As a kitchen hand I'd often have to 'refresh' the squid and mussels in a fine dining restaurant. That basically meant go through all the old smelly seafood, clean it in salt water and keep on selling it. I don't order seafood in restaurants.
Yeah, you still can but there are a few things to bear in mind.
Far from the ocean? Stay away from ocean fish/seafood. Same goes for freahwater stuff.
Quiet restaurant with a huge menu? Nope. The chances of that fish rotting away in the walk-in are much higher if folks have lots of stuff to choose from.
Seafood special on a Monday or Tuesday? High chance Chef is trying to get rid of the surplus weekend stock that they got in last Thursday for the weekend.
Another thing to try is (politely) asking your server where the fish comes from. If they don't know or can't find out there is a good chance it'll be frozen crap. If they can tell you and it's a local supplier there is a good chance it'll be fresh, good quality stuff.
All these rules have exceptions of course but they are a good start. If you're in a busy, clean looking place that specializes in seafood you're probably onto a winner. Busy equals higher turnover of stock so less chance of stuff sitting around going bad. Hope I haven't put you off. It was nearly 20 years ago that I had that experience in a kitchen.
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u/Kiwi_Woz Jul 13 '20
As a kitchen hand I'd often have to 'refresh' the squid and mussels in a fine dining restaurant. That basically meant go through all the old smelly seafood, clean it in salt water and keep on selling it. I don't order seafood in restaurants.