Australian seafood by the riverside - Fremantle Seafood Market (Clarke Quay)

On a sweltering late Saturday afternoon while looking for something light to eat i.e. no meaty or heavily-spiced stuff, I chanced upon Fremantle Seafood Market which is located next to the bungee facility at Clarke Quay. My impression of Australian seafood was formed largely based on various travelogues and food programs I've watched i.e. fresh, big, fleshy and juicy seafood. As such, that was what I thought I would get at Fremantle.

First up was the main course i.e. scallops and prawns linguine in white wine saffron garlic butter. The first impression was why the chef did not bother to wipe out the stray stains left by the sauce at the side of the plate. Second thing I noticed was how bright yellow the linguine had turned out. Actually, among the four sauces to choose from, I thought this was the lightest compared to squid ink, mushroom cream and spinach pesto but sad to say, I was wrong. The buttery taste and smell was pretty overwhelming to the extent that the zucchini and linguine was totally soaked in the sauce and I could taste nothing but the butter sauce. As for the seafood, it was rather disappointing to see prawns of such a small size and not being able to taste the freshness of the ocean from these prawns was pretty unacceptable especially considering that this plate cost me $24. The only saving grace was the scallop which was pan-fried to a nice golden brown on the surface but it would have been better to be able to taste its original freshness rather than have its flavour altered artificially by the overpowering sauce. Perhaps another sauce would have helped in letting me enjoy this dish a bit more? If they decide to do something like aglio olio-style, I think it would be the best test of the chef's skills in delivering the freshness of the seafood from the ocean to the table.

The mussels in spicy white wine broth were also rather disappointing. Not only they were not as big and juicy as I thought, the mussels seemed to be cooked unevenly with some having the taste of the broth while some obviously didn't absorb it. As such, the inconsistency in taste made it difficult for me to like this dish. Surprisingly, the garlic bread was very flavourful and tasted great when dipped into the broth. I would have wanted more pieces of this to go with the broth, two was simply not enough. Unfortunately, to have the supporting cast turn out to be better than the lead star in the dish is really not a nice thing to happen and I would have expected a seafood place to do better in terms of the quality and taste of its main selling point.

In conclusion, I am not writing off Fremantle entirely yet since I saw some other items of interest in its menu which I may return for a try in the near future. However, if the next visit continues to disappoint rather than impress, I might as well go elsewhere for more reasonably-priced seafood dishes. After all, if you can't get your signature item right, it's going to be difficult to justify that price tag and keep customers coming back for more.