OYSTERS

Oysters in the southern hemisphere are best eaten during the colder months of June, July & August. The cooler water temperatures produce a much nicer eating quality oyster, full and plump and in peak condition.

Available all year round and peaking from May through to September, we see our highest demand during.. you guessed it, the months of December through to January!!

The Oyster industry in Australia has been through some challenging times of late, with POMS disease decimating millions of Oysters through Tasmania. With the loss of stock there, the South Australian industry was put under immense pressure to supply which in turn cleaned out many farmers stock. what we are left with now is a higher demand for what stock is currently left on the market.

WHAT ARE YOUR OPTIONS FOR MENUS?

We highly recommend our chefs to sell their oysters on the daily "specials" section of their menus. This will give you more flexibility to adapt to pricing and supply issues should they arise over summer. It's also a good way to showcase your oysters and the different growing regions they come from.

CURRENT AVAILABILITY - 14/11/2017

ANGASSI NATIVE OYSTERS - UNAVAILABLE

TASMANIA PACIFIC OYSTERS -

We have regular stock arriving from the following growing areas:

- Blackman Bay

- St Helens

- Pipeclay Lagoon

- Bruny Island

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN PACIFIC OYSTERS-

We have stock arriving from the follwing growing areas:

- Coffin Bay

- Smoky Bay

- Streaky Bay

“THE FRESH EDITION”

SWORDFISH, TUNA & MARLIN

The big 3 are going well, with good supply from our suppliers in FNQ. Great pricing on the Marlin this week. As the weather starts to warm, expect the tuna to drop off a little as they dive deeper to cooler waters. We are happy to say that all our Tuna, Marlin & Swordfish are MSC certified which is a great selling point on your menus.

BLUE EYE, HAPUKA & BASS GROUPER We have seen a slight improvement on the Blue Eye catches compared to same time last year, the same goes with the Hapuka. Our money is on the Bass Grouper. Far superior eating quality to the other two (in our opinion!), and with the re-opening of the fishing grounds of the North Island in New Zealand, we should continue to see better pricing come through

OYSTERS, MUSSELS & SCALLOPS Mussels - Best quality mussels are local from Victoria at the moment. POMS, algae and a variety of other issues have unfortunately impacted mussel farming in Tasmania that I don’t think we will see a return this year. Scallops – Local hand-dived scallops are readily available (24 hour notice) from our local divers. Condition is very good. Oysters – Supply will be very limited this year with majority of farms already sold out of stock for this year. Prices climbing every second week and condition of oysters are at about 80%. We are recommending they be sold on the “specials boards” for that shortage that will hit eventually.

FLATHEAD, GURNARD & WHITING Flathead quota have just fired off so when the catches come through expect the prices to soften. Gurnard is gaining popularity on the menus, especially the Red Gurnard coming from New Zealand. A much sweeter flavour than Flathead and coming from good sustainable stocks. King George catches have been very low, especially with the closure of Victorian fishing areas so expect very high pricing coming into summer this year.

SNAPPER Beautiful quality snapper all around and coming through in many sizes. Plate size (4/500gm), 1-1.5kg and some magic 2kg specimens. We target line-caught varieties which ensure a much better flavour and meat quality.

ORA KING SALMON, HIRAMASA KINGFISH & CONE BAY BARRAMUNDI For a consistent sure supply over the summer months, you can’t go past these three. The higher than usual fat content gives you a far superior shelf-life than any other farmed fish out there and the branding that comes with these adds much more value to your menus

BLUE GRENADIER & TREVALLY Super catches a month or two back saw Blue Grenadier around the $10 kg range which made many of our chefs around town extremely happy.

With all the hype surrounding the Ora King Salmon awards and judging entering the final stages, restaurants need to make sure they're getting what they have asked for. Always ask for the gill-tags to ensure authenticity and full traceability

Great line up tomorrow considering the weather is no good

Ora King Salmon

Flathead

Blue Grenadier

Warehou

Swordfish

Rock Ling

Red Emperor

Mulloway

Orange Roughy

Spanish Mackeral

Flake

Gurnard

Goldband Snapper

John Dory

King Dory

Hapuka

Blue Eye

Barramundi

Kingfish

Volumes are still coming through quite low as the tail end of snapper quotas wind up in NZ and the unfavourable weather conditions hold back our fishermen from landing any high-volume catches.

