This one comes up on a daily basis, and the answer is slightly more complicated than it might seem on face value.
At Richmond Oysters we fillet all of our own fish on premises, purchasing whole stock direct from wholesale suppliers including the Melbourne Seafood Centre as well as maintaing direct relationships with farms in Tasmania and other areas across the country.
As such, the time can vary considerably between the fish being caught, taken to market, sold at market, delivered to us, stored by us, filleted by us, sold by us and taken home by you. It is highly unlikely you’ll often buy fish that was caught that day! Furthermore, if the fish is handled properly from the moment it is caught it can be in a much better state nearly a week later than one that is improperly handled but caught yesterday.
We recommend you look for tell-tale signs in the window on the day: check the eyes of the whole fish and avoid cloudiness, look for vibrancy in the hue/colour of the flesh of the fillets and avoid soggy looking textures.
Once you take it home, we don’t recommend that you keep fish for more than 24-36hrs in your fridge. This is because the typical household fridge is opened constantly throughout the day, allowing temperature variations up into the double digits which don’t effectively combat bacterial growth. Remember, we are open 7 days a week from 7am, so you’re better off leaving produce in our temperature controlled cool rooms.
Alternatively, you can always freeze down the fresh stock you purchase of us as required.