Pier 26 Seafood Cafe, Summer Hill

BBQ chilli octopus with chips and salad $20.50

One Sunday morning we found ourselves at Pier 26. Not Pier 26 Bar, our long-favoured lunch spot in Darling Harbour, but Pier 26 Seafood Cafe, in Summer Hill.

There's no water here, no piers to be seen. It's inner west suburbia and we're in desperate need of brunch.

It's a casual set-up with cane chairs, aquamarine walls and a series of red chiffon banners floating incongruously overhead. There's hardly anyone about--only a few people come in to pick up or order servings of fish and chips.

I have the barbecue chilli octopus, a generous serve of tender cooked octopus on a bed of chips (rapidly going soggy) and a carrot-heavy salad. It's not particularly glamorous in presentation, but it's tasty and delicious.


Smoked chicken salad with baby rocket, dried fig and apricot $15.50

The smoked chicken salad is more disappointing with the slices of chicken a little too compressed for our liking. The figs are tasty though and the apricots add mouthfuls of sweetness.


Barramundi steamed in banana leaf with
fresh mango, chilli, lime and coconut $25.50

The steamed barramundi takes 20 minutes (pre-warned on the menu) but it is definitely worth the wait.



Chunks of fresh mango add freshness to the thick slab of sweet Barramundi. Lime gives it zing, the chilli adds just enough heat and a nuance of coconut tempers the flavours.

Takeaway fish and chips (a dying tradition we've noticed, with the infiltration of American franchises) start from $6.50. We're definitely filing that one away for future reference.

Pier 26 Seafood Cafe
26 Lackey Street, Summer Hill, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9798 8886

Mon – Thu 4pm-10pm
Fri – Sun 12noon-10pm