Approaching the co-op you are immediately met by the mural of an enormous octopus. As confronting as that is, it provides hope for the seafood held within.
My initial reason for visiting the co-op was to purchase some fresh seafood for dinner that evening. It's always a mystery about the variety, price and quality but if I could snare some nice lobster tails or other shell fish that would be great. My accommodation host also mentioned they did great fish and chips and the view made it worth staying there. So my lunch plans changed from fish and chips at the Apollo Bay Seafood Cafe to the co-op instead.
After wandering inside, I must admit a small bit of disappointment looking at the fresh fish counter. Admittedly it was 2pm so perhaps the best catch of the day had gone. There was surprisingly little local seafood with only flake, flathead, snapper and scallops. There were some queensland prawns (cooked in shell or raw deshelled) and a few cooked lobsters not advertised as local.
I didn't end up buying anything fresh but settled on fish and chips from the local selection. Interestingly the fish of the day was blue grenadier which I believe may be from frozen (and that's a bit disappointing).
The flake was well cooked with mild flavour. The snapper had a more distinctive bite and texture (as usual). The batter was very crisp, seasoned and welcomes some Skipping Girl white vinegar. Chips were adequate but could have been crunchier. I ordered 2 scallops and was given 3 (thanks!) which were heavily battered with good juicy scallops inside.
Next time I'd probably try the Apollo Bay Seafood Cafe as they are meant to have excellent fish and chips. The co-op is still a good option especially with a view and hopefully the local selection will be better earlier in the day.