Sydney's top Seafood Restaurants

Yoshii For some of the most impressive sushi and sashimi in the southern hemisphere, you'll want to be visiting Riuchi Yoshii's restaurant in the Rocks. The menu changes pretty regularly, depending on the season but signatures like the sea urchin egg cup - silken custard dotted with urchin roe in a little hen's egg - are worth a look in as is the stunning selection of raw fish which, if you go for sushi at lunch time, is only $40. You'll see the ikes of tuna belly when it's in season as well as delicate slivers of raw scallop and whiting. It's a fairly stark space, and very Japanese in execution (read: silent as the grave with half the atmosphere) but they've got a wonderful selection of sake and the food is excellent. Go the whole hog and have the tasting menu to really experience what Yoshii can do. The Rocks

Fish Face Steve Hodges and fish go together like milk and honey. Having worked with all things piscine for about as long as Methuselah, he has a more in-depth knowledge of seafood than just about anyone in town. Oh, and he can cook like buggery. Dishes like the most delicate Bass groper - just set with bright greens or spanner crab with buttery tagliatelle with the finest dice of tomato - are evidence of his prowess. There's sushi too, raw scallops sliced thin as a whisper or if you're very lucky, chu toro - belly of bluefin tuna so white, fatty and sweet that at room temperature it basically melts: it's the jamon iberrico of the sea. He also does fish and chips with fillets of flathead, nubs of chip and their own tripod in which the cone stands. The room's a hot shoebox but if you can score a seat outside you'll be a happy camper. Darlinghurst

Pier Grant King and Greg Doyle run a ship so tight you'd need a crowbar to prise any of it apart - Greg even built the fish tanks in the kitchen himself. Their seafood comes from all around the country, they're meticulous in what they keep and what they throw back and it shows on the plate. A single raviolo of spanner crab, say, or yabbies from Kangaroo island. Or a minestrone of lobster with transparent ribbons of jamon. All this overlooking Rose Bay which means by night you get the sparkling lights from all those high up houses and by day you get the yachts bobbing away, the sails rippling in the wind. The service is Pro with a capital P and though the prices are right up there, it's worth it for the package. Oh, and don't miss Katrina Kanetani's desserts which are almost worth the trip in themselves. Rose Bay

Boathouse on Blackwattle Bay For a peerless Saturday lunch, our clams are on this one. Built above the Sydney rower's club, you'll often see people training (the dragon boat races are the big thing at the moment for Chinese new year - go the rat) with long skinny boats carving up the harbour. Look straight across towards the Sydney Fish Market with flags flicking and flapping in the breeze. The open room is decked with glass on all sides, thick white tablecloths and waitstaff who appear and disappear without a sound, with the likes of fresh shucked oysters (the selection's not so hot at the moment because of the storms ruining all the oyster plots up and down the coast) like mineraly Wallis Lakes, Angassi flats and salty Claire de Lunes. Potato blini (sort of like a little pikelet) come with crème fraiche, wasabi and a glass pot of ocean trout roe on ice with a pearl spoon while a magnificent mud crab is served simply with a fingerbowl and a pair of crab crackers. Glebe

Rockpool It's Rockpool. It's Rockpool (fish) and soon to come just down the road, Rockpool Bar and Grill. Restaurant multiple personality disorder aside, re-branding Rockpool into a seafood restaurant was a great move for Neil Perry. The menus (there's bar snacks as well as a la carte) span simple - sashimi of the day or a fish burger - to a little more complex - squid ink noodles with little pieces of squid and smoked bacon - to the outright luxurious - sterling caviar with ginger jelly. And watch out for truffles when they come into season. The room is a mix of laid back, casual charm with thick white cloth and light airy surrounds. Oh, and order the crab if you're of a mind - it totally rocks with white striations of perfectly delicate meat. Sydney

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