Sydney Fish Market

The Sydney Fish Market claims to be the world's second-largest seafood market. It's located by the harbor - take the light rail to the Fish Market station, cross the street and follow the signs.

Once there, I was skeptical of this claim - in China, there are many fish markets much larger than this. However, as expected, the market was packed with Chinese food enthusiasts!

The two biggest vendors are Peter's and Nicholas. Both serve seafood simply boiled with salt and pepper - a style Chinese customers prefer. Most shoppers and workers at the market are Chinese, making communication easier. They accept Alipay and UnionPay cards, which is very convenient.

The section popular with Western customers features more cheese and butter-based dishes, mostly pre-cooked seafood.

Much of the seafood here is unprocessed and raw. You can buy it to cook at home or have it prepared on-site. Processing costs about 15 AUD per kilo, while many seafood items themselves cost only around 20 AUD per kilo.

Being used to fresh seafood in Guangzhou, we browsed around and were most impressed by the large lobsters. However, at over 200 RMB per half kilo, a whole lobster would cost thousands, so we settled for a dozen oysters instead. Oysters here come in different sizes - the 24 AUD ones are quite small. We got the largest ones, palm-sized, for 30 AUD, averaging about 10 RMB each - excellent value.

We took our food to eat by the waterfront, but unexpectedly, a seagull swooped down and snatched one oyster - they're incredibly fast! Two tips: if you don't want to share your seafood with seagulls or have your meal disturbed, protect your food and cover it. When seagulls circle nearby, firmly shoo them away. Don't give these quick birds any opportunity - once one successfully grabs food, a whole flock will swoop in.