News Catch of the day at Sodafish

Seafood is an omnipresent piece of any visit to the Gippsland Lakes, where Australia’s largest inland lakes system meets an uninterrupted stretch of sand 90 miles long at Lakes Entrance.

The best of Lakes Entrance’s daily catch can be found at Sodafish. The fine dining restaurant gets bragging rights for the hyperreal waterfront views of moored fishing boats. In fact, the restaurant is a boat. The former Raymond Island ferry houses the dining room, gently bobbing in the very waters from which your meal was plucked.

Sodafish is the brainchild of Nick Mahlook, former executive chef of the highly acclaimed restaurant, The Atlantic at Crown in Melbourne. But Nick felt the call to return to his childhood stomping ground at the lakes.

He launched Sodafish in late 2020, bringing with him an unparalleled flair for executing exquisite seafood dishes.

Head chef Luke Mcmenamay-Collins shifts the menu with what’s biting, some favourites include a lightly grilled King George whiting with smoked sweetcorn, barbeque gummy shark with burnt butter and a succulent octopus ragu risotto with chilli confit.

If you don’t know where to start, go for the Taste of Sodafish. This four-course menu shows off the best of whatever is in season, paired with wines. The menu changes regularly, taking you on a journey that may encompass Sydney rock oysters, scallops and woodfired octopus before coming to rest with a decadent dessert and a sip of Pedro Ximenez overlooking the fishing fleet.

Beyond seafood, the produce remains proudly local with Gippsland grass fed beef, and sides of fresh Lindenow greens coupled with delicate goat’s curd and almonds.

Of course, the drinks list doesn’t need to cast a wide net (pun intended) owing to East Gippsland’s repository of A-list beer and wine producers. There’s icy cold beer from Sailors Grave, proudly sitting alongside local wineries Lightfoot Wines, Tambo Wines and Wyanga Park.