Prawns from Vea...avoid!!

There are 9 replies in this Thread which has previously been viewed 2,233 times. The latest Post () was by UK Man.

1st Official Post

    While in Vea yesterday taking advantage of the 50% off credit card nonsense (what the heck is that all about?) I bought a 250gr bag of frozen prawns from Chile which cost 250 pesos.

    Once defrosted the 250gr turned out to contain 125gr of water and the prawns had the taste and texture of wet cardboard.

    Thank God I didn't pay full price for them.

    • Official Post

    Mainly ice, I expect. Did you take them back?

    I went to Carrefour - a slightly less insufferable experience than Coto, but not by much - yesterday, and although I was paying with a Banco Cuidad card, the machine kept insisting that it was a Banco Provincia card, so I got the 50% discount, even though I didn't deserve it.

    Ugh. On top of the water weight cheating, the tasteless, styrofoam prawns would have infuriated me.


    Friends of ours have had good luck with Argentina flash-frozen prawns at the big store in Chinatown, but we have never had any that were at all tasty, there or really anywhere in the city.

    To be honest I knew it was going to be a gamble and wouldn't have bought them without the 50% discount. The same brand name used to sell smoked salmon which was very good then all of a sudden started to decline.

    My own fault so will go back to using the fishmonger. They only do frozen too but at least the quality is better.

    UK Man, what is the brand name of the smoked salmon? Ostramar has good fresh fish but vacuum packed smoked salmon, with varying quality. And we love the fresh salmon from our guy at the itinerant market, but his smoked salmon has definitely declined in quality. I want to know brand names to avoid.

    Quote from Rice

    UK Man, what is the brand name of the smoked salmon? Ostramar has good fresh fish but vacuum packed smoked salmon, with varying quality. And we love the fresh salmon from our guy at the itinerant market, but his smoked salmon has definitely declined in quality. I want to know brand names to avoid.

    The smoked salmon was the Superbe brand. It used to be good enough for me but then declined appreciably in quality so I stopped buying it.

    'Fresh' salmon from my fishmonger also used to be good a few years ago then also declined in quality. As it doesn't come cheap I refused to take the chance again. I was in a couple of weeks ago buying merluza and had a look at his salmon but the colour put me off it.

    Going into Buenos Aires soon so shall see what's on offer there.

    About the price of salmon - is there ANY Atlantic salmon from Argentina on the market? What we buy is imported from Chile, so affordability suffers from the lowered value of the peso.


    Fried catfish, anyone?

    Rice , i don't think there is any Salmon in the southern Atlantic. One of our acquaintances is the captain of a deep sea fishing boat working out of Mar del Plata . When he gets back we will ask him about salmon... Some time ago a freind told me Chile was the only place and its all farmed as opposed to wild.

    Quote from GlasgowJohn

    UK Man , best place for fresh salmon is the Barrio Chino , but its now about one thousand pesos per kilo , sometimes 950.


    Your problem is the long drive on the way back , no?

    Thanks John I shall see if we have time....the missus wants to check the apartment for mail then go shopping for a winter coat. As I'm just the bag carrier and she doesn't like fish or seafood I reckon time might not be on my side. ^^


    Indeed, no Atlantic salmon here although they do have wild sea trout down in the far south. I've kind of gone off Chilean salmon after they were found to contain toxics.