The Gold Standard: Saint Peter’s Tuna Wellington (by Josh Niland)

What are the iconic dishes of Sydney? There’s more than Black Star Pastry’s strawberry and watermelon cake, The Apollo’s stretchy saganaki, and El Jannah’s charcoal chicken. That’s for sure. The city’s hospitality scene has moved in leaps and bounds since the pandemic, and I feel there’s been a fair few new dining icons that have stepped up to the plate recently and deserve to be championed.

The Gold Standard, this short, simple column, is all about focusing in on those new icons: the must-try dishes that speak to just how damn good Sydney dining is right now, from cheap-and-cheerful casual diners straight up to fine dining powerhouses.

For the first edition of this straight-forward, no-fluff column, I’m going straight to the top of the list and hitting the backstreets of Paddington where Josh Niland has turned a former heritage pub into what is now one of the 100 best restaurants in the world. The widely acclaimed Saint Peter, now part of the quaint Grand National Hotel, is all scales and tails as the kitchen paves a new path for sustainable seafood with its whole-hog, zero-waste approach. The result is some of the most wildly unique seafood dishes you’ll find anywhere in the world right now.

I bumped into Josh on a recent visit to Saint Peter to preview the kitchen’s first-ever Father’s Day menu, which Niland and his team have put together in partnership with Scottish whisky brand Tamdhu, and noted how he spoke about tuna in the same way a butcher would a cow.

“It’s the cow of the sea, really,” said the pioneering chef. “There are so many different cuts to be aware of, and you can break it down in a similar way.”

And so tuna is always on the menu at Saint Peter, in many different forms.

Fan-favourites, that are almost never going to be far from any Saint Peter set, include Niland’s clever pasta-sub: the great southern calamari broken down into thick, chewy strands and dipped into yellowfin tuna ‘ndjua with Calabrian chilli that’s been whipped to resemble bolognese; a wonderfully delicate, perfectly diced tuna tartare sitting on a cream-filled fermented rice cake; and at least some way to make elevate tuna belly to the same elite status as wagyu.

And while they’re all great—the calamari in ‘nduja is so good that you’ll want seconds (probably even thirds) regardless of your level of satiety—it’s that 10 day dry aged yellowfin tuna wellington that reminds you Josh Niland was cut from an entirely different cloth than the rest of us.

Saint Peter’s Yellowfin Tuna Wellington

Gordon Ramsay made the beef wellington so famous (as it should be; try the one at any of his restaurants in Las Vegas—it’s amazing) that it’s never really been adapted by other high-profile chefs. It’s always beef. You might find lamb wellington, chicken wellington and pork wellington at some places around the world, but most chefs wouldn’t dare mess with the original recipe.

Niland dares. And we’re glad he did. He took the famous beef wellington and completely reengineered it to work as a seafood dish. The kitchen tends to switch up the smaller details on their signature dishes to keep things interesting, but on my most recent visit, the tuna wellington was served as part of a gorgeous medley of flavours.

The wellington itself is fascinating. Two chunky pieces of tuna are wrapped with mushroom duxelles—a fine layer of earthy foraged maitakes from Victoria—which is then encased by a chewy layer of sour cream puff pastry. It’s rich and textural. While I know Josh sometimes serves this with Bigeye tuna, which is generally bigger in flavour and much, much fattier, the yellowfin is fine with its firm, sweeter flavour still working well despite how overwhelmingly rich the mushrooms were. A sauce, made from roasted tuna, rosemary and shallots, is light and barely makes a difference given how rich the wellington is to begin with.

These are “everything matters” kind of plates though. Nothing is there just for the sake of it, so the tuna wellington is not even half as good if you aren’t also scooping up the supports. For this particularly menu, Josh has accompanied his signature with a soft, buttery potato puree, a surprisingly sweet cabbage roll (with braised cabbage hearts wrapped in cabbage skin), and two beautiful purees: roasted Jerusalem artichoke puree, and roasted pear puree.

How do I try Saint Peter’s Tuna Wellington?

Saint Peter only does a la carte in the bar area, and that’s for a separate bar menu that focuses more on tuna burgers and swordfish empanadas (that is, the stuff that was available when Fish Butchery was open).

And so if you want to try the tuna wellington you’ll only be able to get it on either the 9 or 11 course tasting menus. Given the 9 course tasting menu is priced at $295pp, you’ll need to be willing to spend big on your meal if you want this dish.

That said, if you’re quick on the draw you can book into Saint Peter’s Father’s Day 2025 menu. As mentioned above, he’s created this special set in partnership with Speyside whisky label Tamdhu and you can book a $200 three-course menu as part of the promotion. It features the tuna wellington, while you’ll also get to try Tamdhu’s rich, sherry-matured whiskies including the 12 and 15 year olds.

Feature photo:  Providoor / Steven Woodburn.