Glenelg Seafood Festival returns for a weekend-long event

Sea to Shore Glenelg Seafood Festival will return on Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 October as a weekend-long event for the first time - showcasing South Australia’s finest seafood at one of the state’s favourite coastal destinations.

From 11am on both days, the Glenelg foreshore will become a seafood hot spot as Adelaide’s only dedicated seafood festival brings together South Australia’s top chefs and producers in a unique weekend of oyster shucking, prawn peeling, salmon searing, sashimi slicing and much more using fresh, ethically and locally sourced produce.

Festival ambassador, Adelaide restaurateur and MasterChef royalty Laura Sharrad, has curated the event with some of South Australia’s best restaurants, who have been busy perfecting their menus.

“I am extremely excited to be a proud ambassador for Sea to Shore this year. We are empowering people to learn about sustainability, traceability, and lesser-known species of seafood,” Laura said.

“The focus is to make seafood more accessible to all and provide everyone with the confidence to make the most of our local ocean delicacies in their own kitchens."

The expansion of the festival has allowed new restaurants to join the festivities including highly-anticipated Duncan Welgemoed’s Africola, Holdfast Bay local, Oliveti, who will be serving blue swimmer crab rosti with chilli and salmon roe.

Franklin Harbour Oyster Co, South Australia’s oldest oyster farm who have mastered the craft of sustainable oyster farming from their almost entirely land-locked, filtered and nutrient-rich shores, will be providing their high quality oysters from their mobile oyster shucking station.

Chefs Brendan Roach and Vanessa Button, who are all about innovating new and exciting dishes with pipi - a native South Australian shellfish from Goolwa that is a proud part of Indigenous culture, will be popping up with Kuti Shack.

Their menu includes Gazander oysters, Tempura Coorong fish and chips and of course, Goolwa pipis with housemade XO sauce.

Well-known restaurants Comida, The Thai Guy and Fair Seafood have all returned for another year, offering dumplings, sashimi, paella with squid ink and more.

Glenelg local, Threefold Distilling, will be popping up with their barrel aged, harvest and core range of gins and cocktails using their liquor bartender series. A range of wine from Howard Vineyard Wine, and beer from Bowden Brewing will also be on offer, as well as non-alcohoic beverages.

The Glenelg foreshore will be transformed into a beachside oasis, decked out with chairs, tables and lounges, allowing guests to sit back, relax and enjoy the picturesque seaside well into the spring night.

Sea to Shore is more than just a weekend experience of unique eating and drinking with the festival designed as a place to discover each species’ journey from ocean to plate through live cooking demonstrations and producer panels.

This includes demystifying common ideas of seafood production in our state and shifting the perspective to celebrate the hardworking farmers, producers and distributors while rekindling South Australia’s love for the Bay’s unique dining experiences.

City of Holdfast Bay Mayor Amanda Wilson is thrilled about the festival's return and, even more so, its expansion to a weekend event.

“We host some of the best events, and the Glenelg Seafood Festival is just one of them,” Mayor Wilson said.

“Last year, more than 25,000 people flocked to the Bay and I’m looking forward to seeing how many more we can attract with this event now being held across two days.

“The expansion is very exciting and provides an opportunity for more restaurants to get involved and truly transform the Glenelg foreshore into a seafood hub for all to enjoy.

“Why not make a long weekend of it and take that extra time to stay, play and rediscover the Bay,” she concluded.