Josh Niland reopens his world-famous Saint Peter in the Grand National Hotel

Saint Peter, a constant presence on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list each year, has reopened after moving down the road from its original Paddington location.

Josh Niland’s ode to fin-to-scale sustainably caught seafood has fast become one of Sydney’s signature restaurants, mentioned in the same breath as iconic dining spots like Quay, Bennelong and Ester.

Its global popularity spurred Niland to open more casual off-shots like Fish Butchery, Charcoal Fish and Chatswood’s Petermen, as well as Fysh in Singapore. And while he’s since closed Fish Butchery in Paddington (there’s still one in Waterloo) and Charcoal Fish in Rose Bay, the progressive chef’s star has never been brighter.

The new-look Saint Peter is primed to be Sydney’s hottest new restaurant due to Niland’s creativity.

For example, the reimagined menu features subversive dishes like whole calamari sliced thinly to resemble rice noodles and mixed with nduja for a different kind of spaghetti bolognese.

The move also casualises Saint Peter, which was often marked as a fine dining experience until Niland closed the original location earlier this year.

Whereas the original Oxford Street spot was the type of place you’d need to reserve far in advance, its transformation into a kind of modern pub kitchen will open it to a wider audience, speaking to a range of lifestyles.

Guests can either stop in for a drink and a quick snack, spend a few hours working through a set menu at dinner, or dine a la carte for lunch.

The Grand National, located on the corner of Elizabeth and Underwood Streets in Paddington, will also open 14 hotel rooms later this year.

Whether or not Saint Peter will be handling a room service product remains to be seen, but if guests could order fish charcuterie boards to their room at 10pm, that would make Grand National Hotel one of the few places in the world where you could get dinner-in-bed from one of the world’s best.

The move has also increased Saint Peter’s footprint considerably.

The original spot only had room for 22 diners at a time, but this new space has capacity for 40 in the dining room, another 30 in the adjoining bar, and a private dining room for 15.