In the intersts of eating more fish, where do you get yours from? Not sure I trust my fish counter...

[Cyb]

..they look like they don't know what they are doing

But you have to remortgage to buy fish from the local posh fishmonger

Waddya buy?

We have no fishmongers now since the big supermarlets have taken over.
However, I find Morrisons very good. Asda and Tesco fish counters are bad!

This is a real problem. Most supermarket fish counters are rubbish. They don't have a good turnover and so are really smelly with 'old' fish. I don't know why they bother really. Yes, Morrisons are probably the best of the bunch and dare I mention ' Waitrose' if you've cash to spare. These 2 are probably the only ones who have somebody behind the counter who knows what they're doing.

I'm with you Cyb. Our sainsbury's fish counter has a hopeless selection, is smelly as Fifi says and the staff are either half a sleep or shuttling back and forth between the 'butchers' counter.

On the fish fight thread there were several compliments about Morrisons so I'm going to check it out and if they are any good buy a load of fish and freeze it.

I want to try some of the more sustainable fish so am waiting to see if Morrisons stock it, otherwise...dunno...online ?

WE don't have a fishmonger either, in fact I can't remember the last time I saw a fishmongers anywhere.

Morrisons mostly for us. We have had some online but its a bit pricey.

Admittedly, I find fish so expensive! I found the Waitrose fish counter really good in comparison to the local Sainsbos.

For most of my fish, I can't really fault the canned stuff ... - pilchards on toast - mmm...

Morrisons is good.
Excellent (though pricey) local fishmonger for a treat
When we go to the seaside, the fishmongers near fish quays that sell fish straight off the boat
and yes, tins and frozen (you can get coley and pollack as basics white fish in Sainsburys).
The most important thing (apart from sustainability, obv) is freshness. Our fishmonger has quite a small stock so not much choice at any one time but high turnover and gets different things in all the time.
And if it's summer or we're not going straight home with the shopping, we take a cold bag.

My advise would be to eat fish less often, and buy it from your fishmonger, if indeed you trust your fishmonger and know where the fish comes from.

It is very important to buy from sustainable fishing, imho.

Waitrose, I think, is committed to sustainable fishing or am I dreaming? (plus, I don't live in the uk anymore , so what do I know?)

Frozen is a v good buy usually. I have more confidence in the freshness.

But when feeling flush, you can't beat waitrose. The flavour is superb so I save it for very simple recipes (ie not fish pie!)

If you are nr London and wake up early you could head down to Billingsgate fish market and buy a load of fish for less than anywhere else, prepare it and stick it in a chest freezer.

I keep meaning to go to Billingsgate one day! We have some good local-ish Halal/Carribean/Oriental fishmongers which sell some really unusual things and are much cheaper than the 'posh' fishmongers.

Cardiff Central Market has an excellent fishmonger. It's been there since the year dot, my grand mother and possibly her mother used to use it.

It's always busy, queuing is the norm and they sell every sort of fish and shell fish you can think of.

Other than that, there is often a fish van at Riverside Farmers Market which is good but pricey.

The usual suspect like Morrisons, Tesco etc also have fish counters.

You do have to be choosy though.

I do sometimes buy frozen when pushed. The problem with that is that you can't always see how much you're buying. I mean really the size of the fillets in the packet.

We buy most of our fish from www.regalfish.co.uk/. Worked out last night that we have done for about 12 years now.
We do freeze it - some comes already frozen - but even with freezing it is lovely and tastes "fresh".
(had Oreo fillets for tea on Sat - absolutely delicious, caught sustainably but from NZ!)

Morrisons fish counter feedback.

Just got back. VERY impressed.

Fishmonger knew where the fish had been caught (without looking), did the filleting, recommended how to cook the different fish giving tip to add some cayenne pepper to my batter, small counter that smelt fresh.

So now I have some sprats, herring and pouting.

As advised after rootling about in the freezer section also found the pollack fillets. £1.92 for 500g so serious bobby bargain.

I'll be going back again.

I am lucky, we live by the sea and have a local fisherman and his wife runs a very small shop. We have squid, dover sole, pollock, mackerel etc on a regular basis knowing that it is line caught and nothing gets chuked bakc in.

you are VERY lucky arentfanny

oh well done on braving Morrisons - did you pick up some pies while you were there?

we got pouting from there and it tasted fine but was mushy - would be interested to know if yours maintains its texture.

arentfanny - that's terrific.

I'm very lucky that we have a few fish markets around here. Prices are kept lowish by the proximity of the competition. I get my fish from them because I can get some more unusual fish and they know how to fillet them properly. Tesco just doesn't compare.

Aaaaaaaargh! Forgot the pies

I'll watch out for pouting mushiness. I was going to try it with this recipe from the fish fight website.

mmmm! (just lit Cobb btw - will pop over to Cobb thread now)

Coo thanks all- no takers on this thread last night but now lots of 'bites'

I've marked my plaice

har

Good to get some 'bites' on here and pleased to hear that some of you found Morrisons good. I'm off there to look for some pouting and anything else that takes my fancy - sustainable ofcourse!!

Cardiff Central Market has an excellent fishmonger second that when I actually get to Cardiff. But items like salmon seem to be farmed and sometimes I like Alaskian.

from www.regalfish.co.uk/ going to have a look at this one too.

I did have a fish lady deliver similar to Ocean but some of the portions were tiny and wonder if I did make a saving.

I loved Jamie's sardines with coucous - this is def one to try.

We're lucky in that we have a local fishmonger who gets her stuff from billingsate daily and is very reasonable. much more so than posher fishmongers and perhaps on par with our sainsburys price wise but seems miles ahead on quality and of course knowledge of the fish and how to cook it. Even at the posh shops though, you can usually get good fish that aren't exorbatent if you get cheapers types (mackeral, gunnard, coley, etc)

My tip for buying fish from the supermarket is to buy the pre-packaged stuff - the sell-by date then gives you a very good idea of how fresh it is. I would not buy anything that did not have 4 days or more still to go (and eat the day you buy).

And always look for the Marine Stewardship Council blue tick symbol.