
Open 7 days a week, supporting local fishermen - Image: Mooloolaba Fish Market FB
As a family, we have recently discovered
The Deck on Parkyn in Mooloolaba. An offshoot of the
Mooloolah River Fisheries,
The Deck on Parkyn is Mooloolaba Fish Market's very own fully licensed cafe/restaurant, offering visitors a fabulous seafood experience, whilst overlooking the Mooloolah River and seafood industry at work.
What I particularly love about
The Deck on Parkyn is the laid-back casual ambience - no need to dress up - '
come as you are' is perfectly fitting. This enormously popular seafood eatery offers a simple but classic seafood menu, catering to all seafood lovers' tastes - a true ocean to plate experience.

The Deck on Parkyn overlooks the Mooloolah River and seafood industry at work
A bit of background on Mooloolaba Fish Market
The Mooloolaba Fish Market first opened its doors to the public in 2002, with the intention of becoming the retailer of the finest quality and freshest seafood product on the Sunshine Coast.
Sunshine Coast locals can definitely vouch that this achievement has been attained with distinction. Whether you're a lover of prawns, crabs, lobsters, oysters or prefer snapper, parrot, mahi mahi, barramundi or Spanish mackerel, the Mooloolaba Fish Market ensures that seafood lovers will always have a constant variety of fresh fish.

For the freshest fish on the Sunshine Coast, Mooloolaba Fish Market
Make sure you get in early with your orders for special dates like Christmas, Easter and Australia Day!
The
Mooloolaba Fish Market does not deal in imported seafood, preferring to rely on local fishermen, who are intent on providing the fish market with the highest quality seafood. When we buy fish from the Mooloolaba Fish Market, we absolutely know that we are supporting local.

Welcome to The Deck
The next step for the Mooloolaba Fish Market was to open their
'Cooked Seafood Facility', providing a very extensive range of cooked seafood directly to the public. The '
Cooked Seafood Facility' is open seven days a week and provides a range of 'Kids Meals', 'Family Packs' (great for weekends) and individual orders, with a choice of battered and/or crumbed fish fillets. Just to get the taste buds going - calamari is one of the house's specialities, with the prawn cutlets running a close second.

Arrive early for a weekday lunch and you may have The Deck to yourself ... no guarantees though
Seafood lovers can order grilled fish, prawn rolls, sushi, salads, lobster and bug packs as well as platters of cooked or fresh seafood - perfect for at-home entertaining or a picnic in the park. By the way, there's a fabulous undercover picnic and children's play area just across the road from
The Deck on Parkyn, so ordering Friday night's fish and chips and nipping over the road to a ready-made picnic spot, is a great alternative to catching the sunset from
The Deck on Parkyn.

Extensive menu including steak for non-seafood lovers
Our meals on the day we visited ranged between -
Crispy Skin Tasmanian Atlantic Salmon, served with a fresh garden salad and chips ($21.90);
Salt and Pepper Calamari, served with lemon wedges, beer-battered chips (just the right portion size) and a garden salad ($21.90);
Tempura Mooloolaba King Prawns, served with beer battered chips and a garden salad ($27.90); and
Coconut Mooloolaba King Prawns, coconut encrusted King Prawns, served with chips and a garden salad ($32.90)

Our lunch is served!
Verdict: Our perfectly cooked seafood was melt-in-the-mouth tasty and so fresh we could still taste the ocean. Bonus (for me anyway) is that portion sizes were just 'right'!
Take a tip from one who knows:
The Deck on Parkyn is fabulous for a weekday lunch, the earlier the better. We arrived at about 12'ish and virtually had the dining area to ourselves.

Grab your Friday night's dinner and nip over the road to an undercover picnic and children's play area
Looking for an unusual venue to celebrate your next special occasion? Call
The Deck on Parkyn at the Mooloolaba Fish Market to discuss your requirements.
The Mooloolaba Fish Market is open seven days a week from 8.00am to 7.30pm and is closed on Christmas Day. Hook a line for a visit to
The Deck on Parkyn at Mooloolaba Fish Market - the catch of the day is waiting for you!
All images courtesy of the author unless otherwise indicated