Fish whisperer and owner of Saint Peter, Josh Niland, is set to open Fish Butchery in Paddington with his wife Julie Niland.
Slated for a 1 April open date, the shop is located on the same block as Saint Peter.
The concept will stock larger species including albacore and Spanish mackerel in a display cabinet alongside fish caught on the day.
“We’re reimagining the cold cabinet and rethinking the fishmonger, with a diverse range of species, handled correctly,” says Niland. “I don’t think it’s like anything anyone else is doing.”
Fish will be dry scaled, gutted, filleted, pinboned and dry aged when appropriate.
Instead of piles of ice, fish will be kept in static fridges below two degrees Celsius and oysters will be stored in a dedicated temperature-controlled cabinet.
Cured and smoked salmon, trout and tuna will be on offer alongside fish offal and Saint Peter’s renowned fish and chips, which will move from the restaurant to the fish shop.
A range of packaged products such as sauces and custom fish weights will also be available, “but we don’t want to get carried away with it being Josh’s Jars of Stuff”, says Niland.
For chefs wanting to learn Niland’s ways, the venue will also host educational workshops. “We’ve had so many chefs ask if they can do a few days training with us in the restaurant but Saint Peter is such a small space, so those requests are challenging to accommodate,” says Niland. “It will be great to have a larger space at the butchery to run industry training programs.”