Fish Market, Unity Hall

What an interesting day.   We scheduled a late-morning Seafood grill class at the Sydney Fish Market in Pyrmont, Sydney, about a mile from our lodging. Good fun and good food!

The Unity Hotel (and Pub) in Balmain is home to Sydney’s western suburbs jazz scene and since 1970 the UHJB (Unity Hall Jazz Band) has played at the upstairs pub (cleverly named the ‘Workers Bar & Kitchen’ after its early 1900’s socialist heritage).   The band was great and the spirited dancing even better.

The Unity jazz performance finished rather early so M & I did an abbreviated pub crawl to a few spots recommended by a few of the more cultured locals – “Dicks Hotel” (how can that not be cool!?) and the “Welcome Hotel”.   Both had nice vibes & excellent selections of local micros on draft.  Ahhh.

Dick

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We started off the morning with a cooking class at the Sydney Seafood School, located at the Fish Market.   The subject was Seafood BBQ.    Arrived a little early and had a look around the Market itself.    Unbelievable, Wholey’s has nothing on this.

The instructor demonstrated the prep work, debearding Mussels, breaking down squid, filleting Garfish and de-heading giant prawns.   After an hour of demo, it was off to the kitchen.   We paired up with Steve and Chris, two blokes from Queensland, as a foursome.    The unusual thing about this class was we cooked all of the dishes for our team to eat.   The menu: BBQ Prawns with Herb Marinade, Thai-Style Squid Salad, Salmon with Lime Mayonnaise, BBQ Garfish in Parmesan Crust and Blue Mussels with Garlic Butter.   Our team of four, did all prep work and cooking for all the dishes, then sat down and enjoyed the fruits of our labor together (wine pairing, of course).   A wonderful experience.   Thing that was most different, is that the Aussie version of a grill is totally different than we use in the US.   Think more flat top than open grate.

Afterwards, we wandered back towards home to listen to live jazz at the Unity Hotel. Music was awesome, but also, a lot of local dance club people who came to dance (and boy can they dance).    Was nice to see the mix of ages of people embracing the jazz culture.

Mary

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