So by now you've probably heard about Josh Niland's new Australian seafood eatery on Oxford Street in Paddington, Saint Peter. It's certainly already tricky to lock down a seat at this compact establishment. But luckily for those who love nothing better than a piece of crisp-battered fish, some hand-cut chips and a cracking tartare sauce, there is an alternative solution.
If you look closely at that menu stuck up in the window of Saint Peter you'll notice there's a takeaway option. That's right, this fancy seafood restaurant is totally happy to box you up their daily fish and chips and save you the wait time for a table.
The fish in question changes with what's fresh and available, but on our visit it's tender lengths of pink ling from Bermagui on the southern NSW coast, and each piece wears a crunchy armour of batter that trails off into little crisp tendrils. The chips are the hand-cut, skin on variety and have a proper, soft potato quality rather than those firm, yellow planks you might be used to. And there's no chicken salt here. Instead you get a wedge of lemon and a traditional tartare sauce that they tart up with natural yoghurt in place of the mayonnaise. The result is somehow both creamier and lighter at the same time and it comes packed with onion pickle sand whole capers.
They pack up your fish supped in a sweet cardboard carrier like an old-fashioned lunchbox so that you are ready to mosey over to Centennial Park, down to the SCG or straight to your couch.
No, it's not a cheap takeaway option at $24 a serve, but quality seafood shouldn't be cheap, and here they're serving the good stuff.
Want more options? Here's our list of Sydney's best fish and chip shops.