Seafood @ Hornsby

We used to make the trek from Hornsby down to the Sydney Fish Markets but with it being at least 50 mins each way, we had to buy (and then store) a lot to make the trip worthwhile.
However pregnancy put an end to that when the smell finished me off. We tried again when our first born was a toddler, but he couldn’t stand the long car trip. So we gave up.
Thankfully, this fish shop opened up not too much later so we weren’t stranded for long. We have never had anything that was less than perfectly fresh here and the quality is always great.
They open extreme hours over Xmas to help people out. We’ve taken to buying a whole salmon and then hot smoking it for our Xmas lunch and last year’s set us back something like $ 80 for a fish that fed 9 on the day and gave us enough left over to do another 6 dinners for 4. That’s pretty good value in my book.
Unless it was for a meal with other people, I don’t think I’d bother making the trip to the Fish Markets now. Seafood @ Hornsby is more than good enough.

I entered Seafood @Hornsby thinking I’d peruse the variety they displayed and then choose something for tonight’s dinner. As I entered I was asked if I needed assistance, I briefly explained I was just looking but would ask if I had any questions. Two steps later, I was asked again, then again, then again … And finally an aggressive and snotty attendent decided to lecture me that they didn’t like «Pricer’s from Woolies trolling their store for pricing info». I explained AGAIN I was just looking and assured her I was not from Woolies. She carried on yapping at me for a while until I finally just left in disgust. The rude attitude, unwillingness to listen, and sheer gross paranoia were just not worth putting up with for a simple puchase of fish.
I would suggest focusing on providing a service to the customers and prospects who enter your store rather than alienating them would be a better approach to growing your business. Chasing ghosts and abusing prospects is a losing strategy. I for one will not return … And anyone I speak to will be advised to go to Windybank or DeCosti where they focus on friendly service and quality product.

Seafood — an excellent source of omega 3 oil, protein and… um — mercury? Gotta be really careful with seafood, — it was a bold man indeed who ate the first oyster.
D2 can’t eat crustaceans or shellfish. She’s not simply intolerant, she has that ana… anaph…really bad reaction. Carries an epi pen — its serious.
After a few years we had to get it checked again. I had to get seafood for the test. Off to those wild and crazy Mongers at Westfield Hornsby I go. «Just samples for a test — they’ll probably give them to you» says Keeno.
So I got a kilo and a half of gigantic green king prawns, a bag full of mussels, a doz. scallops and four blue swimmer crabs.
Seafood @ Hornsby are proper fish mongrels — I mean mongers («ahh get outta here ya monger !»). The monger who served me cleaned cracked and quartered the crabs for me. The mussels were cleaned and debearded (like me), the scallops and the prawns were in perfect condition, fresh smelling no discolouration, no bits missing (unlike me). Everything I needed to ruin a great seafood meal.
Made a bisk for later out of the prawn carcasses with saffron and roasted capsicum. Worked up a nice hickory smoked Paella, all worked fine… BUT, there is NO point going to all the effort of a good meal if you don’t have GREAT produce. This place is a godsend. We go there nearly every time D2 goes out. It can’t replace Pyrmont, but if you can’t get to le marchet d’poisson then this does very well.
It can get very busy but thats precisely what I want to see — lots of stuff getting sold fast. There’s nothing worse than a slow moving mongery, the fish get soggy, the prawns break down, the unpleasant aroma… you know.
These muthamongers are fast and friendly and the produce is outstanding.
Let me check… nope — can’t see any way of using «monger» again. No wait…
Silly thing is — all the Healthmonger needed was a bit of fried rice with prawns in it (got it from a Chinesefoodmonger !) — one grain of rice and D2 reacted instantly poor kid, test over. She’s OK with it. Probably shouldn’t have given her a Yabby as a pet though.
oh…and by the way there is no prawn at all in a prawn cracker.

It’s such a relief to know that you don’t need to trek into the Fish Markets for quality seafood. These guys have an embarrassment of fish, prawns, every crustacean you can dream of — all on offer on the upper north shore. Phew.
Come Christmas, Seafood @ Hornsby is an absolute zoo. They extend their hours to suit, but you’re still better off ordering ahead of time and simply collecting your bounty on Christmas Eve. I’m already mentally making my order for another scrumptious seafood Australian Christmas.
But in the meantime, I’ll be sure to pop in here on occasion, just to keep my omega 3 levels up (read: buy and eat way too much seafood).