Profile | How Sydney fish chef Josh Niland serves seafood ‘like meat’ at his Singapore restaurant Fysh, and why sustainability is about ‘making a decision’
- Josh Niland transformed fish cooking at his Sydney restaurants, and his first venture outside Australia comes in the form of Singapore seafood steakhouse Fysh
- He talks about changing perceptions of fish through dishes like ‘sirloin’ swordfish and ‘rib-eye’ tuna, and economics versus ethics in the restaurant world
Australian chef Josh Niland is known for his gill-to-fin approach to cooking fish, and his restaurants serve more than fish fillets.
Dishes on offer include yellowfin tuna merguez sausages, aged swordfish belly, fish Wellington and even a chocolate macaron ice cream sandwich – the ice cream made using tuna eyes, naturally.
While Niland’s sustainable and creative approach to cooking fish has earned him praise and awards, his experimental journey with fish began from a mistake while working at chef Stephen Hodges’ now-closed Sydney restaurant Fish Face nearly a decade ago.
“I forgot to wrap my fish that was sitting in the fridge with a fan in it. The next day, the skin was incredibly dry and I got in a lot of trouble,” Niland says. “I cooked the fish that night and the skin puffed off the flesh. You end up with this beautiful crunchy crackling on top.”
From there, a new era of fish cooking was born, with Niland experimenting with fresh ways of serving the ingredient.
Today, the 35-year-old chef has five establishments in Sydney that he operates with his wife, Julie, their restaurant group’s chief executive: two sit-down restaurants, Saint Peter and Peterman; a high-end fish and chip shop, Charcoal Fish; as well as two fish butcheries.