Our recommendation for the best and most consistent fish for your menus this week are:

WILD CAUGHT

FLATHEAD: prices have pushed up a little in the last few weeks but the fish is there for the taking. Beautiful medium/large fish coming in from Eden

BLUE GRENADIER: take it while it's still there at the amazing price coming in from the markets. Fresh medium/large fish caught off the West Coast of Tasmania

SWORDFISH & TUNA: Excellent fish from our friends in FNQueensland. Volume will be low at the tail end of the week as we come off the fishing moon-cycle

BLUE EYE: Beautiful line-caught fish from Tasmania. Prices have dipped only a little, but the quality of fish is excellent. Volume is low so order early in the week

GOLDBAND SNAPPER: Great alternative for the low availability of Pink snapper. good size fish coming out of QLD & WA

FARMED

When the going gets tough we can always rely on our good consistant supply of farmed fish. Our favourites this week are:

MUSSELS: We have sensational Large Eden Mussels available this week from Two Fold Bay. Nice full heavy shells producing some great meat this time of year

RAINBOW TROUT: Supplied fresh daily from our friends at Eildon Trout Farm. A small boutique farm that produces some fantastic fish for us all year round

HIRAMASA KINGFISH: The King of Kingfish. Clean, consistent quality fish from the Spencer Gulf. Very versatile used in many applications from sashimi to grilling and baking

BARRAMUNDI: Cone Bay W.A to Coral Coast QLD, we are offering our chefs both. A good, strong consistent seller, even through the winter months

ORA KING: The Wagyu of the Sea continues to gain popularity and can be found everywhere, from cafe menus to elite fine dining restaurants around the country

While it's obvious to see that the severe weather conditions we have been experiencing the last few weeks haven't been favourable for fishing, here at Red Coral, we are making sure our customers are getting the variety they need to keep pumping those specials out. while the volume may not be there this week, the quality and variety still stands. Here's a list of the more notable species we will be selling this week.

CHATHAM ISLAND BLUE COD: Usually for the high-end venues, we have beautiful Chatham Blue Cod in around the 1kg size. Small quantities so jump on quick

MONKFISH (Stargazer): Nice pearly white skinless/boneless fillets available out of NZ. great for a winter seafood pie!!

RED GURNARD: Nice fat fillets available. Great alternative to Flathead at the moment, with a much sweeter taste

OCTOPUS: Plenty available via South Australia. Believe it or not, sales on the Large Octopus are still through the roof in the winter months. nothing warms you up better than a serve of char-grilled octopus!!

HIRAMASA KINGFISH: Very versatile fish. Perfect for sashimi applications. fish is very fatty at the moment and very popular this time of the year

KING TARAKIHI (XL Sea Bream): Line caught Ikejime fish from New Zealand. Very popular in the Japanese restaurants at the moment. Available in any format you wish. (Whole, skin on, skinless & boneless etc)

FLOUNDER: Nice fat plate size (500gm) fish from New Zealand

SNAPPER: Very limited!! All sizes available, order early in the week

TUNA & SWORDFISH: A Grade sashimi Tuna available all week. We have Big Eye & Yellowfin available for the hardcore chefs out there. Good, fat, winter fish. Swordfish is on point, with the best quality available in Melbourne available right here!

RED EMPEROR, SPANISH MACKEREL & GOLDBAND SNAPPER: Excellent quality fish on all three lines coming out of FNQueensland . Goldband a little short this week, so order very early on.

BLUE EYE & HAPUKA: Blue Eye has been a little short lately so order early in the week. Hapuka is more reasonably priced and quality excellent

ORA KING SALMON: What can we say? the Wagyu of the Sea is still going strong.

Have you ever wondered why our Barramundi tastes so good? It's all about the farming techniques and extra care taken to produce the cleanest, freshest tasting Barramundi on the market. Farmed in one of the most picturesque places on the planet near Bowen amongst the Whitsunday islands. Check out this video from our friends at Coral Coast Barramundi