Cover Josh Niland (Photo: Rob Palmer)
Josh Niland (Photo: Rob Palmer)
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The acclaimed chef and restaurateur shares how he came up with his steakhouse-inspired seafood dining concept, and what diners can expect from Fysh at Edition
When Australian chef Josh Niland came up with his fin-to-scale culinary philosophy at his first Sydney restaurant, Saint Peter, in 2016, he wasn’t trying to become the next big celebrity chef in his home country. At his recent visit in Singapore for the launch of his first overseas seafood concept, Fysh at Edition, at The Singapore Edition hotel, he tells me that he was just trying to make ends meet. “My first bill for a whole fish was $4,500 and half of that was destined to go to the bin,” he expresses, adding that diners’ appetite for fish back then was always reserved for primary cuts such as fillet and loin.
So he asked himself: how do we create luxury and desirability with one single fish? In the next few months, he and his team experimented on using all parts of the fish—from the eyes with a similar consistency to an egg yolk which became a vital ingredient in making his ice cream, to the fish bones that were ground and added to his pasta recipe. Niland states that “from using 45 to 50 per cent of the fish, they were able to close the gap to 95 per cent”. It did help that he trained in the kitchens of acclaimed chefs such as Heston Blumenthal at Fat Duck in the UK, and Stephen Hodges at the now-shuttered Fish Face in Australia.
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Not only did Hodges expose Niland to pretty much all the species commercially available in Australia, he also “gifted me a curated mentorship that gave me every idea or technique with regards to fish”. Some of his best recipes and techniques even came from accidents at Fish Face’s kitchen. He fondly remembers that time he forgot to wrap his fish at the end of the night and the skin became very dry the next morning. “I got into trouble for doing that and was told to get rid of it,” he chuckles. Luckily, his chef was off on that day and he still cooked it, letting on that it was the “best piece of fish I’ve cooked because the dry skin going into the hot oil made the skin push off the flesh”. That, he shares, became the catalyst behind the idea of dry ageing his fish.
It was also Hodges who educated him on the similarities between meat and fish, drawing lineages between land-based protein and fish. “Tuna could be a cow, swordfish could be a pig, and mackerel could be a pigeon,” posits Niland, and this approach birthed his seafood retail shop, Fish Butchery, which he opened in Sydney in 2018.
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Word eventually got around about his fin-to-scale culinary philosophy in Australia and beyond, especially after a New York Times review on Saint Peter was published in 2018 declaring Saint Peter as an inventive restaurant. Niland admits that “secondary cuts of the fish started to exceed the sales of primary cuts”, and guests from across the globe would often visit and ask, “Do you have liver, eyes or hearts?”
With Singapore’s proximity to the land Down Under, it was no surprise that Saint Peter received many customers from the Lion City. “Guests from Singapore have been asking me for the last seven years when I was going to open a restaurant in the city,” he elaborates, but for Niland, it was all about the timing and finding the right business partner.
The opportunity came when the folks behind The Singapore Edition approached him to develop the dining concepts for the hotel. After running the business with his wife Julie for seven years and expanding the brand in Australia with more dining concepts (a second outlet for Fish Butchery, a beachside takeaway concept named Charcoal Fish, and a second restaurant Petermen) he declares that “I have special people within our group in Sydney now, so I have the confidence to push myself professionally.”
Fysh at Edition stays true to his sustainable steakhouse-inspired seafood concept, with a menu comprising his signature dishes as well as new creations curated specifically for the restaurant. “We’re showcasing fish and chicken that come with a selection of accompaniments, as well as vegetables that can be enjoyed as a main course or as an entree,” he states. Gourmands can savour his popular cheeseburger, where a Mooloolaba yellowfin tuna replaces the traditional beef patty; dry-aged Mooloolaba yellowfin tuna ribeye; and Fysh egg tart encasing trout roe, creme fraiche and chives.
Considering that Fysh is fairly new in Singapore, Niland confesses that he will continue to work closely with his fish suppliers in Australia. “We use yellowfin tuna from a seafood company in Mooloolaba, coral trout from Queensland, and I also work with a fisherman in Victoria who supplies us with over 10 different fish species.” But he is always looking to expand his network in Asia, and he is searching for a local supplier for shellfish which he plans to include in his menus.
His latest restaurant opening marks a new chapter for the Nilands’ business expansion plans and commitment to championing the scale-to-fin culinary philosophy. As he states: “You’ll be seeing a lot more of me in Singapore.”
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Dudi Aureus is the senior dining and travel editor at Tatler Singapore, covering the city’s most exciting restaurants, global travel trends, and the personalities shaping the culinary and lifestyle scenes. She also serves as co-jury chair for the Tatler Best awards in Singapore, celebrating the very best in hospitality. When she’s off duty, she can often be found at a favourite hole-in-the-wall Thai spot, savouring a perfectly balanced pad thai.
