South Melbourne has no shortage of ways to spend a Saturday morning feeling smug about your grocery choices, and the seafood situation is genuinely one of the neighbourhood’s stronger suits. Whether you’re after a fresh fillet to cook at home, a plate of oysters with a glass of wine, or a no-nonsense serve of fish and chips on Clarendon Street, the options within a short radius are solid. Here’s where to go.
Inside the Market
The South Melbourne Market is the obvious starting point, and it earns that status. There are three fishmongers working out of the market on its open days (Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday), and the quality is consistently good.
Aptus Seafood has been there since 1969. Owner Angelo is a second-generation fishmonger and the kind of bloke who genuinely knows his stock. People come specifically for the freshly shucked oysters, and the broader offering covers Tasmanian salmon, cooked crayfish, fresh prawns and sashimi-grade tuna. If you’re after something ready to eat rather than cook yourself, the neighbouring Seafood Grill and Oyster Bar is the logical next move.
South Melbourne Seafoods is the other market stalwart worth knowing, run by John and Yianni with a focus on sourcing from sustainable fisheries. The fact that they’re open on the same market days means you can have a proper look at both before committing.
Then there’s Claypots Evening Star, which occupies the Cecil Street corner of the market and operates on a completely different register to the fishmonger stalls. The menu changes daily based on whatever’s come in fresh, and dishes run from king prawns in sambal to grilled garfish with zaatar. They don’t take bookings for groups smaller than ten, so if you turn up at peak time without a plan, expect to queue. That’s not a flaw, it’s just what happens when a place is genuinely good at what it does. You can sit outside or inside the market aisle, and the place gets busy enough on a Saturday night to qualify as a scene in itself.
On Clarendon Street
Hunky Dory at 252 Clarendon Street is a fixture in the neighbourhood and does a better job than most fish and chip shops at getting the sourcing right. The family behind it has commercial fishing in the blood, and the mission from the start has been a healthier take on the fish and chip format. You can get local flake, barramundi, blue grenadier or salmon, with a choice of grilled, fried or panko crumbed. It’s casual, the portions are decent, and it’s the kind of place that makes sense after a market run when you don’t feel like cooking whatever you just bought.
Down at Albert Park
Pipi’s Kiosk has held a hat in the Age Good Food Guide since it opened in 2021, which tells you it’s not messing around. The venue sits quietly on the Albert Park foreshore, tucked against the Kerferd Road Pier with views across the white sandy beach toward St Kilda. It’s a short tram ride from South Melbourne on the Number 1, and worth making the trip for.
Head chef Ben Parkinson, who has worked at Marque, Monopole and Papillon, builds a seasonal menu around sustainable seafood from trusted supplier Two Hands. Expect things like Goolwa pipi pasta with bucatini, smoked tomato, chilli and Pernod, and Sydney rock oysters with rhubarb mignonette. Much of the cooking happens over a wood-fired hearth, and there’s a snack section that functions as a proper opening act rather than an afterthought. It’s not cheap, but it’s the kind of restaurant that justifies the bill.
Over at Crown
The Atlantic at Crown Casino in Southbank sits firmly in the fine dining category, with a focus on fresh, locally and sustainably sourced seafood and a Yarra-facing terrace that makes a lunch booking feel like an occasion. It’s about as far from the market fishmonger experience as you can get without leaving the inner south, but if you want a seafood platter with bells on, this is where people go. Just book ahead and brace for Crown pricing.
