Morgans seafood: best fish and chips in Brisbane.. no, Australia.. no, THE WORLD.

garlic & herb barramundi, cuttlefish & calamari

A few months ago, a PR emailed me asking for my opinion on the best fish and chips in the UK. I replied with “Morgans Seafood in Brisbane”. “No, in the UK,” she reiterated. “Oh. Well in that case, nothing.”

Because honestly, after having grown up with Morgans Seafood’s fish and chips, nothing in the world even compares, let alone be “the best” although, “be the least worst” could also be another way of looking at it.

Morgans Seafood is this tiny little (probably multi-million dollar) operation in Redcliffe just north of Brisbane. The “shack” that they operate out of hasn’t changed in over 20 years, nor has the food and not surprisingly, nor have the queues of hungry Brisbanites who cram in every single day to get some of the best fish and chips this world has to offer.

If you look closely, you can spot Panu and my dad eyeing up the food while little ol’ me waited in the queue. The queues are always long but they have efficiency down to an art and the wait for freshly cooked seafood is never more than about 30 minutes at worst.

We’ve been coming to Morgans since I was a wee one and we used to lay out picnic blankets in the park, stuff our faces with fish and chips and climb all over the ancient trees. Things haven’t changed much except the trees are now being ravaged by a newer, scarier generation of tots and well, we’re eating at the tables.

Not that that’s anything to complain about. Morgans provides a number of outdoor tables, all with a view of Scarborough Boat Harbour.

Anyway, the food. I wish Morgans had an online menu I could point you to, because there is such an enormous selection of seafood to choose from and I can’t remember any of it. We usually get barramundi fillets – which you can have grilled, breaded or battered and fried – and my all time favourite, cuttlefish.

grilled barramundi

cuttlefish and calamari

When I was little, I used to think the cuttlefish looked like little hands. Oh wait, I still do!

Anyway, they have a massive selection of different fish, scallops, mussels, oysters, prawns and all the fandangly sides like pineapple fritters, seafood bites and what-not. And of course there are the chips. Fat, fresh chips. YUM.

They also sell salads, drinks and all the condiments, but mum made a huge bucket of salad for us with home grown lettuce from dad’s garden.

People shots!

Lunch was amazing, especially in the glorious Brisbane sunshine. After lunch, we took a drive along the coast and stopped for a walk at Woody Point pier. I mean honestly, London never got blue skies like this. At least not for longer than a four hour window.