This article is not designed to make you jealous, but it may well make your mouth water just a little. We get so much feedback from readers about the wonderful fresh seafood in Tasmania. So we made a concerted effort to taste the local produce during our trip to St Helens. Yes, even MORE than usual, because what better place could there be to make such a pledge?
St Helens: fishing village, north east Tasmania
Tasmania Does Fabulous Fresh Seafood
You can buy Lease 65 oysters straight from the farmer’s shed at 444 Binalong Bay Road, just north of the St Helens township. Our accommodation on the gorgeous Georges Bay came complete with enticing water views, with an oyster farm in the distance. We had a daily visual reminder to sample this local delicacy, so we weren’t likely to forget.
You can source oysters from other aquaculture businesses in town, but once we’d tried the Pacific oysters from Lease 65, we were hooked. The waters-edge farm shed was conveniently located on the drive from St Helens to Binalong Bay, which suited our beach-going schedule perfectly.
A dozen shucked oysters: Lease 65
Lease 65 oyster shed
While we were staying in St Helens, we took the shucked option. But when we collected some take-aways for the trip home, we chose live oysters because we thought they’d travel better. Big mistake. Master oyster-shuckers we will never make! Still, it was a great addition to our hamper of goodies for our lovely pet-sitters, who did a wonderful job keeping our Coco safe while we were away.
Live oysters, Lease 65: St Helens, Tasmania
Blue Shed Seafood Restaurant
If we have the good fortune to visit St Helens again, our first point of business will be reserving a table at the wonderful Blue Shed seafood restaurant. At 1 Marina Parade it boasts outstanding views… you can even see fish swimming by! The service was top-notch, and we took the expert advice offered and started with the chef’s signature squid dish. Apparently this entree has been a long-standing favourite; it can never be removed from the menu by decree of regular diners. We would agree with those discerning diners!
Signature squid entree: Blue Shed, St Helens
We also recorded a request of the chef: keep the chocolate fondant dessert. It was up there with the best desserts we’ve ever eaten. And we’ve eaten a few! However, we’re talking about fresh seafood in this particular instance, so we shan’t digress.
For main Gavin chose the trout, which was served with prawns. We’ve heard the east coast of Tasmania does produce a species of prawn, but we forgot to ask our waitress about the origin of these ones. We were too keen to eat them! The TasFish website has further information about the local prawn if you’re interested. The day’s special was Flathead; that’s my favourite, so that’s what I ordered. It was also divine.
Perfectly cooked trout prawns
Flathead with chips and salad: classic
Supermarket, Pub Meals and Take-Away
St Helens is just a small town, but there’s a good range of services and two well-stocked IGA supermarkets. We enjoyed meals of fresh seafood several times, cooked at our self-contained accommodation. The white-flesh of the ling fillets had a mild fish-flavour, and we didn’t find any stray bones, which is always a bonus. We dished up the fish with a simple garden salad and a ridiculously good local Tasmanian salad dressing.
Fresh seafood: Ling, salad and delightful dressing
We had a double-dose of salmon another day. The crispy-skin fresh salmon went quite well with a mixed salad, with hot-smoked salmon tossed in for good measure. Go hard or go home!
Crispy skin salmon, salad and hot-smoked salmon
We enjoyed a lovely meal at the Bayside Inn (2 Cecilia Street, St Helens). We’d already started on second course before someone remembered to take photos, so obviously we were impressed. And very hungry! Gavin had yet-more oysters, followed by the local incarnation of surf n turf (or beef n reef, if you prefer). One of the kids ordered pasta with chilli prawns and scallops; thankfully we managed to snap a photograph before the entire meal was completely demolished.
Pasta with seafood: St Helens pub
Who could write a story about fresh seafood without tasting the local fish n chips? We do all this for research, you do know that. Right? We tried the fare from the take-away cafe overlooking the mouth of the Scamander River (south of St Helens). Also delicious! The chef will batter or crumb a selection of fresh fish and everything was prepared promptly to order. We would definitely recommend the Scamander Newsagency and Mouth Cafe, housed in a former service station building. There’s a grassy park adjacent, complete with tables and seating, children’s playground and a skate-ramp all next to a popular surf beach and estuary.
Fresh fish, chips, squid rings: Scamander
And that concludes this tour of fresh seafood from St Helens. There’s no doubt many, many more places we could feature, and perhaps we’ll be given the opportunity to do just that on another occasion. We certainly would not be averse to returning to the north east region of Tasmania. It’s a truly amazing part of the world.
Fishing boat: St Helens Marina
North east Tasmania: St Helens
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Comments relevant to this article are always most welcome, just leave a reply below. But first… please confirm the date of this article. Have you found something current, or is this ancient information? Either way, thanks for your company and come back again soon.
Hi Tania, as an interstate visitor lured here to Tassy by those magnificent fresh plump oysters so often pictured in tourism brochures (including your 29 April 15 article on St Helens and your 15 Jan 14 article on Bruny Is.) I am bitterly disappointed by the reality (dare I say ‘the truth’) behind the endless advertising “puff” touting the size, freshness and flavour of the Pacific and other oysters here in Tasmania. I’ve spent 24 days with the sole purpose of looking for that universally promoted oyster. Mures at Constitution Dock, Get Shucked on Bruny Island, Dunally Fish Market Dunally, Freycinet Marine Farm Coles Bay Road, and literally scores of other fresh oyster outlets, including a Coles Supermarket in Launceston, And guess who comes out on top of the list? Coles trumps them all with a dozen oysters for a mere $14.00. But the oysters were still the same shrivelled up pieces of flesh presented by the big named players.
After ordering a dozen oysters at one of the big players mentioned above, I questioned the sales assistant and asked “Where are the big oysters?” pointing to the oysters pictured in the company’s own advertising brochure. Her reply was “Oh, we export dem”. I responded “Well if you export dem, why you advertise?” The assistant then had the gall to reply “Day not in season”. “So why are these oysters you’re selling me also not in season?” I left the premises when I got the reply “But day taste very good”. Oh please!
Verdict? Well what can one say? It’s so sad. I love Tasmania and may well end up making it my home one day), but when it comes to deceptive and misleading conduct, big business and the tourism industry have a lot to answer for. I’m sure the ACCC will find this article (and the supporting photographs) most interesting.
PS I challenge you to post this article in full. It’s a pity the comments section doesn’t allow uploading images. I’d show you the chalk and cheese difference.
Hi Nicholas, thanks for leaving a comment. Sorry to hear you’ve had such bad luck in your oyster quest. We’ve enjoyed many an oyster from many a supplier without any problems so far. We take our own photos, including the image of the oysters published herewith. It’s just a mobile phone snap, but all the same… taken by us, on the day we ate the really yummy oysters. We wish you all the best with your future gourmet pursuits. Cheers, Tania