Ever since Billingsgate closed, I've been looking for a new place to buy quality seafood. T&T is fine, since they have reasonably good turnover, but I have been looking for more sustainable options. I decided to check this place out because one of my favourite farms, Greens Eggs and Ham, sell their fowl products here.
Located in a little strip mall (free parking in front) across from Mayfield Common and Pacesetters Ski Shoppes, Ocean Odyssey is all about wild caught seafood. What I didn't know is that everything is sold frozen - the tiny little shop (you can fit about 8 people in there; any more and there isn't really space to poke around) is filled with deep freezers and stand-up freezers, with a label on the outside as to what you will find when you open it. They have all kinds of fish (lots of salmon!), crustaceans (they had fresh spot prawns that day), and bivalves, though the availability depends on the time of year. Everything is vacuum sealed for freshness and they will immediately reseal something if they find that the bag has been punctured.
With the direct flights from Iceland Air, they now also stock fresh Icelandic fish. When I was there they happened to have some fresh Icelandic red fish - the fish I chose wasn't frozen all the way yet because they'd just gotten it in. I was also able to pick up some sablefish (aka black cod, butterfish) fillets to make Nobu's miso black cod, yum. Prices are high but this is the price of bringing quality seafood to Edmonton, and isn't much more than other places.
Interestingly - they also sell some Ukranian yummies such a perogies (by Luba's Tortes and Ukrainian Homemade Goods). I didn't see the price and picked up a bag of two dozen cheddar ones - turned out they were $17.25 for a small bag - yikes! Will report back on whether it's worth it once I eat them.
Overall, I quite like this shop, and I will probably be back if I'm in the area. read more