Why Seafood is Better When You Source With the Seasons

When you think of seasonal food, you might picture ripe summer fruits or some brightly coloured harvest vegetables. The seasonality of seafood is unlikely to spring to mind for many of us — but the ocean has its own rhythms, even if it has become harder to hear them in an age of always-available ingredients.

Sourcing and serving local, seasonal food means that your kitchen is working with ingredients when they’re at their absolute best. Crucially, storytelling around seasonality is also particularly powerful. Today’s diner is hungry for dishes that feel authentic, providing a tangible connection to place — landscape, season, culture — and 64% now actively choose distinctively local experiences over fine dining or Michelin-starred restaurants. Focusing on what is in season in your location can help you to forge stronger relationships with your guests, creating a meal experience that is specific to that moment, localised and highly memorable.

Bearing this in mind, tapping into the seasonal rhythms of local seafood is a missed opportunity for many kitchens. We spoke to a few of the chefs in our global network to understand what sourcing seafood seasonally looks like for them and how this translates into a stand-out dining experience.

How does seasonality affect sustainability?

Choosing local, seasonal fish and seafood means working in harmony with natural breeding and migratory cycles, reducing the risks of overfishing and of catching juvenile fish who haven’t had a chance to breed yet, and allowing populations to replenish each year. In this way, paying attention to seasonality helps to protect marine ecosystems and reduces environmental impact.

“For me, seasonality matters wherever our food comes from — land or sea, farmed, wild-caught or foraged. We have to work with the conditions that produce that food,” says Anthony Pender, Co-Founder at Faber in London, UK. “With seafood, a big part of that is protecting stocks for future years and future generations. Understanding breeding cycles and respecting spawning closures is part of it, alongside how much we catch and the methods we use. Being in season doesn’t automatically make something sustainable, but it’s an important part of the decision.

“Fish also move. Some travel huge distances, while others move between inshore and deeper waters as conditions change,” he continues. “What’s available to a local fishing boat won’t be the same throughout the year. As a restaurant, we have to respond to that. We can’t expect the sea to provide the same menu every week of the year.”

Following the seasons in this way encourages chefs to work with a wider rotation of local species rather than serving the same few types all year, allowing for greater variety and creativity. Importantly, it also has an impact on quality.

The best the season has to offer

The sustainability of your sourcing choices is important but, for both chefs and diners, flavour, texture and provenance often take precedence in decision-making. “Seasonality is extremely important for seafood, a fact that most people in America forget,” says David Yoshimura, Chef/Owner at Nisei restaurant in San Francisco, USA. “The apex of the season for each seafood signifies the height of its umami and overall quality. This philosophy is something we bring to Nisei from our Japanese heritage, cherishing an ingredient's shun.” In Japanese, shun refers to the specific time of year when a food is at its freshest and most flavourful.

“It’s our duty to serve our guests the best each season has to offer,” David continues. “The quality of seafood is extremely different when one sources during its peak season. A frozen fish will never compare to fresh, live-caught seafood. The texture of in-season seafood is more plump and firm and the smell is refreshing, like the ocean.”

On the other side of the world in New South Wales, Australia, Pipit is a fine dining restaurant on the coastline in Pottsville. The menus here show a particular affinity for local fish and seafood. “Seasonality in seafood reflects temperature, weather and ocean changes as fish breed and migrate past our coastline,” says the restaurant' owner, Yen Trinh. “Living beside the ocean, we are greatly in tune with its nuances, and our supply chains can be greatly impacted by coastal storms.” “Pipit focuses on taste and creativity, first and foremost,” says Chef Ben Devlin. “Buying seasonal, sustainable produce just inherently tastes more delicious.”

“It’s as much about flavour and texture as it is about quality. Oysters are a good example: you notice changes in their condition and flavour through the year,” Anthony observes. “With fish, what they’ve been feeding on and where they are in their breeding cycle can make a difference to their condition. It isn’t as simple as saying everything is better in summer or winter: different species have different rhythms. For us, it’s about recognising when a product is at its best and working with that — but quality and the health of the stock have to sit alongside each other. A beautiful piece of fish still needs to come from a source we’re comfortable with.”

