Fish and Seafood Works in Sans Souci

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fish and Seafood lovers are beating a path to Sans Souci, writes Grant Jones.

Whole fish filleted on the spot at your local fishmongers. That’s the prediction for this year’s seafood trend from Con Melas, whose gleaming display of fresh fish lines the stainless steel, ice-covered trays of his recently opened store in Sans Souci.

Jerry Christofotiados, who has been sharpening his knives in fish and chip shops since 1974, selects fat, fresh whole fish from the trays, local whole bream and barrra, perch, flathead and leather jackets.

Yellowfin tuna steaks also fight for space with a huge whole spanish mackerel. From New Zealand it’s long-line snapper, perch, ling and blue eye, offered fried, grilled and oven-baked.

“Customers in their 40s and 50s will ask for whole fish,” says Con. “Most of our younger clientele will ask for four or five fillets and want to go home to cook it.”

The fish are dry filleted, which means that the flesh is not absorbing water, which often results in soggy fish fillets.

If neither the old nor the young can be bothered cooking, Con’s adjoining restaurant has several tables inside as well as stools on a bench facing the fruit and veg market across the road. Young families tuck into deep-fried fillets while grandparents treat their grandkids.

“The beauty of it is it’s always cooked fresh, but our selling point is fresh fillets,” he says. “All our marinara is fresh, too.”

Despite his Greek background, and that of his wife whose dad owns the florist next door, his customers, Con says, are “mostly Anglos”.

Eat-in and takeaway diners can choose from a couple of Sydney rocks from Port Stephens or Pacific oysters from Smoky Bay before moving on to a huge seafood skewer, hoki, prawns, scallops, mussels and calamari, in addition to the fresh fillets, battered or grilled, and all of it is keenly priced.

“And we do get the odd request,” he says.

Con opened six months ago in an area that has become famous for its fish and chips. And while he doesn’t face the water, the word of mouth is that Seafood Works is luring traffic off the main road of the suburb whose name is French for “no worries”.

DIY TIPS FOR COOKING FISH AND CHIPS AT HOME

Cook with a mix of canola and sunflower oil, which reach high temperatures without smoking.
Use clean oil in a large, deep pan or bench fryer.
Try to use uniformly sized fillets so they all cook evenly.
Batter fish with a simple mix of self-raising flour and a pinch of dried yeast with enough water to make a cream-like consistency.
Dust fillets with flour before battering to help the batter stick.
Test the oil is hot enough by putting in a drop of batter. If it goes golden and starts bubbling, it’s ready. If it smokes, it’s too hot.
Use a slotted spoon to remove fish from oil. Tongs may break the fillet.
Drain on paper towel.
Dirty potatoes make the best chips.
Boil cut-up chips for 2 minutes, then dry.

Information in this article is correct as of 22 November, 2011