Please God, Not the Cod

I am a devout lover of seafood, from every river and ocean. I've been trying to eat a lot more fish lately as I know how much better my body feels when it's a staple of my diet.

Travelling as much as I do, I have noticed more and more prevalence of red meat on menus. I enjoy meat on occasion, but I know that my health would decline if it was my primary source of protein on a daily basis. Europe has always been a meat heavy continent, Asia increasingly so. Even in Japan, where I regularly seek out and enjoy an infinite variety of incredible seafood, portioned appropriately, balanced and nutritious.

This is a story about a fish. I may lose a lot of you at this point. You may wonder why I'm writing this. Have I run out of ideas? Nope. I am compelled to write this as this particular finned creature has been causing me angst for some time.

I have been frustrated these past many years, as I have had to forgo my craving for fish, as on restaurant menus, particularly in Australia, there is one specimen that appears on almost all of them.

Its Murray Cod. Back in around 2019 it suddenly appeared in restaurants right across the country. Over the ensuing years I would ask “what is today's catch of the day". And the inevitable answer came. Murray Cod, a native freshwater fish, from the Murray-Darling Basin in South Australia.

It's quite a behemoth. A big fella that can grow to over one metre long. It can feed a multitude of mouths. That’s one reason for its popularity with restauranteurs, no doubt. It's a highly sustainable choice as well. An admirable hook.

To my dismay, I just don't enjoy eating Murray Cod. During its current period of peak popularity, I have eaten it on several occasions, hoping that the experience I've gambled on yet again will be the one that changes my mind. But no. Each and every time, I have not enjoyed consuming Mr. Murray Cod at all.

As to why, it's all the things when it comes to fish consumption. Taste, Texture and Flavour. To describe it, I find it has a density that I don't enjoy. I prefer white fleshed fish, of which Murray is one, but the softness and flakiness is absent with him (sorry, I feel like I must make the creature male...must be the name)

It also isn't juicy. I find it bland. Even smothered in sauces, this fish could be anything. What I just don't understand is why it’s so many restaurants fish of choice. The only other ultra common one is salmon. Where is my beloved snapper, whiting, John Dory? All the other, more flavourful white-fleshed members of the waterways. Is cost a factor of why restaurants always pick Murray? Probably.

There is a pattern here for sure. Going back several years, it was all Kingfish. Everywhere. On every menu. Mostly ceviche'd. Delicious upon early discovery, then incredibly boring as you could bang up bet on the fact that it would be on the menu. Why is seafood the cookie-cutter restaurant item?

Now, as you can see, Murray is an ugly beast. Imagine a whole one of these slapped onto your table. I'm not sure I've ever seen a whole one on a menu, but they do exist.

It is terrible to receive a tasteless fish. Murray has always been that for me. As it appears on so many menus, I used to believe that it was considered an economical fish that has become flavour of the month (or year(s), as it turned out). Upon some research it seems that Murray is regarded as a high-end, even luxury seafood!

I just don't get this. Aren’t the juiciest, most delicious, full-flavoured and textured varieties considered the best? It appears not. I can also point to Abalone, another seafood that I am consistently underwhelmed by. What has happened to variety? Restauranteurs are not doing seafood any favours by just favouring the one fish species.

Overfishing is now a worldwide problem, so the sustainable varieties make sense. However, even Murray is now overfished. Perhaps the restaurants should have mixed it up a bit!

My worst time eating Murray should have proved me wrong and been the best. It was when I chose him on a Cantonese menu in Hong Kong. It all sounded so good on paper, all the great flavours I love that I felt surely would finally elevate Murray to the stardom he seemed to have reached. The dish in question had the classic combo of ginger, spring onion, soy sauce, Shaoxing wine and chili oil. All that flavour! How could I go wrong? Unfortunately, yet another disappointment. The only flavours were the spices. The fish… just a tasteless base.

Murray Cod, Broccoli, Celeriac, Blue Swimmer Crab at Franca, Potts Point (c 2019)

I vividly remember my disappointment when I first ate Murray. Sounding so delicious on the menu, what transpired was not. It looks so good in the pic above, right? You would think this lovely dish would be a flavour sensation. Sadly, it was not. The broth was pleasant, the fish unpleasant. The skin of the fish, not crisped up at all, was a nasty texture on the palate.

I remember the most wonderful seafood restaurant in Sydney, on the waterfront at Barangaroo. Cirrus, which was that rare thing, a very well considered menu consisting of many of the ocean’s wonders. Part of the prestigious Bentley group, Cirrus closed recently and I shall always miss it.

My last couple of visits there revealed that a steak option and some other meats had crept their way onto the menu. I saw several diners ordering the steak, in a restaurant where the DNA was seafood. Perhaps a sign that less people are ordering fish in restaurants, or eating it altogether.

Murray may be going through the end of his overlong popularity phase right now. I truly hope so. But Kingfish took a long time to disappear. At least a full decade. I am just asking for some imagination on menus so we seafood lovers can indulge our satisfaction.

One fish = boring. When it lacks taste, there really is no excuse. I hope by the time this article appears that the tide is turning and Murray swims off and has less spawn. He’s had his moment in the sun. Just not mine. There must be a more flavourful delight ready to take the spotlight. I am certainly ready for that.

I have given up on Murray. I'm begging the restaurants of the world to find a new, juicier, fleshier, tastier and more sustainable option. And not universally stay with it for years and years.

Murray can swim off into the sunset.