Saint Peter + Fish Butchery
Exploring two of the Josh Niland’s seafood meccas in the land down under
Tucked away off of a bustling street in Paddington, the upscale eastern suburb of Sydney, Australia, lie two of the modern world's seafood meccas. Chef Josh Niland opened Saint Peter, a critically acclaimed eatery heralded as one of the greatest restaurants in the world, in 2016 when he was just 27 years old. The space is beautifully simple. Brick walls and a long marble bar lead to an open kitchen at the back of the room that’s not so open it intrudes on your meal, but inviting enough that diners are eager to sneak a peak during the course of their feast.
Niland has made waves in the restaurant community by his unique seafood preparation technique, which he describes as "fish butchery." His cooking style is inspired by a desire to showcase lesser-known seafood varieties and flavors (you are far more likely to find wild kingfish on this menu than salmon or even barramundi), but also by his concern that every unused part of an ingredient is money lost.
13 Day Dry Aged Mooloolaba Yellowfin Tuna Tartare
Jervis Bay Mussels, Pumpkin, Purslane & SHellfish Oil
South West Rocks Bonito, Nashi Pear, Radish, Cucumber & Sake Jelly
St. Helens Long Spine Sea Urchin Crumpet
Niland treats fish like cuts of meat – turning less desirable parts like gills, throats, offal, and eyes into delicious creations of tartines, sausages, and mortadellas
Traditionally meat-focused chef obsessions — offal, dry aging, whole animal cookery — are here applied to seafood.
The Saint Peter menu boasts entrees beyond a typical whole-roasted fish (although you can definitely find that too, like a crumbed Corner Inlet Garfish that is quite the spectacle). We feasted on a delicious sashimi of South West Rocks Bonito, that was perfectly smoked, and set atop a lattice of nashi pear, radish, and cucumber, and adorned with jiggly cubes of sake mirin jelly. Diners ogled over a spiral of Salt & Vinegar Corner Inlet King George Whiting bathed in a swirl of slightly warmed oil and olive brine tableside. The slight warming and slick of oil make for a slippery velvet texture, and the fish’s being neither cold nor hot — neither raw nor cooked — was like a magic trick that amplifies purity of flavor. Those with a larger appetite noshed on a 13 Day Dry Aged Yellowfin Tuna Rib Eye that was served, rib bone intact, just like a delicate rack of lamb.
Salt & Vinegar Corner Inlet King George Whiting in Olive Brine
Saint Peter is also committed to showcasing oysters from the New South Wales region of Australia, and providing distinct tasting notes on each oyster – a rarity in the Australia oyster scene. I quickly learned that, Down Under, oysters are typically shucked out several hours before dinner service, and rinsed under freshwater to remove any dirt and grit. While this practice is a bit nontraditional, and perhaps even sacrilegious to the western raw bar-obsessed audience, it is commonplace in Australia. Niland's oyster service is akin to the more traditional raw bar service I am used to – bivalves shucked to order, with the oyster liquor left unspoiled by freshwater so the true merroir of the oyster can shine. Niland also makes note that his oyters are served and stored at 12 °C (roughly 54 °F) to prolong their storage potential, and to allow the unique qualities of each oyster to shine. It's not the cold seafood chill that I was used to, and definitely caused me a pause at my first slurp, but I quickly understood why Niland serves the oysters a bit "warmer" than usual – the flavors and the texture are actually amplified and not muted by an icy chill. Yes, it takes some getting used to, but I fully understand Niland's goal here.
Just a few short paces from Saint Peter lies Fish Butchery, Niland's modern Australian Fish Shop. Here, Niland's team receives, processes, and preserves all of the fish used by Saint Peter and Niland's other seafood eatery, Charcoal Fish. Niland's inventive fish cuts and a number of takeaway creations, like cold smoked salmon, gurnard mortadella, and marlin salami are available for strolling passer-bys who popped in and out of the shop to poke around and grab cuts of fish to take home.
So what makes Niland's seafood storage and processing techniques so unique?
First, Niland handles all of his fish dry. The last time any fish touched water was when it was caught at sea. Small fish are stored on perforated trays and large fish are hung on hooks in the Fish Butchery static coolroom. Niland does not place any fish or oysters on ice, and he does not use any water to clean out a freshly gutted fish. Why? Per Niland, this extends the shelf life of the fish, and allows it to age until it reaches its full potential. By handling a fish this way, Niland explains we can start to taste glutamates being activated within the protein, making the fish taste more savory and overall more complex and distinct to the fish species in question.
Sichuan Cured Mount Cook Alpine Salmon
Next, all fish are scaled in sheets with a knife, instead of a hand scaler. This is done to minimize damage to the flesh caused by the scaling process. The effect of this is that the delicate skin of the fish is not damaged; allowing the fish to be dry aged, and assisting it to crisp in the pan and promoting better presentation on the plate.
Niland's team then gut each fish carefully, starting at the gills and pulling the organs out in one piece. This allows Niland's team to sort through the organs and use 90% of the offal material as ingredients in dishes, thereby creating maximum utilization of the entire fish.
Finally, Niland dry-ages his fish like a cut of meat. The rationale is that dry-aging removes a percentage of moisture from the fish that in turn allows the fish to cook more evenly and perform better under multiple cookery methods. Like dry-aging meat, the process intensifies the flavor of the flesh, while careful butchering techniques and tightly controlled conditions keep the fish from rotting. For instance, the Saint Peter menu boasts creations like a 13 Day Dry-Aged Mooloolaba Yellowfin Tuna Tartare.
The opportunity to visit both Saint Peter and Fish Butchery was an amazing foray into seafood inventiveness, ingredient creativity, and cooking mastery—a sort of religious experience for the seafood obsessed. For those who aren't making a trek down to Australia anytime soon, I highly recommend picking up a copy of Niland's two cookbooks, The Whole Fish (named the 2020 James Beard Award Book of the Year) and Take One Fish (winner of the 2022 James Beard Award for Visuals). These are amazing resources to not only understand different species of fish, but to handle, store, and prepare fish with increased thoughtfulness and creativity.
