saint peter

fresh seafood and served in some interesting style that i would never thought of. love the seaurchinas it is very fresh.

would love to come back just for that sea urchin!

seaurchinroe is a definite favourite; just like an oyster, eating it lets you have an intimate encounter with the sea. at home we eat oururchinroe on hot buttered sourdough, so we had no problems easing our pambula seaurchin($28) out of its spiky shell, and smearing it onto a decadent buttery crumpet during our brunch at saint peter. throw in a savoury daytime drinker – the 2014 tripe iscariot ‘aspic’ rosé ($75) – and i was as close to content as you can get in the current political climate.the talented josh niland takes scrambled eggs to the next level by teaming them with a whole donnybrook marron ($44). it’s visually spectacular, and the tender, sweet crustacean eats beautifully against just-set eggs. while it’s hard to resist comparing the ever-changing roster of oysters, it’s the breakfast-styled dishes like this one that i’m most enamoured with on this clever brunch menu.however for the oyster aficionados, despite being tiny, the moonlight kiss oysters ($4.50/each) scrubbed up best against wonboyn rock oysters ($5/each) and four year old tathra rock oysters ($5.50) on this particular occasion.making smoked silver lake eel ($18) into something akin to a brandade is a clever twist, allowing you to liberally coat pikelets then dress them with your preferred condiment(s). capers, shallots, lemon, herbs – they work well in tandem – my only complaint is the generosity of the eel brandade made me want for a few more golden pikelets to play with. we contented ourselves with ordering barley-rye sourdough and cultured butter ($3) and smearing our remainders onto that. while this is a pricy place to brunch, you need to weigh that up against the impeccable, sustainable seafood you’re consuming. you can also fill out any corners with sides like fried cauliflower ($14) turned seaward with cuttlefish ink and shallot, or niland’s epic king edward potato scallop ($2). it’s the best darn potato scallop you’ll ever eat, and it’s only two bucks.note: you can find a review of saint peter's dinner menu here.saint peter362 oxford street, paddingtonph: (02) 8937 2530

i was disappointed.  growing up in a country where there are many fantastic fish dishes, i had high hopes for this establishment after reading reviews.  but unfortunately it was not up to the standard and i felt like this restaurant is trying too hard or trying to be different without much success.  seaurchinon crumpet - seaurchintasted strange and a sweet crumpet and seaurchindid not go well together.  fish ham - i liked the idea of it but fish ham needed something more than sitting pretty on the dish. i would have liked condiments or veg that work with each ham.  mains.   mains took a very long time to come out.  though they were nicely cooked but for the mains ranging upwards of $40, again my high hopes were crashed.  i could not shift the feeling that i would have been fed at the same level of dish for half the price elsewhere.   chips - they were too salty.  the waiter basically ignored us while they were busy taking care of other customers around us but not us, so it did not leave a good impression on the service either.   it is not worth spending $100+ per person for this level of dish.  i will not go back there.

i’ll put it out there... you’d be mad to miss out on this one. 17 day aged hapuka was sublime, the seaurchincrumpet was divine and the service was seamless as a wine glass. it was tops. get there

i would say i am a self-proclaimed foodie hence why i ve been doing my instagram account for 7 years haha and through that time, i have made many friends and there are some friends who always have the best recommendations! lorraine is one of them and when she said she got us a table at saint peter, i squealed because it is so unique and delicious. so for sydney siders, you may know saint peter to be the restaurant of fish butchery and as the name suggestions, specialised in seafood and fish in particular!

we started our lunch with an array of non-alcoholic drinks, virgin apple cider, blueberry and fennel soda, lemon and mint soda. followed by started a snapper sausage and egg english muffin and fish butchery ham, terrine and pâté. everything was made from fish!!! yes fish! so think swordfish ham, dory liver pate and snapper sausage to name a few!
we then had a puftaloons with seaurchintaramasalata, which was the absolutely bomb! i often call this the “pink” dip haha but this was next level! hint save the rest for chips haha

next up our main was the 800g bermagui mirror dory, cafe de paris butter and chips! the fish was absolutely devine and with the paris butter what a great combo.

let’s finish up with dessert, lemon and passionfruit tart, which had the most perfect custard texture and a thin crust. followed by chocolate and murray cod fat caramel slice. who knew fish fat could be used for dessert hehe

overall, i don’t remember the last time i had a full meal of fish. it was a truely unique and interesting experience which i would recommend to anyone who wants to try something different and not the usual bacon and eggs for lunch hehe

pretty mediocre experience and definitely not a highlight of our weekend in sydney. ordered the fish and chips (ling)and flathead. the fish and chips were ok- nothing spectacular and the chips felt like they had been reheated after sitting around for a bit. batter a tad thick too but fish still quite juicy but lacked flavour. flathead was still quite undercooked in places even after leaving it for 10 minutes and eating from top and edges as guided by waitress. supposed to have horseradish in it but could only taste fat and parsley. also ordered seaurchindoughnut which was ok. service was ok. a slightly disappointing experience and won’t rush back.

was so looking forward to their seaurchinbut was not avail on the day.

pipis 3/5, good prep, there wasnt a grain of sand in all the pipis. as it wasnt drenched in the ‘westernized’ xo sauce, we were able to take a few unmolested clams to taste how fresh they were. a good starter.

