Saint Peter and Fish Butchery Owners Josh and Julie Niland have announced they will expand their Sydney footprint with a new venue.
Charcoal Fish is slated to open in late June on New South Head Road in Rose Bay, with the concept emulating a barbecue chicken shop — but one fish is the focus.
“I have been hugely inspired by the charcoal chicken shop model,” reads a statement from the pair. “So many Australian families, ours included … enjoy the convenience of a healthy meal of grilled chicken and salad. And yet, this same simple luxury does not extend to fish.
“Our mission is to make restaurant-quality, charcoal-grilled Australian fish accessible to everyone.”
While Saint Peter and Fish Butchery offer a range of seafood, Charcoal Fish will focus on just one fish, Aquna Murray Cod from Griffith, which was “chosen for its performance as a sweet, white-flesh fish that grills well”.
Whole cod with stuffing will be put on the rotisserie over charcoal, with the flesh used for cod and gravy rolls and in a salad with skin, butter lettuce, charcoal tomatoes and avocado.
The fish will also be butterflied, cooked over charcoal and sold as single, quarter, half or whole options, which the pair describe as the “shop-stopping, big-ticket item”.
The team will be using 92 per cent of the fish, which was part of the reason it was selected as the chosen one.
Offal will be sent off to the pair’s other two restaurants to make charcuterie; collars will be grilled; heads, frames and fins will go into gravy and fat will go into the venue’s cod fat caramel ice cream.
On the sides front, there will be a revolving selection of salads and charcoal-grilled veg from local producers.
The Nilands hope Charcoal Fish will reinvent the way Australians look at fish shops.
“We are setting out to elevate the standards of fish and how we cook, prepare and store our fish, but we are also trying to create a fish shop that the next generation can walk into with their families. A fish shop where the meal exceeds all expectations while remaining accessible.”
Image credits: Josh Niland