Claypots Evening Star, South Melbourne

Claypots Evening Star
Stall 111 (Corner of) South Melbourne Market
Cecil Street, South Melbourne
Google map

I am so tempted to trawl through my gazillion photos but just too much effort when I was writing this. Mister and I are long time fans of Seafood Claypot in St. Kilda. We even celebrated one of our anniversary at Claypots many moons ago when we were still poor uni students. It required loads of instant noodle to save up for that meal. At that time, it was a big deal for us!

Claypots evening star

I was recently invited to a progressive dinner at the South Melbourne market. For those that aren’t aware, there are restaurants along Cecil Street side of South Melbourne market that opens in the evening on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. And the new player that I have been waiting patiently for to open is the Claypots Evening Star that is owned by Renan Goskin. He is the same owner of Claypots in St. Kilda and Getrude Street. The doors are finally opened after. The counter bar top areas surround the kitchen gallery. I love this concept. It is so open. You pick your seafood and you can see how it is cooked if you sat along the bar. And on the other side showcases the fresh seafood. There is outdoor area and also on certain nights, there will be live music.

Seafood at Claypots

Both Mister and I sat by the bar facing the fresh seafood. For seafood lover, this can be quite a dangerous place to sit. All the seafood looked so awesome! It was quite difficult to restraint my eagerness to order everything so I left it to Mister. We started with pinchos ($3 each). He ordered 2 serves of sesame tuna, chopped yabbie and crab pincho. I love the little bursts of fish roe, the crab and yabbie meats were sea-sweet. The seasoning was subtle which works for me.

bouillabaisse

It is followed by the smoked rainbow trout and slices of tender grilled octopus. This is the favourite of the lot of pinchos. The delicate smokiness of the oily trout is just beautiful. The octopus was perfect and not chewy at all. The only issue that I had with all the pinchos was the bread. It was slightly soggy for my liking. The ingredients would have been sitting on it for a while and if the turnover is not quick enough, the bread tend to soak up the liquid and turn soggy.

Smoked rainbow trout and octopus

The last serving of pincho is white anchovy. It is generously seasoned with tapenade and more salty capers. The dish was quite salty but not offense. I reckon a nice cold beer with compliment it very well.

White Anchovy

The calamari was served in a mini grill pan. It was just adorable and the aromatic charred smell of the calamari was enough to make me salivate. I thought it lacked a little seasoning. Just a touch of salt and it would have been perfect for me.

Pan grilled calamari

We only ordered one serve of sea urchin ($10 each). It was big portioned enough to be shared. The sea urchin was really fatty and creamy. The chilli bits are redundant. Sea urchin should be served and enjoyed as it is.

Sea urchin

The grilled sardines was one of my favourite. I love sardines in general. Almost the whole fish can be eaten. I love the light black cherry tomato salad and dressing. It has a nice acidity that worked well with the oily and charred grilled sardine.

Grilled sardine

I was really excited when I saw the sign – Sambal stingray. What I love about stingray is it’s nice kick of sambal and the aromatic of the grilled fish with the slightly burnt but crispy fish skin. This version has been Aussiefied. It was not spicy enough and the fish was overcooked and ended up too dry. I also thought it was over salted but Mister thought otherwise. For $7, this is quite a bargain.

sambal stingray

The next dish was a roasted Kingfish head with sesame. This was perfect. I ate everything including the eyes of course. It was perfectly roasted. The firm flesh was moist and flavoured with a touch of salt, chilli seasoning and sesame. I love the salted and aromatic bits around the eyes and bones. Those that love devouring fish head will understand what I mean. So YUM!

roasted Kingfish head with sesame

For 2 people, we did order a fair bit and was actually given a plate of lovely side of silverbeets. They were well seasoned and cooked simply. There is no menu so I’m not sure what other vegetable sides are available. But I am sure it is what the market has to offer and hopefully, in season.

Silverbeet

Like I said it was dangerous sitting in front of the seafood. Mister made a last order of black scampi. It was simply grilled. Very pretty plate but not my favourite of the night. They aren’t as meaty and not as sweet as I thought it would be. Is that how scampi tastes like? And a dressing will be nice to finish it off? What do you think?

Black scampi

It may seem that we have ordered quite a lot of seafood but if you notice, there was no carbohydrates? I was still feeling a little peckish after. They might have forms of carbohydrates but I did not ask. We shall be back again to try the bouillabaisse and more seafood feasting. I can see this place as a regular hangout on Friday nights with colleagues or friends working in the South Melbourne area. And maybe, just maybe, Claypot Evening Star may bring traffic into this area in the evening.