Bottom of the Harbour

This is a nice place for a fast, convenient, inexpensive bite right across from the beach. The salads are prepackaged but look quite tasty.

If you spend the day at Balmoral Beach and want to have something to eat at the conclusion of the day, you’re not left with many options. There arerestaurants near by but having sat all day at the beach full of sand and in wet swimmers you just want to get some take away and sit on a bench or on the beach and eat.
The food is average and not worth the price. It’s not bad by any means it’s just what you would expect from any other fish and chips shop. It’s just a shame they don’t have a competitor that stays open until the sun sets in summer so we could skip the long queuing.

The fish and chips were very tasty. Customer service was great.
There is indoor seating and outdoor sitting. If you take your meal to the beach, you may have a few friends flying above you.
There is an extra charge for sauces… in my option there should not be a charge for tomato sauce because of the quantity chips that are thrown away because there is only so much tartar sauce can do for your chips.
No toilets around the restaurant, but there are public toilets near by.
Overall, really great place to have a meal… there mission statement is great! I hope they are keeping true to it!

We ordered the grilled barramundi from NT with chips and salad plus prawn cutlets and calamari. The fish was cooked excellently the salad was lettuce and more lettuce with not much else. The prawns and calamari were in a very light batter also cooked excellently.

Seems to get worse each summer. Special menu offered delicious calamari and baby octopus skewers. The calamari was tougher than MMA master and the baby octopus was cremated.
I don’t usually write bad comments for anyone but the small details matter in food. The local parking is expensive and you don’t want to go home feeling hungry.
Staff offered compensation. Bag of delicious crunchy chips. But main meal ruined.
Recommend staying with something they can’t ruin. Fish, chips and ginger beer.

So I must preface this 3 star rating as Bottom of the Harbour has recently gone through reno and possibly new ownership. While the aesthetics look quite nice, its the lack of attention to detail that really get me. Why did the best fish and chips shop feel the need to expand their menu to include everything just like any restaurant? A fish and chips shops serving up breakie rolls, burgers etc, just seems wrong to me. Its says, «we don’t really believe in our core business of what we do». I strongly feel if you do something, do it well, not just a bunch of mediocre food. What’s that saying… less is more.
Bottom of the Harbour is now offering a range of everything from burgers to fish and chips, more outdoor and indoor seating (which is nice) but the menu is blocked by large boat oars as is the little blurb about the restaurant history. These beautiful accents could have been placed below, on the front of the register so that the menus are easy to read. Beyond that, I think the chips are more dry and the fish oily and batter too thick now. The portions are definitely smaller. What used to make this place stand out far from the rest was not only was the food excellent, but its in a great location. Now its just another fish and chips shop for me in a beautiful location. I’m sure I will return, but I’m disappointed that its not as good as before.

Trying to get dinner here late on a sunny Saturday afternoon is rather like jumping in the middle of a scrum between the All Blacks and the Wallabies — a lot of big units competing for space in a restricted area!
The fit out here has been refreshed since my last visit, and to be fair the crowd moves along pretty quickly as the three tills take orders at a frantic pace, and the guys in the kitchen cook to order at the same frenetic rate.
The menu is broad, with something for everyone, although the prices are pretty steep — two battered fish & chips, one crumbed & chips, two drinks and some sauce, 42 bucks thanks. Ouch! Still, my battered fish was excellent, almost as good as Kiwi shark and tatey, the crumbed not so much, but still OK and passed muster.
These guys used to be called the best in Sydney, not sure I would visit that accolade on them now, but after a day in the sun at Balmoral, this place is a license to print money — the stream of punters didn’t stop the whole time we were there.
My only regret was I didn’t think to buy a cold beer to wash it down — boo!
Worth a crack.

Ate here a few years ago and wasn’t that impressed by it’s fish and chips but was willing to give it a go again today. We had the battered fish and chips — reasonably priced at $ 11 and the seafood chowder that came with a bread roll for $ 8.40.
The chips weren’t anything special but the fish was lightly battered and delicious. The fish fillet was meaty and tasty and made it worth trying again. The chowder was hot and tasty and remained hot as we walked the length of balmoral beach to find somewhere to sit and enjoy the food!
The freshly squeezed OJ was a nice compliment to the food too.

