Bigger fish to Fry

Port Lincoln is now seen as a culinary destination of the South Australian peninsula and, with some of the country’s finest and most abundant seafood, The Fresh Fish Place lies at its heart. To handle growing demand they’ve recently reeled in some new kitchen equipment.

For five years owners Craig and Sandy McCathie have worked hard to establish culinary tourism in the region, transforming a humble fish and chip shop into a must-visit destination within the highly popular ‘aquaculture’ trail around the South Australian peninsula.

The Fresh Fish Place now offers factory tours, tasting experiences, ever-popular culinary classes, a homeware gallery and factorydirect produce – in addition to their renowned fresh seafood café.

In the last twelve months the venue has also featured in several TV programmes with a number of notable chefs and TV personalities, including Grace Barbe, Adam Liaw, Matt Moran and Matthew Evans, making the trip south. Last year on a visit to South Australia the Governor General, Sir Peter Cosgrove and Lady Cosgrove popped in for a meal also – further raising the venue’s profile.

With this leap in profile and an already glowing reputation far greater numbers are coming through the doors. Craig and Sandy felt the need to up-scale the kitchen to cope, and approached Moffat to secure another Waldorf twin pan gas fryer.

“The Waldorf Bold fryers we originally got from Moffat were doing such a good job,” says Craig. “But we just couldn’t keep up with demand.”

“The new deep fryer also fitted perfectly into the kitchen, as we had a Waldorf Bold bench that was the same depth as the deep fryer,” he says. “So we simply slipped out the bench and slipped in the fryer and it fitted the nook perfectly. It was all very easy.”

The addition to the kitchen has ensured the café can continue to consistently deliver a range of renowned seafood; flake, garfish, whiting, Coffin Bay oysters and local southern calamari – all prepared in a famously light, tempura-style batter.

McCathie says the high-end kitchen technology has helped ensure a very high level of quality. He also points out the importance of choosing kitchen equipment that can scale to meet the ever-increasing demands of the business.

“When it comes to our culinary cooking demos we’re only in our second year… and things are just starting to heat up,” he says.

“It’s part of our mission to host some of the top chefs from around the world here at The Fresh Fish Place. To do that we need to provide them with the best kitchen equipment to cook on. It’s why we turned to Moffat in the first place.”