We’ve spent a lot of time in Auckland since 2017, and I can’t believe it took us this long to eat at the Auckland fish market.
Christie and I happened to be walking around the Auckland harbour last week, and we were looking for places to have lunch. After not finding anything particularly tempting from the menus of the restaurants dotted around the waterfront, we walked through the Auckland fish market, and decided we’d choose from the eateries on offer there.
The Auckland fish market has been around for over 100 years, and the site was recently revamped in late 2018 to be more modern and to offer a better selection of dining options. The building hosts around 10 eateries with various different cuisines, ranging from Thai to South American.
We thought we’d stick with some sashimi and good old fish and chips from the Oceanz seafood store as they had a pretty steady crowd, and the fresh fish looked to be of good quality.
Our choice was well rewarded.
We picked out this sashimi pack and enjoyed this while waiting for our fish and chips. You can see from the picture that both the salmon and tuna are on the leaner side, but it still tasted pretty good. There was zero fishiness, and the flesh had just the right texture.
We started with tuna, and finished with the fattiest of the salmon pieces. For me, the fatty salmon pieces were the most enjoyable. The classic combination of soy sauce and wasabi elevated the flavour of the fish, and brought that slight burn to each bite of fish.
Our fish and chips was ready as we were finishing up the last couple of pieces of salmon. We went for the fish of the day which was tarakihi, along with a scoop of chips. You can see the appetising golden hue of the fish and chips, but what was most impressive was the batter on the fish.
See how thin and crispy the batter is? These days, it is far too common to see greasy fish that is dominated by batter. However, the batter here was light and crispy, with just the tiniest hint of grease, and this allowed the fish to be the star of the show. The tarakihi was on the meatier side, but the flakes of fish broke apart nicely. The bite was so enjoyable with the crispy shell of the batter, juicy meaty fish, and the citrus zing of the lemon cutting the greasiness.
In hindsight, we should have gotten another piece of fish, because we shared the piece rather fast.
Since we didn’t quite get our fried fish fix during that visit, we decided to go back over the weekend.
During this visit, we enjoyed some fresh Mahurangi oysters as well. These were incredible with just a squeeze of lemon. Very simple and unassuming, but these oysters were juicy and plump, and you really can’t go wrong with freshly shucked oysters if you happen to be an oyster-lover.
We also got the salmon sashimi to enjoy with our daytime soju (which they don’t sell but we brought along).
This time, the salmon had a bit more fat, and we agreed it was even better than the first time. We will definitely be back regularly for the generously cut pieces of fresh salmon served up here.
This time, we tried the trevally, and our standard scoop of chips on the side.
Again, the batter of the fish was impressive. The light coat of batter was fried to perfection, and the fish was cooked just right. Although the fish flavour of the trevally was less pronounced than the flavour of the tarakihi we had on our first visit, the flesh was softer and a touch more moist.
If you are looking for a place for some great sashimi and fish and chips, we strongly recommend a visit to Oceanz at the Auckland fish market. They also offer fresh fish sold by weight, pre-ordered sashimi plates, and a variety of other seafood options. Also, the prices here are incredible for the quality you get (around $12-$15 for a tray of sashimi), so definitely swing by if you are walking around the viaduct on a nice sunny day.
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