I haven't properly thought about this question until... well, I had to start eating.
What is the national dish of Australia?!
Singapore has a trove of different types of dishes that vie for the number one spot to represent our nation, but it seems like in Australia, the closest thing that many people utter when it comes to this question: Fish & Chips. Nevertheless, this is always up for debate, just like how some people recognize Singapore by their chilli crabs and others, by mee soto. Meat pies and roast lambs are also arguably very Australian. If you've noticed by now, these are very much traces from their British colonial past. Today, Australia (particularly, Melbourne) has a wealth of top-notch restaurants, notably three international cuisines - Vietnamese, Italian and Korean, due to the waves of globalization sweeping across the continent.
My friends who lived in Perth for a few years brought me to Cicerello's at Fremantle, a famous fish & chips restaurant located right next to Fremantle Fishing Boat Harbour. It's a super awesome location to experience dining by the sea. You'd have seagulls flying into your face to fight with your food, jumping around the wooden planks at your feet, and fluttering away in the distance. They are more daring versions of pigeons, but somehow because they are seagulls, they seem less annoying. We even saw an unassuming seagull nipping a strand of pasta straight in front of a customer. Wings are indeed useful at that moment...
Luckily, the service staff team is very used to these pesky animals and clear trays away very efficiently once the customers are done with their food. Cicerello's also has a self-service system, which means whatever you see on the menu are all nett prices. They get very busy during peak hours, so be prepared to wait a while for your orders to be done. We waited for about fifteen minutes, but it felt longer than that because we were starving by then!
Cicerello's has a upper deck/balcony, indoors or alfresco (dining with seagulls) options, availability depending on restaurant. The indoors is most probably open everyday, but the upper deck wasn't made available when we went. Near the entrance, an aquarium stretching a few feet long would enchant anyone, young or old, with a host of many colourful marine animals.
Here's my Traditional fish & chips (AUD14.60)! I had to get used to them calling all types of fries 'chips', but hey, nothing to difficult to get used to. Chips or fries, I love them all. Traditional fish & chips came wrapped in flimsy paper, but the moment it was unwrapped, the aroma of deep-fried fish batter and chips just completely engulfed me. I had to get started immediately! These are fresh premium wild-caught Hoki snaps (I have not heard of this breed before, Wikipedia page here), and it has a super soft and smooth fish fillet texture. I liked how it does not have any of the briney fish taste; it's a crisp and light fragrance. A dash of lemon is a must for me, otherwise it borders on being almost tasteless because they don't add salt at all to the fish. Do you know that the fish component of this dish is actually made of shark meat (rig or flake)? I didn't know either... anyway this set of fish & chips is very filling even though I was very hungry at the beginning, I couldn't finish the chips completely.
It was a very refreshing experience to enjoy a seaside lunch (albeit under glaring sun rays), with the occasional sea breezes too! The scenery of the boats, ferries and yachts is a pretty sight indeed.
I would recommend this as a stopover for your meals. It's a fun experience and the spending per pax would come up to $15/pax or $20/hungry pax.
Never miss a post again!
I share interesting episodes in life revolving around food, lifestyle, travel and inspirational ideas. If you would like to stay in touch, follow me on my Instagram on @spherepiece and Facebook page!