fruits of the sea

It's not often that I get really excited about something. I'm just not that easily excitable or impressionable. 

Last Sunday afternoon, something happened which got me excited and impressed the hell out of me. I discovered fresh seafood in Prague. For those of you lucky enough not to live in a landlocked city (my fellow Aussies living in the east coast of Australia), you may not understand my excitement over such a discovery.
My quest for good quality seafood began even before I moved to Prague. Our two reconnoitring trips to Prague before our big move, uncovered the bare minimum food supplies that would necessitate a relatively pain free transition into everyday Czech life. I needed to ensure I would have access to all the little things that would allow me to cook and eat well and not lead a fat filled life of goulash and knedliky (typical Czech bread/potato dumplings). Finding a good seafood supplier eluded me since then, until now that is.

Blue-Fjord Seafood is located under a warehousey type construction which is the Wine and Food Market in Smichov. You can choose to purchase your seafood and have them there at the market (cooked to order) or choose to take them home raw and do as you wish. Arnaud, the owner is a Frenchmen and in many regards I was quite relieved with this little bit of information. The French are notoriously particular with their produce and I would rather trust the quality of a French fishmonger than say a Czech one. France has a coast, Czech Republic doesn't. Enough said.

From hubby's observations, it would seem that Arnaud may have also been a chef in his previous years. Each order that was whipped up by the resident cook, had to meet his inspection before it was delivered to the waiting customer. Another tick in its already glowing report.

So here are the spoils from our adventure last Sunday. We went for an exploratory look, but came back with a whole host of goodies such a giant Madagascan prawns, escargots, vongole and oysters straight from Bretagne. The total bill could have probably fed an entire family for a week but instead we gobbled it up greedily in one sitting. Good quality food anywhere in the world never comes cheap anyways.

madagascan king prawns - these were around 25cm long!

escargots with herb butter

oysters from bretagne

Seafood from France is delivered every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. From Croatia, Greece and Holland every other day.

A friend of ours nearly had a meltdown in Tesco's the other day looking for fresh raw prawns. Instead, she found rows and rows of frozen cooked prawns. Maybe I'll share this little discovery with her. Maybe.


blue fjord seafood market
strakonická 1, prague, 150 00
tel: +420 604 274 294
www.blue-fjord.com