Fish Market Catch · Slipper Lobster
Balmain Bug
Photo: Refracted Moments / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0
A Balmain bug and Queensland's near-identical Moreton Bay bug are genuinely different species of slipper lobster — Sydney's version is named for the harbourside suburb where trawlers once landed them as cheap bycatch.
A flattened, broad-bodied crustacean related to the rock lobster, Balmain bugs are split, grilled or pan-fried in butter and garlic, and sold whole at Sydney Fish Market stalls to eat by hand. The sweet, delicate tail meat is the prize, picked straight from the shell.
Why it's made this way: The name comes from the inner-harbour suburb of Balmain, once a trawling hub, where this slipper lobster was landed as bycatch of prawn and fish trawling before it became a market favourite in its own right.
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