Stopped in for brunch on a sunny sunday and was very impressed.
A good selection in the menu, it’s always a good sign when you can’t make your mind up because everything sounds so tasty. Even better when it tastes as good as it sounds.
Good, friendly service, nice coffee and it seems very popular. Great location too (although parking is a hassle, but that’s not their fault).
A little pricey for brunch, but I guess that’s down to location.

You could not ask for a better fish shop next to one of my favourite beaches in Sydney. I can go on and on about why I like Balmoral, but I will save that for a post on Balmoral itself.
This place is located just off the explanade, near the south end of the beach. As you approach you will usually see a que longer than you think your hunger pains can tolerate. Do yourself a favour and tough it out. They are extremely efficient and speedy when you consider the crowds that they serve. You will be rewarded with some amazing battered fish that is pefectly crispy and salty. Inside the batter you find a soft and flakey white fish that melts in your mouth with a subtle taste that compliments the batter quite well.
I am not so much a chips man, so I would say order a piece of fish and a seeweed salad for $ 11.10 as opposed to fish and chips for $ 11. Or just go all out and order two pieces of fish ($ 7.10 each).
Other than that, you can get crumbed fish, octopus skewers, a prawn box, or calamari.

I’ve always thought this a rather odd name for a food place. When I think of the bottom of the harbour I think of bodies with concrete slippers, old prams and fish pooh but hey, let’s not go there or I may never eat a prawn again.
Thankfully Bottom of the Harbour serves none of these things and is in fact easily THE best located fish and chip shop in the known World. Well at least the Lower North Shore as it sits right on the Esplanade at Balmoral Beach.
A facelift a few years ago means you don’t have to fend off the pesky seagulls on the beach anymore, as you can dine on the covered outside benches or in the small inside seated area. That is of course if you don’t go at a weekend, particularly if the weather is nice as this place gets hammered!
I waited 45 minutes for fish and chips on New Year’s Days but hey it was well worth it. They have an extensive menu but for expediency I’ll tell you about the classic Battered Fish and Chips. The batter is buttery and crisp. The fish are deliciously, soft and flaky. My only, mild gripe, are the chips. I prefer fat English chips that fall over with the sheer weight of lard contained therein but if you’re sat on Balmoral beach surrounded by young girls in bikinis, it feels ok to have the crisp, solid chips that they serve at Bottom of the Harbour. They feel somehow less fattening.
On this subject, I’d go for Kids Fish and Chips if you have anything other than a gargantuan appetite. Same amount of chips, the fish portion is a little smaller but bonus is that you get Tomato Sauce included. Essential if you have a child who thinks that Tomato Sauce is a Virgin Bloody Mary, as they charged extra for sauces.
Great for breakfast and lunch too. Try the Cherry toast. MMMMMmmmm.

Across the road from Balmoral Beach on the corner of Raglan Street and The Explanade stands the restaurant and take away fish and chip shop Bottom of the Harbour. Straight away I could see they knew their fish — swordfish, gemfish, trout, snapper, prawns, oysters, salmon — they have quite the range.
I took my Dad (an ex-​professional prawn fisherman of 25 years) there one day for lunch and even he was suitably satisfied with their range. He didn’t have the prawns but his partner who use to work with him said they were really good and fresh. Dad was pretty happy with his snapper and the very pleased with the bottle of white they ordered.
The only thing I could fault was the salmon in my salad — it was broken up in to tiny bits and was a little dry. I had a salmon fillet the second time I was there and it was cooked perfectly — melted in my mouth and had a crispy skin that a tasty touch.
The Asian waiter is a delight — funny, friendly and fast (in a beach pace kind of way).

There are two connect businesses here: the fish and chip shop (which I’ve not yet tried, but have heard people rave about) and the bistro (which I did).
I had a simply incredible breakfast: homemade baked beans with bacon, onion and mustard and eggs on toast. Delish. Their eggs benedict looked absolutely huge. It’d be hard to get a bigger, more delicious breakfast before spending time on calm, beautiful Balmoral Beach.
Expect to spend about $ 16 for breakfast and coffee.