Saint Peter opens Paddington's Fish Butchery

Earlier this year Saint Peter owner-chef Josh Niland told Good Food he wanted to make seafood sexy again with his upcoming Fish Butchery project.

It finally opens on Tuesday, April 17 in Sydney's Paddington, and you'd have to say mission accomplished.

Fish Butchery is all clean surfaces and theatrical lighting nodding to the star of the show: the fish.

Wedged into a former hair salon, just a few doors along from Josh and Julie Niland's two-hatted Saint Peter restaurant, the boutique store trades in high-quality Australian fish (some dry aged), cut and prepared to order, with a little cooking advice thrown in.

"Opening Fish Butchery is part of our ongoing dream to encourage people to eat a wider variety of fish," Josh Niland says.

"We want to make those lesser-known varieties of fish not just a restaurant experience but commonplace at home.

"The fish will be handled dry and stored at a very low temperature. Storing and handling fish in this way intensifies the flavour profile of the fish and offers a real difference in the final cooked product.

"It also extends the shelf life of most fish species, which means we can purchase the best available each day without wastage."

Rather than the standard fish shop practice of displaying the fish on mounds of ice, at Fish Butchery it is displayed in a static cool room.

There is even a line of kitchen tools for sale. And if you don't trust yourself cooking the produce, grab some takeaway fish and chips.

Open Tue-Sun 10am-6.30pm.

388 Oxford Street, Paddington, saintpeter.com.au.