Searock Fish Cafe
Sometimes we get so caught up in our local bubble we forget to look beyond the boundaries of our zip code. Even Ms Darlinghurst gets a little too comfortable with her beloved 2010 and regularly on the hunt for the next underground restaurant to emerge. But every-now-and-then it’s worth exploring the more obvious destinations and you’ll be surprised what you find along the way. Circular Quay is iconic Sydney and home to tourists, seagulls and suits catching the 6pm ferry. It also houses Searock Fish Café a little secret gem worth sharing.
Having opened in June 2010 Searock specializing in relaxed and casual dining. As the name suggests you’ll find a menu offering fresh ocean catch. There is seating outside along the wharf and it’s a great place to sit back and relax with harbour views of ships setting sail. For our Secret Foodies though it’s all about the private dining room, attached to the main restaurant.
It could easily be mistaken for the dining room of someone’s sexy beach house. The tea-candles sitting in sand filled vases, white starfish on the tables and the light wooden frames holding an array of wines.
Choice of Canadian scallops with prosciutto and rosemary
Chefs Richard and Allen are both avid fisherman and although the evenings meal was fresh from the ocean they couldn’t take credit for reeling it in. We can give them kudos for presenting some delicious options for our foodies however.
Queensland prawns with truss tomato and avocado
For entrée’s we had the choice of Canadian scallops with prosciutto and rosemary or Queensland prawns with truss tomato and avocado. I opted for the scallops which were soft and the prusciutto was nice and crispy. The bean salad on the side was a little odd but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
The prawn entrée looked good, I liked the presentation of the tomato. It was a very small entrée though with essentially four cocktail shrimp in a carved out tomato. If I had selected this dish I think I would have been disappointed. I look forward to hearing from our foodies how it tasted.
Slow cooked ocean trout with cauliflower puree, white asparagus and black truffle
For mains I chose the slow cooked ocean trout with cauliflower puree, white asparagus and black truffle. My trout was soft and slid away in delicious layers. It was a large piece and dominated the flavours on the plate. I liked the cauliflower puree and white asparagus. I was really excited when I saw black truffle on the menu and would have enjoyed a little more to enhance the flavours.
Slow braised pork belly with lobster medallion, fondant potato and caramelized apple
The other option was the slow braised pork belly. It looked good, I’ll have to wait and see what our foodies thought who ordered this main.
Vanilla bean gelato with raspberry coulis
Dessert was a simple vanilla bean gelato with raspberry coulis. The gelato was light and fluffy and I liked the mint in the raspberry coulis. It was a nice light finish to the end of the meal and left me walking away pleasantly satisfied.
Chefs Allen and Richard
Searock changes their menu seasonally to support sustainable produce. Wherever possible they use sustainable, organic and local suppliers. The wait staff are friendly and attentive. Whilst Searock may not win any awards for innovation and daring dishes they offer fresh and simple cuisine in an amazing surrounding.
But enough about what i think, let’s hear what our foodies have to say…
Shop 15, 5 Macquarie Street
Opera Quays
(02) 9252 0777
http://www.searock.com.au/
Category: CBD
I really liked the venue…awesome location an people.
However for the food, quite disappointing indeed. I had the scallops with the prosciutto. The scallops were perfectly cooked, but the prosciutto piece was too big, too salty and too chewy…therefore hiding all the flavors from the scallops! I enjoyed the bean salad, it was fresh and pleasant, and it the lemon taste softened the savory prosciutto.
The main, i chose the ocean trout….once again, the fish was cooked perfectly (I would like some lessons please, mine always ends up overcooked), however, I’m a huge fan of truffles and i was quite disappointed not to taste them more. The puree was nice, velvety, and the asparagus, well not so bad, but I didn’t find that they adding value to the dish, really. I would have probably added something a little bit greener, a little bit crunchier to add some contrast to the softness of the puree and the fish….why not some green peas (a few obviously).
The ice cream and coulis were delicious, perfectly balanced and not too heavy!
I had a Riesling with those dishes…it was a good combination!
All in all, i would say that the food was a good excuse for an awesome get together, but not the main interest of the evening.
Entrée was a vibrant interpretation of an old standard: tasty prawns, tomato and avocado with green leaves and a balsamic stripe.
Going against a restaurant’s theme for the main is always a fraught decision… Pork Belly at a fish café, hmmm. Having eaten ‘red’ fish (the other choice) twice earlier in the week influenced the decision to live dangerously. And it was worth the initial angst – a different presentation, rolled rather slice, juicy and cooked to perfection. a small lobster medallion in top (seemed to be an acknowledgement of the seafood theme) replacing the usual pork crackling. It turns out that chef is from Brazil, so clearly lots of meat experience – and it shows.
Likes: On the best harbour in the world
Dislikes: We were in a function room so I guess a flat screen television on the wall is de rigueur but seems to cheapen the room
Ambience: Am a sucker for black and white photography – which, obviously was a seafood theme, combined with wall wine storage that, TV’s aside, makes it a welcoming room. Very easy place to take your overseas buddies when they are next in town.
I thought the scallops were nice but the bean mix that came with it tasted like it was not fresh. The ocean trout was really good but I was not a fan of the white asparagus underneath. The desert was probably my favorite as the ice cream was real and it was simple yet very flavorsome.
What a great location for summer, the food was good well portioned and fresh and company fantastic! My favourite dish was my entrée which I had Scallops which were very fresh, but came with a matching bean salad which didn’t fit.
But if I have to critique I would have to say that I felt something was lacking with the ocean trout with cauliflower puree, white asparagus main.. The overall ambience of the restaurant was a great fit to the amazing harbour views. Service was great but this is expected of a restaurant of this calibre.
I would recommend this place for someone looking to take a date to a impressive location, with the food secondary to this.
Thank you for the behind the restaurant scene talk Chef’s.. this was a highlight!
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