Selling the seasonal story

Sharing this story with guests is a key part of the process, helping them to feel a stronger connection to their meal and emphasising the care your restaurant has taken to select ingredients at the perfect moment. “Guests enjoy coming to a restaurant that changes with the seasons; it shows the chef's prowess and pride in the surrounding area's bounty,” says David. “The Bay Area is renowned for its bounty of produce and seafood. When a guest arrives to Nisei, they enjoy hearing how our chefs utilise these seasonal ingredients in their own way. Recreating something familiar, Japanese and Californian with local produce creates a fun narrative for guests to follow throughout their meal with us.”

“At Faber, we set out to be a sustainable seafood restaurant, and explaining our decisions is an important part of that, Anthony adds. “Wild sea bass is a really clear example. It’s one of our most popular dishes, but when the fishery we buy from closes for the spawning period, it comes off our menu. We don’t switch to farmed or frozen bass just to keep that particular dish available. That gives us something meaningful to talk to guests about: we can explain why a favourite is coming off, when we hope to see it back, and what we’re serving instead. It also gives us a chance to introduce someone to a fish they might never have ordered before. They might come in looking for sea bass and leave having discovered something else they really enjoy. For me, that’s a good part of hospitality — helping people understand and enjoy what’s available.”

Storytelling around seafood, seasonality and provenance is a big part of the guest experience at Pipit, and sourcing is often discussed at the table. “At a minimum, we will mention special ingredients and where they come from, for example where the fish has been caught,” says Yen. “We are not shy in our generosity of information for guests who want to know more. A core front-of-house skill is to ‘read a table’ — some like to know more than others, and service is tailored to that.” At the end of each meal, every Pipit diner receives a map highlighting over 41 local farmers, producers and seafood suppliers from whom diners can purchase directly, like Bay Seafood Market, Australian Bay Lobster Producers and Northern Rivers Seafood. “Fostering those connections is how we hope more people start to care.”

As Yen observes, storytelling in restaurants can go far beyond dish descriptions; Pipit also does this in social media posts on seafood topics and in collaborative events with local marine scientists. Pipit also takes a creative approach by integrating Gyotaku art printing. Using this ancient Japanese method to directly print whole fresh fish, each art print is handmade in Pipit’s kitchen studio using the local seafood that is also cooked on Pipit’s menus. The Gyotaku art and dining experiences spark more curiosity and further engage conversations about fish and seafood.

What does seasonal seafood look like?

Working with seasonal seafood means plenty of variety, with key ingredients shifting depending on location and the time of year. “In the Bay Area, we relish the winter crab season and we're always looking forward to summer anchovies and spot prawns,” says David. “We love to feature our best perennial fish, black cod, whenever we can. Nisei also proudly forages its own seaweed each year during the summer when the tides are low. We use local kombu and nori throughout the menu, but more specifically in a dish dedicated to the seaweed harvest.” 

In the UK, Anthony points to wild sea bass, lobster and native oysters as good examples of seasonal seafood, all of which come on and off the menu at Faber. “With bass, we follow the availability of our wild supply and the fishing restrictions. With lobster, weather, catches and price play a big part. Native oysters are something we look forward to in the cooler months, whereas British-farmed Pacific rock oysters can be available throughout the year. John Dory is another fish we serve, and there’s a connection to the restaurant through its scientific name, Zeus faber. It can be available for much of the year, although we still have to consider where and how it’s caught.”

“There are also decisions about what we don’t serve,” he continues. “We looked at bluefin tuna as it became more available in British waters, but decided not to put it on the menu. Just because a fish is here and can legally be caught doesn’t mean we have to buy it. Seasonality helps guide us, but we still have to look at the wider sourcing picture.”

