When Josh and Julie Niland opened the first Saint Peter in Paddington, it felt quick. The chef couple were in their mid-twenties, had two very young children and just three months to turn around the fit-out of the narrow retail space. But they did, with tables Julie made with her dad and second-hand furniture and equipment they bought off Gumtree.
Eight years later, the couple are reopening the restaurant that propelled them into the seafood stratosphere – and things feel a little different. They have two more children, and a few restaurants, too (North Sydney’s Petermen, Waterloo’s Fish Butchery and Fysh in Singapore). They’ve traded in a 90-day build for a massive heritage pub, and a space that never sat more than 35 (where Niland often found himself plating up while wedged between guests’ coats) for a dining room with capacity for more than 60, and 14 attached hotel rooms.
The biggest change is in the Nilands themselves: their family name has become synonymous with the Sydney food scene and Josh has earned worldwide acclaim. But there’s a weight to that fame.
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SIGN UP“It’s still scary,” Josh tells Broadsheet. “And more scary now because the expectations have exceeded the size of [the original Saint Peter], and now the size of this venue is a little greater but the expectations are way higher and you don’t get any kind of buffer.”
Five and half years ago, the Nilands were approached by the owner of Paddington’s Grand National, who was a regular at Saint Peter. They were asked if they’d consider taking on the restaurant, which locals will remember for its plasma TVs, weirdly sloped floors, labyrinthine layout and propensity for plastic flower garlands. They said yes.
“Years went by and then it evolved into, ‘What are we thinking about the hotel?’ Julie and I really didn’t have any deep-seated ambition of running a hotel, but we couldn’t think of another business that would be able to coherently interact with our style or our feelings towards hospitality, so we ended up going ‘Okay, fuck it. Let’s do it.’”
The hotel will open in October, but the pair firmly remain restaurateurs: “It’s a restaurant with rooms.”
Downstairs, the restaurant is split into distinct areas: the front bar, the private dining room and the restaurant. In the front bar, you can expect table service and a drinks program led by Sam Cocks (“from the Matt Whiley realm of bar work,” Josh says) who’s creating a cocktail program that aligns with the Nilands’ vision of sustainability.
An à la carte offering includes little references to the now-closed Charcoal Fish, plus fish sausages, swordfish pie and oysters you’ll recognise from Fish Butchery. But no fish‘n’chips: “It’s not an ego thing,” says Josh. “It’s the hardest dish to execute consistently … There will be fish and there will be chips, just no batter.”
The old sports bar is now a private dining room with its own entrance and a working fireplace, and it’ll be set up as an extension of the front bar when not in use.
Chevron flooring draws the eye towards the restaurant, which is hidden behind majestic double doors next to a Ken Done painting. A large bar at the entrance is a nod to the front desk at Est, where the pair both worked. There are built-in blob-shaped wine buckets and a striking fishbone light, and the whole room is decked out with sculptural florals from nearby Bess.
The large open kitchen carries on the spectacle of the OG Saint Peter, with stacks of ironbark for the woodfired grill and kelp hanging to dry. Thrillingly, inside the kitchen is the original team from Saint Peter. “We feel pretty spoiled to be starting with people that we know and we’ve trained,” says Josh.
“They’ve all worked at Saint Peter before,” adds Julie. “They’ve been hanging out for this for so long. When we hired a lot of them, we said ‘In three-months we’re opening the Grand National’ and they’ve been here for four years waiting.”
A small semi-circular marble chef’s table gives five diners a front-row seat to the theatre and a 10-course tasting menu. The rest of the dining room can expect what is billed as a seven-course set menu for $275, but is now a “nine-course set with some fun at the top and bottom”.
There’s the inevitable question: will the new Saint Peter stand up to the legacy of the original? “Obviously everyone loves to write those articles, but it’s just a different space,” Josh says.
Julie is more confident: “We should take them back to Oxford Street after they’ve seen this one to remind them what it was.” From the space’s heritage and importance to the sheer number of chefs working freely in the kitchen – without elbowing each other – it’s clear that Saint Peter’s move to the Grand National has the Nilands scaling up in every way.
Saint Peter at the Grand National
162 Underwood Street, Paddinton
02 8937 2530
Hours:
Tue & Wed 5.30pm–late
Thur to Sat midday–4pm, 5.30pm–late
Sun midday–4pm
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