battered mirror dory n chips 3/5, dish was done well with the batter being way different from your fish n chips shop. our monster said it was ‘weird’, i didnt think so. you decide.

mud crab crumpets 2.75/5, not our crowd’s fav but hey i didnt mind it. i thought it went ok with the crumpet which you use to mop up the creamy sauce with. otherwise the crumpet 1.5/5 was bland.

marron scrambled eggs 3.75/5, the most exxy dish yet quite worth your hard earned. the firm slightly sweet crustacean paired well with the creamy scrambled eggs. an indulgent brekky.

smoked eel hash browns 3/5, in my pre-caffeine haze, i ordered this thinking that i will be presented with a smoked eel. when the hash brown came, i waited patiently thinking that the eel would be along shortly. and waited and waited. imagine my embarrassment when i was told that the hash brown is the smoked eel hash brown. face palm*. while i was turning almost as red as the cooked marron, the graceful wait staff kept a straight face and smiled politely.

albacore n yolk 3.5/5, one of my personal fav. no, i could not find the yolk either but to prevent further embarrassment (to myself), i refrained from hailing the waitstaff. the slightly sticky wafer like cup which the ingredients are piled upon was not a gimmick as the slightly sweet n crunchy ‘cone’ provided texture to the slightly acidic n ‘slimy’ (cant find the right word to describe, but slimy is not a negative in this case) fillings.

blue mackerel on toast 3.75/5, i am wee partial to mackerel. i simply love its fishy smell. and its beaut flaky flesh. kudos to saint peter for not overdoing it. simply smoked n lightly cooked. the ‘toast’, however, rated a 1.5/5. hard as a rock. i suppose in their awesomeness, they forgot how to toast a toast.

easily a $50 pp brekky affair, drinks not included.

went back and finally dined there. front of house is truly pathetic and wonder whom they paid or partied with to get considered for any awards. the food side is great, not so memorable but good. the cocept and executing is conflicting, such crap quality seaurchinfor a place that is meant to be all about seafood. it's a nice local restaurant if the staff know you.


visit 1: it's a shame that some venues hire such an incompetent group of people to look after the floor. second time in my life to ever walk out of a venue, first time in over a decade and the first time i didn't feel bad doing so.
if i ever bump someone or accidentally knock something on someone's table, i would expect to acknowledge it and apologise. if this was a customer of a a business, you bloody dam well should. if the head/senior water need to rush around so much focusing on a select few tables he is useless to your business. you can't always judge a book by it's cover. sure you swiftly took another tables food and drinks order ever so attentively due to them looking the part due to them being western and middle age, however forgetting to serve the water order you took on another table and ignoring the customer's attempt to order a bottle of wine because you're too busy serving a glass of wine to the table you decided requires your attention for the night. so you leave your incompetent team guiding the remaining diners to be read out the whole main menu when asked for suggestions. the most pathetic attempt of selling a menu.

yum!! this has to be one of my favourite restaurants in sydney! the fish is fresh and carefully prepared, then matched very simply with just a few other things on the plate like salt-crusted baked celeriac. if you want to try something interesting, then make sure to book for brunch or lunch on the weekend. you'll get the opportunity to try smoked eel pikelets, seaurchincrumpet, fish liver on toast or octopus head scotch egg. 

make sure to try the dessert - the lemon tart is a perfect end to a beautiful seafood meal and the chocolate artichoke slice is dark, rich and delicious.

an interesting yet underwhelming meal of seafood....in short we expect a lot better for $130 lunch :(

so let's begin with the oysters...four types is a good start but while there was undeniable freshness, we wouldn't say they were the best oysters...?

seaurchindonut...hmm two delicious bites but...does this donut really add anything or we just being fancy with dough...felt gimmicky :(

the spanner crab...not the most attractive dish....yes the pieces of crab were lovely but nothing was really marrying it together with the crumpet...almost like something was missing...again just feels like we're being served fancy brunch and not really selling us - we can cook seafood :(

finally the octopus...a great dish, where things on the plate work well together to actually give us a rich experience; this bumped you up to a 3.

we had so much expectation coming in...thinking about maybe we would have to come back for dinner as there were a lot of things we wanted to try...and we were on our second lunch....but yea nope! we don't want to ride the roller coaster again and not for that price tag....

some good some bad....so if you wanna feel a bit fancy....come here and roll the dice :)

i could probably end this restaurant review at that because i’m fairly sure i make a song and dance about seaurchin(or uni if you prefer) often enough that you know the routine. it’s also the sole reason i was instantly drawn to saint peter, which was coming about around the time i was making my way back to sydney at the end of europe. closer inspection revealed an almost 100% seafood menu

ahhh sea urchin. i remember a time when i was not a fan of seaurchinand its weird texture and intense sea flavour. and then a trip to japan’s tsukiji markets and everything changed. my world exploded and i’ve never been the same and have constantly craved it! so when i saw the seaurchincrumpet ($16) at newly opened saint peter in paddington i knew i had to have it.

seafood isn't the first thing that springs to mind when you think of brunch, but saint peter doesn't believe in any rules. it's the first solo venture for chef josh niland (ex-head chef of cafe nice and fish face) and seafood is front and centre of everything. if seaurchincrumpets haven't already flooded your instagram stream, they will soon.