Destination Dining: Saint Peter, Sydney

Saint Peter is a highly-acclaimed small seafood restaurant in Paddington. Photo / Instagram

Saint Peter
362 Oxford St, Paddington, Sydney

We arrived... rather early as it was the only dinner booking we could get during our weekend getaway. Saint Peter is a small seafood restaurant and offers more than one sitting each evening.

We chose here because... I rarely leave town without making restaurant bookings ahead. Saint Peter, after doing my research including canvassing my food writer friends, was top of the list.

It's difficult to choose the highlight of this small seafood restaurant. Photo / Facebook

We started with... Tasmania Sea Urchin Crumpets – lush sea urchin lobes balanced on a doughy crumpet and topped with finely chopped chives. The sea urchin was fresh and salty – creamily opulent.

The Tasmanian sea urchin crumpet. Photo / Instagram

The highlight of the night was... very hard to choose. Raw Abrolhos Island scallops were creamy and melt-in-the-mouth and dressed with finely grated horseradish, tiny capers and a surprisingly complex olive oil that "just worked". BBQ Murrumbidgee murray cod, burnt tomato, marjoram & garlic mayonnaise, harissa BBQ zucchini was the best cod of my life. I can still remember the succulent flesh and I'll never forget that crispy skin. The carefully selected local wines on the Saint Peter wine list are well-known to the waitstaff, so ask away for recommendations and tastings.

Dessert was... three tarts. Lemon tart or verjuice custard tart or chocolate and murray cod fat caramel tart. The verjuice custard tart was simply perfect - its buttery and beautifully crisp crust shattered into a just-set custard.

The Verjuice custard tart. Photo / Instagram

Come here if... you are ready to try Australian seafood species that are less known. Josh Niland, the chef and co-owner with his wife Julie, cooks with the whole fish and can he cook fish – oh yes. No surprise here that he has already won many accolades for his craft. The menu changes daily and the dishes are hearty and refined at the same time. A few doors up is his Fish Butchery, which specialises in sustainably sourced and dry handled fish, along with his groundbreaking dry-ageing fish room. Stop off for fish takeaways if you can't make the restaurant.