, a 200-seater helmed by chef Somer Sivrioğlu (Efendy, Maydanoz) and inspired by coastal taverns in Istanbul.
Sivrioğlu, who signed up to the development last year, believes the new market will become one of the world’s great seafood destinations. Infrastructure NSW chief executive Tom Gellibrand forecasts the seafood hub will attract 6 million visitors a year.
“It will be the centrepiece of Australian seafood culture, and the chance to showcase incredible local produce with a Turkish lens is something I couldn’t resist,” Sivrioğlu says.
Hamsi will focus on charcoal-cooked seafood, using Aegean cooking techniques to create dishes including a whole John Dory with spiced tarhana (a fermented blend of yoghurt, grains, and spices) crust.
“Seafood will always be at its heart, but the new market opens up a broader, more dynamic food scene — a place to explore new flavours and ideas beyond the sea,” says Bloom Phung, content coordinator for specialty coffee roaster Stitch Coffee, which plans to open its second cafe in the new food precinct.
There will be takeaway coffee, specialty drinks such as Mont Blancs, and a selection of grab-and-go pastries from Tenacious Bakehouse in Darlinghurst.
It’s one of the more casual offerings, along with Roman-style pizzeria and restaurant La Dea, which opened its first location in Redfern earlier this year. Delays have been financially challenging for the fledgling business, says owner Enthony Spaziani, but he believes the payoff will be worth it.
“We see it as a long-term partnership that will elevate our brand and connect us with people who are looking for something memorable, artisanal and genuinely Italian,” Spaziani says.
Good Food Guide Chef of the Year finalist Junda Khoo initially planned to open his surf-and-turf restaurant Tam Jiak by Ho Jiak in October. When the 80 to 120-seater finally launches in January, it will feature a Malaysian-inspired menu, where each dish contains an element of both earth and sea, from a tandoori tartare with beef and tuna to grilled octopus with chicken skin.
“I wanted to be part of a … project that has the potential to change the landscape of Pyrmont … [and] become the second-largest seafood market in the world after Japan,” Khoo says.
What can I buy at the new Sydney Fish Market?
The retail space will be double that of the current fish market, with 40 retailers over 6000 square metres of accessible public domain. Visitors will be able to view all the early-morning auction action from behind glass walls.
Despite a last-minute withdrawal by long-term tenant Vic’s Meats in April, the majority of the traders will be moving over from the former site. Among them will be Get Fish, Musumeci Seafoods, Nicholas Seafood Traders and Claudio’s Seafood.
There will also be Blackwattle Deli for smallgoods and pantry items, Fisherman’s fine wines, and a second outlet from Enmore ice cream shop Cow and the Moon, for a take-home treat.
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Bianca Hrovat – Bianca is Good Food’s Sydney eating out and restaurant editor.
