Patrick
I love seafood. But for some reason, I’ve been buying it frozen from the supermarket… and a lot of that comes imported from Chile (salmon), Ecuador (shrimp) and even China (tilapia).
First of all, it makes no sense buying farmed, imported seafood when the Pacific Coast lies just 2 hours from Cali…. duh! Second, why would you buy frozen when you can eat fresh?
One of the main reasons is convenience. It’s so easy to just buy everything in just one place. That being said, one thing I forgot is that in Cali, almost everything can get delivered to your house saving you the time, parking, and so forth.
Recently, one of my good friends told about me to La Pescaderia Gourmet in barrio Alameda, close to the famous galería Alameda. They do deliveries for $3.000 COP.
While I love deliveries, I also like to see what I buy when I shop for groceries. So the other day while I was in the area I decided to swing by…
And what a pleasant surprise that was. First impression: It doesn’t smell (stink) like fish which is usually a good indicator. It’s spotless clean. And the staff is super attentive, very friendly, patient and helpful.
The store has a great selection of fresh fish from the Pacific. Fish that has literally been delivered the same day or the day before. They get deliveries 3-4 days a week.
They also sell imported salmon, crabmeat and a bunch of imported condiments that I have never seen in any other store in Cali. Like pickled seaweed, rice vinegar, curry pastes, liquid stock, ink, miso, etc.
I bought bagre, mero, corvina, robalo, pargo rojo, rice vinegar and coconut concentrate.
The pargo came whole and me being kind of a dummy (lazy) when it comes to gut-cleaning asked them to kindly prepare it for me which they happily did – they even split the head and told me how to use it for stock… Yummi!
The robalo and corvina are quite expensive, at around $20.000 COP per pound. But if you compare to the supermarket, it’s about the same price as you pay for the frozen fish. At La Pescaderia Gourmet they also have Dorado, Sardines and Sierra which can be had for as little as $5.000 COP per pound making it a very affordable source of protein.
In total, I spent $135.000 COP for about 7.5 pounds of fresh fish straight from the Pacific, 3 bags of coconut concentrate and a bottle of rice vinegar. All in all a super a fair deal in my opinion. The service was outstanding and I will be back – unless I call and order a delivery.
La Pescaderia Gourmet
Carrera 22 # 7A-54, barrio Alameda (click to see on Google Map)
Cali – Colombia
Tel 524-1920
Open every day from 8 AM to 5 PM – except Sundays which is only open until 12.30 PM.
By coincidence, I also saw that they have a shop / restaurant in the new, hip container park in Pance, Puerto 125, which is definitely also worth a visit.
Alternative places to buy great seafood
La Compañia del Mar (also a restaurant)
Avenida 9 # 16-13, barrio Granada
Pescados y Mariscos del Pacifico
Calle 9 # 24-06, barrio Alameda
Do you know of any nearby restaurants that will cook what you buy ? That’s always been my thing when visiting foreign countries I enjoy taking my freshly bought seafood to a restaurant that charges to cook it for me.
Good idea Jerry – I’ve never done this before but I’m sure some of the smaller restaurants will do it for you. I doubt that the bigger more busy locations offer the service, though. If you try it out, please make sure to share your experience with us 🙂
Best, Patrick
Just seeing this. Do you know of anyplace selling Bocachico?