Portside arrives in time for Christmas, and the chefs behind hatted Omnia and Yugen have something special.
Dine at any of LK Hospitality Group’s venues – including hatted South Yarra restaurants Omnia and Yugen Omakase – and you’re likely to feast on some of Australia’s highest quality seafood. Perhaps a whole flounder bathed in beurre noisette, or a delicately torched scampi nigiri.
Now, you can get this same calibre of fresh fine dining at home thanks to Portside, Prahran Market’s shiny new fishmonger and produce store led by LK culinary director Stephen Nairn.
What is Portside?
In the heart of the market, the new fish shop gleams opposite premium butcher G.McBean (see below), and you’ll find cut, dressed and prepared seafood sourced from around the country – from Gippsland to Mallacoota, South Australia’s Port Lincoln and Busselton in WA.
The handling of top quality seafood is paramount at Portside. Yes, you can buy freshly caught tendrils of calamari straight from the marine of Corner Inlet. You can take home half southern rock lobsters, or an entire Queensland coral trout. But there are plenty of quality fishmongers in Melbourne.
The sticking point here is to take you beyond the raw product and guide you on specific culinary techniques and how certain cuts are best served. Even better, your fish will be prepared as it would before service in a restaurant.
That Corner Inlet calamari? Scored to help tenderise the meat. Rock lobster? Stuffed with garlic miso and wrapped in kelp. House-made vadouvan butter is jarred for serving alongside coral trout, while Hervey Bay scallops are topped with yuzu butter, ready to be thrown in the oven.
“In restaurants, there’s a lot of technique that happens to fish before it hits your plate, whether it’s salted, cured or hung,” Nairn says. “It’s almost always treated in some capacity before it becomes a restaurant portion. That’s something you don’t often see in the retail space.”
Fridges are stocked with everything from tartare and bouillabaisse sauces to brown butter with capers, fish stock, lobster bisque, mignonette dressing, caviar and more.
‘We’re trying to make [cooking with seafood] a little bit more fun and accessible.’
Stephen Nairn
There’s also ready-made meals such as cooked octopus glazed with Japanese-style den miso, plus an entire fridge of “fish-friendly wines” – Nairn recommends a riesling, or a chablis to pair with clams or lobster.
In the future, a small fryer out the back will allow staff to prepare fried fish ready for picnics at a moment’s notice.
“We’re trying to make [cooking with seafood] a little bit more fun and accessible,” Nairn says.
Who’s behind it?
Born in Glasgow, Nairn has worked across restaurants like New York’s Eleven Madison Park and local fine diners Vue de Monde and Estelle. He now leads the teams at Yugen, Omnia, YTB and Yugen Omakase as the group’s culinary director, alongside executive chef Luke Headon, whose resume spans several UK Michelin-starred restaurants and Melbourne’s hatted Society and Lillian Brasserie.
Taking the skills and techniques Nairn and Headon developed at some of the world’s best venues and applying it to a retail setting is the core premise of Portside, where you can expect the same front-of-house service you’d find at one of their restaurants.
Best Christmas buys
Hosting Christmas lunch just became much easier. Nairn’s pick for the day is oysters, and there’s plenty of them – you might find Sydney rock oysters from across Clyde River, Port Stephens, Merimbula and Wheelers, or Pacific breeds from Bruny Island in Tasmania.
As for prawns, choose from juicy king or tiger varieties from Mooloolaba, already butterflied for grilling. Pre-ordering online before midnight on Friday is the way to go to pick up your goods in time. Ready-made Christmas bundles include lobster, prawns and oysters of your choice, or buy sides like scallops, cocktail sauce and tinned caviar. You can even arrange to pick up from YTB to skip the market queues.
Nairn is also a fan of a whole baked fish as “something special to share around the table”. We’re eyeing off the Queensland alpine trout prepared with curry leaves, or the pre-portioned pepper-crusted tuna steaks.
Open Tue and Thu-Sun
Stall 512 Prahran Market, 163 Commercial Road, South Yarra, portsidemarket.com.au
Three other stalls to shop at Prahran Market
G.McBean Family Butcher
Formerly known as Gary’s Meats, this first-rate destination for all things meat has been serving Prahran Market customers for over 40 years. It’s run by Gary McBean and his family and stocks everything from dry-aged steaks to Berkshire Christmas hams, and house-made cured meats like sausages, wagyu pastrami and bresaola. Ready-made meals might include Gary’s famous lamb pie, or a hulking porchetta sanger to go.
501/163 Commercial Road, South Yarra, gmcbean.com.au
Naheda’s Choice
No trip to the market is complete without a stop at Naheda’s – even just to try one of more than 100 dips (samples are free!). Open for more than 10 years, the Middle Eastern dip shop is perhaps best known for “the bomb”, a container packed with a combination dip of your choosing. The triple threat olive dip mixed with spicy red pesto and garlic is a bestseller, or create your own – we love the chilli garlic and Italian black truffle options.
112/163 Commercial Road, Prahran, nahedaschoice.com.au
Anatolia Gozleme Kitchen
Dough is stretched before your eyes at this Turkish kitchen, known for its fresh bread warm from the oven, spinach and cheese gozleme, and lamb borek. But there’s also a selection of stews, rice, salads and stuffed cabbage rolls, plus Turkish tea and sweets. We recommend loading up on dips from Naheda’s and grabbing a borek or gozleme from Anatolia for dipping. The perfect market picnic lunch.
163 Commercial Road, South Yarra, instagram.com/anatoliagozlemekitchen
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Emily Holgate – Emily is the Assistant Producer for the Good Food App at The Age. She previously wrote for the likes of Broadsheet and Urban List.Connect via email.
