When the new Sydney Fish Market flung open its doors for the first time on Monday morning, one regular clientele was notably absent.
There were no seagulls. And, by extension, no poo.
“I’ve been waiting 50 years for this,” one man carrying several shopping bags told me as he exited the shiny new building. “I couldn’t bring friends here from Europe to sit out there [at the old market] with the birds and the shit.”
For whatever reason, the birdlife had missed the memo that the city’s famous fish market had upgraded to a new building, and were still milling at the old site, which – for the first time in decades – wasn’t operational.
Starting at 7am, hundreds filtered through the new building, eager to sample some morning seafood or take home the catch of the day.
I was among them, bleary eyed from my punishingly early wake-up but excited to expand the typically limited horizons of my taste buds.
The rebuild has been a long and, at times, tense process. Scheduled to open in late 2024, the timeline blew out by more than a year amid construction delays and negotiations with grandfathered seafood vendors, who only signed new leases a few months ago.
Anyone who has visited the market at the former site, which was established in 1966, will no doubt be awed by the scale of the new space.
Almost all retailers from the old fish market have signed on for the new facility, which has been expanded to include 40 venders, some decidedly un-fishy. Come for your salmon, stay for flowers, pizza, bánh mì or artisan cheese.
General manager Carmelo Lombardo has worked at Get Fish for more than three decades out of the old market and describes Monday as a “proud moment”. “I didn’t know myself coming into a state-of-the-art building such as this … it’s just amazing,” he says. “People are so excited to be here.”
The new fish market is massive, jutting out of Sydney’s harbour like a monolith, with a 20,000 square metre checkered roof blanketing the storefronts and outdoor mezzanine areas.
The NSW government has spent $836m on the project and says it will spend another $70m on transport options, including a $30m commuter ferry wharf and $40m for an accessibility upgrade to the Wentworth Park light rail stop.
Six million visitors are expected to flood through the market each year, and by lunchtime on its opening day, it was at capacity, with visitors told to return in the evening or the following day.
First impressions from punters I spoke to varied, from awe and excitement to frustration over the high prices and current lack of public transport access.
Bob from Adelaide, who was digging into a platter of prawns, has been going to the former fish market for five decades and came to Sydney specifically for the opening with his partner and daughter.
Standing in front of stalls selling live king crab for $279 a kilogram or one live lobster for $194.99, Bob lamented the prices.
“It’s cheaper in Adelaide, I can’t believe the cost of the crabs here,” he says. “In Adelaide you can get them for 20 bucks, or walk out and catch 20 crabs in an hour.”
Fortunately, not everything was so expensive. I enjoyed a tuna and a salmon nigiri for just $7.60 at Peter’s, and fish and chips at Big Fish for $17 – which was yummy, if a little cold (neither the fish nor chips were made to order).
The premier, Chris Minns, told the press pack on Monday morning that foodies would travel “far and wide” to visit the upgraded market. But he added it was “really important” that whether people were coming for “caviar or crab sticks … this place will have something for everybody”.
The crab legs ($38 for one) were out of my budget, though they did look delicious.
Getting into the spirit of “something for everybody”, I attempted barbecue octopus and an oyster – two things I haven’t eaten in approximately a decade because they scare me. I didn’t realise octopus was extremely sentient until after my purchase and then felt very guilty, but at $18.50 for a small bowl at Fish Market Cafe it felt a shame to waste anything. It was delicious – fresh, smoky and a little sweet.
The six Sydney Rock oysters at Nicholas Seafood, which set me back $16.50, did not go down as smoothly. For a moment I feared I would be sick but managed to steady my nerves and swallow one down. My colleagues informed me they were delicious. I wouldn’t know – their texture and appearance repulse me.
Robert and Brigitte had a different attitude, and were enjoying a dozen oysters at 8am. They flew in to Sydney from Darwin on a redeye flight on Monday morning and had planned to visit the former Sydney Fish Market as an early morning activity.
“It was all closed, we didn’t know what was going on,” Robert says. “Then we saw this place, walk in here, get all these freebies and find out it only opened an hour ago.
“It’s pretty impressive, smells a lot cleaner than the other place but who knows how long that’ll last.”
Despite the fun fairground atmosphere, I felt a pang of nostalgia for the former site. Perhaps it was just that everything was so fresh and clean that it lacked a certain warmth and atmosphere, or perhaps it was the fact that the old building sat alone and sad, awaiting its inevitable demolition.
As I gazed across the harbour, pondering the old site’s grime-covered umbrellas, I thought about humankind’s endless march for progress, for expansion, for largesse. I thought about the live lobsters sitting in their tiny tanks in the glittery new space, waiting to be consumed.
And then I went back inside, and got excited by taiyaki waffles: a custard pastry shaped like a fish that I hadn’t come across since a trip to Japan last year. Maybe it was best to just eat, and not overthink.
