FROM EAST TO WEST, WE’RE ROCKIN’ LOBSTERS

IT HAS been hailed as the greatest lobster glut in decades as supermarkets have begun offloading the luxury crustaceans for as little as $20 a pop.

However, the hysteria surrounding what has been dubbed an oversupply of both western and eastern rock lobsters – due to Australia’s ongoing trade rift with China – does bring with it some caveats, according to the experts who say buyers need to do their homework.

In particular, regional buyers can expect to pay more for the product due to travel and refrigeration costs, according to Sydney Fish Markets spokesman Alex Stollznow, who notes there is a also vast disparity between prices of lobsters from Australia’s east and west.

“The glut that we are seeing – the species that we see 95 per cent of sold to China – is the small frozen, 300g western rock lobster which has been cooked and is thawed for convenience, and they are the ones retailing for about $20 each,” said Mr Stollznow, adding that the larger ones, which weigh about 450g, cost about $32.

“But the interesting development for the more premium version, which is the live or fresh eastern rock lobsters, which are individually tagged with a serial number, they are now retailing for around $110 per kilo which is around 30 to 40 per cent lower than normal.

“And there are some places where they are retailing even lower at around $90 per kilo … prices which I haven’t seen since the ‘90s.”

Acclaimed French chef Guillaume Brahimi suggests eating fresh eastern rock lobster in its simplest form – barbecued with butter, while thawed western lobster tails are ideal baked in the oven or cooked into a pasta dish.

He said the best lobsters in the world were Sydney’s Pittwater variety.