Sydney's hatted chefs have been loving local seafood caught by the Buchholz brothers for years and now residents and holidaymakers at South West Rocks can get a taste too.
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The town's newest seafood deli opened late last year at its wholesome location out the front of Luke Buchholz's home in Arakoon, however, the hidden-gem is far from grassroots.
The premium product caught by fishermen brothers Ben and Luke Buchholz is sold to some of Sydney's biggest names, from Neil Perry to Josh Niland, and can be found on the menu of over 100 restaurants Australia-wide.
Now residents and visitors of South West Rocks can get a taste of award-winning seafood every weekend.
"We want to give something back to the local people here," said Mr Buchholz.
"We have some of the best seafood in the world."
The brothers' fishing career began with lobsters eight years ago.
As a result of licensing issues, the pair turned to line fishing and after some time selling to Sydney Fish Market, the brothers launched Nautical Wholesale Seafood to sell their local catch to Sydney's wholesalers directly.
Their sustainable fishing practice is praised in the industry and is what has "put them on the map".
"It's essentially one rod, one hook, one fish", said Mr Buchholz.
With a shared interest in avoiding waste and fishing sustainably for future generations, a relationship between the Buchholz brothers and The Fish Butcher, Josh Niland, blossomed.
Two years ago, highly regarded chef and author of award-winning book The Whole Fish, Josh Niland, reached out to the fishermen duo via social media taking their wholesale business to new heights.
"He picked us up and from there it exploded," Mr Buchholz said.
Mr Niland is well-known in the food industry, especially for his fish butcher practices and teachings.
"He's a guy that's really changing the whole world in a sense of what we do with our fish," said Mr Buchholz.
"The general recovery from a filleted fish is about 49% and he's changed that to about 91%," he said.
"He's teaching people how to process fish in different ways to use all of it."
Mr Niland looks at methods used on pigs, lambs and cows where the butcher uses the majority of the animal and has introduced this to the way he cooks with fish.
His innovations include black pudding made with fish blood and lamingtons using fish scales in place of coconut shavings.
"We'll look back on him when we're older and think he changed the world. There's very few people who have a huge influence on the world as a whole and I think he's one of those guys," said Mr Buchholz.
The brothers, now with an extra set of hands from local fisherman Simon Filipcic, sell anywhere from 20-40kg per week to Mr Niland and have an impressive list of clients from Neil Perry's Margaret in Double Bay to Rays by Jason Saxby.
The local fishermen believe it's how they treat their catch and the freshness of the seafood that makes the Mid North Coast product popular.
"We all start with the same fish, we all start with the same product when it comes out of the water, it's what you do afterwards," said Mr Buchholz.
"We kill our fish as fast as possible, we bleed them, and we get them home as fast as we can."
The business owner says restaurants will have their product in less than 24 hours, and "local venues can get their fish within three hours of getting caught".
"Whatever we do get we look after it as best we can and use as much of it as we can to not waste anything," said Mr Buchholz.
South West Rocks residents Andrew and Di Shilton are regular visitors of the deli.
"An unreal place, knowledgeable, the fish is beautiful and fresh, great location, good prices, what more do you want for a fish shop?", said Mr Shilton.
"It's what South West Rocks needs; people with personality and quality".
Nautical Wholesale Seafood can be bought directly from the deli on the weekends and is found on the menu of the town's newest food truck Riley's currently located at Horseshoe Bay headland.
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