Meet Josh Niland, the stellar local chef scaling new heights in fish cookery
At just 34 years old, seafood aficionado and Aussie produce champion Josh Niland is officially one of the best chefs in the world. In 2022, the northside local placed 78th in the top 100 Best Chef Awards, the only Australian to make the cut on the prestigious list. Niland also won the Best Chef Innovation Award and, more recently, for his unique fin-to-gill approach to preparing and serving the ocean’s finest produce.
With two restaurants in the eastern suburbs – the two hatted fine dining Saint Peter and sustainable fish and chipper Charcoal Fish - two fish butcheries, best-selling cookbooks and superstar fans including Jamie Oliver - who hailed Niland as “one of the most impressive chefs of a generation” – the world was pretty much Josh’s oyster when it came to choosing a location for his newest venture.
But just as with his innovative fish cookery, which can see very delicious repurposed fish eyes or slices of fish-sperm mortadella appearing on your plate, you should always expect the unexpected from Josh and his restaurateur partner, wife, Julie.
Having lived around the North Sydney area for many years, the pair have selected a low key location close to home for their latest pescatarian project, Petermen.
The sunny 60-seater seafood restaurant, named after the 15th century word for fishermen, can be found tucked on the ground floor of an apartment block in the heart of St Leonards. Yep. St Leonards.
“You get all the jokes about needing a passport to cross the bridge,” Josh says about the couple’s decision to bring a venue to the North. “But it can take longer to drive from Paddington to Rose Bay than it does to get to St Leonards from the eastern suburbs!”
“We want to be a breath of fresh air, to stand alone from elsewhere, to take a risk,” he continues. “It takes the confidence of one to put confidence in others and quality attracts quality. People want to be around thriving businesses. We have our fingers crossed.”
“We want to change the culture of how we consume food and highlight the very best of Australian seafood”
Niland’s passion for food flourished as a child. At the age of eight, he was diagnosed with stage two Wilms tumour, an aggressive form of cancer. Absences from school during treatment saw him devouring recipe books and cookery shows at home. By the time Josh received the all-clear at the age of 13, he’d set his course on becoming a chef.
Describing overcoming the illness as ‘a big rocket pack on my back at a very young age,’ at just 17, Josh took up tools with chef Luke Mangan at Glass Brasserie in Sydney’s CBD. By 18, he was working at Est with Aussie kitchen royalty, chef Peter Doyle, and had risen his way up from third year apprentice to Junior Sous Chef.
Hooked on working with seafood, Josh went on to fine-tune his fish butchery skills at Fish Face, arguably Sydney’s best loved seafood restaurant until it closed in 2015.
After marrying Julie, a pastry chef, the couple spent some of their honeymoon trip in Europe working for gastronomic maverick, and fellow Best Chef Award recipient, Heston Blumenthal (he’s currently number 40 on the list by the way).
By 2016, Josh was prepped to open his own restaurant back in Sydney. The 34-seat Saint Peter came first, followed by the Fish Butchery, and then Charcoal Fish in Rose Bay. Each venue’s offering is based on Niland’s ethos of using the whole fish to create unique and sustainable dishes.
“We want to change the culture of how we consume food and highlight the very best of Australian seafood,” Josh explains. “When you catch a fish, you’re responsible to use all of it so another one doesn’t have to come out of the sea. There’s so much opportunity in that one single fish.”
Between his venues, Niland uses 95% of each fish, a huge leap in sustainability when compared to the standard yield of around 40%. Hardly anything is wasted, meaning menus are filled with items from perfectly cooked fillets to fish head terrines and rich dessert caramel rendered from fish fat.
“Petermen is another part of that puzzle,” Josh says. Head Chef, Joshua Osborne, is serving up a menu that offers ‘fish for everyone’ with dishes more focussed to groups and families, and options for kids and brunch on Sundays.
“It’s a seafood nirvana,” Josh enthuses. “We have a broader selection of dishes than Saint Peter as well as more vegetables and I love that the menu has sections…we’re preserving, curing, brining, smoking…We’ve got the opportunity here to serve larger dishes…to be creative, to serve fish like you would serve steak…”
Think a Mooloolaba Yellowfin Tuna Chateaubriand for four with shoestring fries, Diane sauce, parsley and shallot salad and garlic Warrigal greens.
The kids’ menu features dishes such as a Yellowfin Tuna Cheeseburger and Bowen Coral Trout Nuggets. They’ve been taste tested by Niland’s most vocal critics, his four children, aged between three and nine.
“That menu got a big tick of approval,” he says, sounding relieved.
Sunday brunch options include St. Helens Long Spine Sea Urchin Crumpet and Ballina Spanner Crab Croissant.
“Sydney loves brunch so this is fun and plays on the nostalgic, combining comfort food with the unexpected,” Josh adds.
With Petermen’s doors open for Autumn, the critics reviews were marinating as we went to print. “There’s nerves of course because I’m passionate about what I do,” Josh concludes. “We’ll continue to be the best we can be. The expectations on us are so high, our ambition is to exceed them all.” Sounds like foodies in the eastern suburbs should be digging out those passports...
JOSH'S NORTHSIDE PICKS
• I’ve had great pizza at Glorietta in North Sydney and the Applejack team (behind RAFI and The Botanist) are fantastic at creating quality venues which offer layers of experience and can cater for groups of friends as well as business lunches.
• Fiore bakery in McMahons Point is so exciting. It’s great to see such a high quality bakery and we’ve got their bread on the menu at Petermen and Saint Peter.
• Julie and I have been getting coffee from Double Cross in Crows Nest for years. It’s been so good to see owners Quinton and Sam grow and develop.
WORDS: ANNA GORDON PHOTO JOSH + JULIE: ROB PALMER
FOOD PHOTOS: JOSH NILAND
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