Char-grilled southern blue fin tuna. Photo: Courtesy of Prego Restaurant

The Australian Seafood Festival

Australia is famous for kangaroos, koalas and prime beef that needs minimal attention to melt in the mouth. And it is just as famous for its seafood, which is unique for several reasons.

Australia's fishing industry operates in one of the world's cleanest environments. Australia contains one of the most diverse marine faunas in the world because of its geographical isolation from other continents and its wide range of sea habitats that go from tropical to sub-Antarctic waters.

Each year more than 600 species of marine and freshwater seafood are caught and sold for local and overseas consumption. Australia is one of the largest producers of abalones and rock lobsters - and Australian pearls are, incidentally, considered the most valuable in the world.

Fortunately Australia likes to share its treasures and you can sample some of Australia's seafood delicacies as prepared by the Italian master chef Stefano de Geronimo at the Westin Shanghai. The hotel is flying in two or three times a week delightful treats like barramundi, blue fin tuna, red emperor, and Coffin Bay oysters. The Australian Seafood Festival menu will feature, among other sumptuous dishes, nine Coffin Bay oysters on snow balls with a lemon wedge and fresh shallot vinegar - for 250 yuan ($37); southern blue fin tuna and lobster carpaccio with a pink peppercorn lemon oil infusion; pan-fried Barramundi fillet with porcini mushrooms and brandy sauteed root vegetables in a gratined mornay sauce with green asparagus. Especially recommended is the char-grilled southern blue fin tuna (265 yuan).

Prego Restaurant, the Westin Bund Center Shanghai

Add: No 88 Henan Central Road

Seafood Festival Date: 21 June to 20 July

Daily from Nagasaki, Japan

Chef Darrel Pan, the deputy executive Chef on 56 Kobachi, who has been working at the Grand Hyatt Shanghai for the past 13 years, is just back from Nagasaki and is launching his summer seafood menu which will run from today to the end of August.

"The auction for fresh fish in Nagasaki is held daily at the market there at 5 am. So we had to wake at 3 am and drive to the fish market where crowds of buyers were bidding for all the varieties of fish," the Shanghainese chef Pan said describing his experiences at the Nagasaki seafood market.

"If you don't get the fish you want you won't be able to serve it at night and this puts a constant pressure on the chefs and buyers. The process is a lot more complicated than I thought it would be. There is a complex relationship between the fisherman and the middleman, the organizations and the market people as well as the commercial fish distributors."

After the auction, the fish are rushed to airports in Nagasaki and Fukuoka by 10 am and are delivered to the hotels, restaurants and buyers in Shanghai by late afternoon on the same day. On Fridays and Mondays there are direct flights between Nagasaki and Shanghai, so on those days there are usually more people from Shanghai at the auction. The chef's summer seafood specialties include grilled Japanese sea bass with sansho pepper, seared amber jack with green onion-ponzu sauce, grilled scallop and beef roll with shiso leaves, and his recommended dish is grilled sweetfish with pickles and baby leaves (160 yuan). Pan said the sweetfish comes from streams in the mountains and is only available in summer. The firm and exquisite fish meat comes with a bold sea salt seasoning which brings out the savory taste of the fish and its taut texture is unequalled even by sea fish.