Seafood lovers are fast becoming a nostalgic lot. For the simple reason that most of us end up picking up frozen seafood these days. It's easy to buy; no need to stroll around in wet, smelly fish markets, haggling with Koli women, and returning home smelling like the fish you just bought. It's cleaned and you get to pick up the cuts you want (so no knifing skills are required). But then you know that there's nothing like fresh seafood, actually. And for that, it's either the market, or the internet. Read on...
Order online
You could bookmark mumbaifish.com. A project by five friends, who have full time jobs in the software industry, mumbaifish went live two years ago, and has a regular clientele of 500 customers, says one of its founders, Ambresh Sagar. What we like most about their operations is that, their set up has no fridge, so all you get is the fresh catch.
Mumbaifish is a great option if you can plan your seafood menu ahead, because you need to place your order a day prior. "The next morning, we pick up the catch for the customer, and deliver it fresh, at no extra cost. Nothing is refrigerated," assures Sagar. Our little test confirmed that.
The minimum order is for one kilogram, and there's no minimum cost requirement. When you place an order online, you can mention exactly how you want your fish — cleaned and cut into fillet, curry slices or whole. In case of any confusion or lack of clarity, you get a call from their call centre to check exactly how you'd want it. Our parcel arrived before noon, packed in two bags. And yes, it was fresh.
Price-wise, they are quite competitive, too. Sagar's family has been in the business and owns a trawler. As a lot of the catch comes from there, they are able to pass on the price benefit to their customers. The rates on their website are updated daily. Some fish may come at a 10 per cent premium, but that's perhaps how much you'd spend travelling to the market.
If the catch is not delivered fresh or not cut as you wanted it, Mumbaifish says they'll take it back, no questions asked.
They only offer what's in season, and stock no frozen seafood. Their stock is subjective to what the trawlers find, just like the good ol' local fish market.
Another website is freshfishindia.com. They offer same day delivery and also offer payment options by debit/credit card online. You could also check bigbasket.com. While they are not exclusively about seafood, they have 21 options in their seafood category, and also offers dry seafood. While all fish is offered cleaned, they don't offer cuts as per customer preference. Chef Raunak Gyani at the Soy Street helped us test this one. Here's what he had to say. "The first time was cumbersome. It took me a while to figure out the options available on the website. Though the site wasn't user friendly, I would recommend ordering online as one can be assured of availability of the products and the quality, since the seafood was well packed and properly sealed." Chef Gyani had ordered for prawns and pomfret twice so far.
Online, you can order for...
Prawns, pomfret, rawas, surmai, mackerel, Bombay duck, grouper, snapper, crab, lobster, clams, mussels, squid, oyster, sea bass, cutla, hilsa, rohu, dara, mandeli, shark, skate, tarli, basa, fish egg, rani macchi, tuna fish, lady fish, boi, and silver fish.
Phone a fis
As we poked our nose around to figure out how to get good fish right at our doorstep, all cleaned and cut, a name that popped up was Pescafresh. They have an elaborate website listing all seafood available, and offer customised cuts, too. To place an order, or inquire about the rates, you need to give them a call. In most cases, they offer same day free delivery too. For a test run, you could also physically pick up seafood sold at various Pescafresh retail outposts across the city, or order over the phone as little as 200 gms. In the business for 10 years, their large scale of operations ensures fresh catch from West Coast (Mumbai), Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Orissa. Our verdict, a call away you have a lot more variety to pick up from.
Fishy bookmarks
1. mumbaifish.com
2. freshfishindia.com
3. bigbasket.com
4. pescafresh.com
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