As Ben explains, Pipit only serves Australian seafood, sourced in south-east Queensland or North Coast New South Wales, guided by the MCS Good Fish Guide. “The key species of fish we work with are mahi mahi, goldband snapper, blue eye cod, Spanish mackerel, blue mackerel, dusky flathead, swordfish, bonito, sardines and sea mullet,” he says. “We also serve oysters, mud crab, spanner crab, pipis (a type of clam) and Bay lobster.”

What’s on the menu?

So, what’s on offer for the guests who come to experience a truly seasonal seafood offering? “One of our most renowned seafood dishes is our homage to San Francisco: the Nisei Cioppino,” says David. “We run this course during the summer, when tomatoes and seafood are at a peak. Throughout the summer, we will rotate seafood to feature whatever fishermen recommend at a particular time. This year, we've enjoyed featuring black cod, spot prawns, and local clams or oysters.”


In the summertime, Nisei highlights local anchovies whenever they can. “This year, we featured them on a bed of shiso, local green beans, nori and a sumiso sauce. The lightly salted, pickled anchovies are complemented by the fresh produce and acidic miso sauce — a nice beginning to a meal at Nisei,” he says. “When winter hits, we love to feature Dungeness crab: the Bay Area's best shellfish, in my opinion. In the past year, we served the crab filled inside an Okinawan doughnut, or andagi. This is topped with a yuzu kosho sauce and celery. The texture is similar to a beignet, with the flavour of a Japanese crab.”

Ben shares some examples from recent menus at Pipit. “Our signature snack is a buckwheat waffle with filled with smoked and whipped cured mullet roe, fingerlime and fresh herbs." On the first course, guests might find yellowfin tuna tartare from the Gold Coast, served with pickled lychee, shiso and dried pipi ponzu, or a crumbed Bay lobster schnitzel supplied by Australian Bay Lobster Producers in Chinderah. “We butterfly the tail, fill it with macadamia and lobster mousse, and crumb with our house sourdough crumb. This is served from the grill with macadamia miso and lobster butter sauce, leafy salad and pickles.” For mains, you might find line-caught Spanish mackerel grilled over charcoal and served with grilled cucumbers, umeboshi and roasted fish bone sauce. The team also uses seafood in creative ways designed to excite diners and help to change views about seafood: think fish fat caramels or fish hams.

Anthony points to lobster and chips as the clearest example of seasonal seafood at Faber. “It’s a simple, classic dish and one of our bestsellers, but we might have it on the menu for around eight months of the year, sometimes less depending on supply,” he says. “Lobster can be caught in British waters throughout the year, but that doesn’t mean availability or price stays the same. As we move into autumn and winter, the weather can limit when smaller boats get out, supply becomes less reliable and the price can rise. Usually around October or November, we reach a point where the dish no longer makes sense at the price we’d need to charge, so it comes off. There’s so much variety in British seafood that we don’t need to keep one dish on the menu all year, even when it sells really well. We can give something else its moment and bring lobster and chips back when the supply and price are right.”

“Another example is our Cornish sardines, which we currently serve butterflied and grilled with coco beans, cavolo nero and anchovy oil,” he continues. “It’s a real heritage dish for us. Cornwall has such a strong fishing tradition, and sardines are part of that. It gives us a chance to serve a fish that’s in season and talk about the people and place behind it. We also think about what goes alongside the fish. We source from Hodmedod’s to bring heritage beans and pulses onto the menu alongside potatoes and pasta. They bring variety, texture and protein to the plate. For us, that thinking needs to run through the whole dish.”

If you’re looking for further inspiration on responsible sourcing, don't miss our 2026-27 global sustainability insights report, "Hospitality Rising: Global Challenges, Local Solutions”. Exploring the latest trends and influences shaping the sector, it’s packed with examples of smart sustainability initiatives from businesses of all shapes and sizes across the world. Download your copy here!     

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Lead image credit: Pipit | Ben Devlin