By no means a food reviewer, but am not completely unfamiliar with fine dining, visited Saint Peter in Sydney, and thought to share about the experience if it helps anyone to make a decision! AUD 295++ excluding drinks/water/add-ons.
I added oysters at AUD 9/pc and they were really tasty/briny – it was mentioned that they don't rinse the oysters with freshwater to preserve the briny taste (cf. having a regular oyster I suppose) but that might also explain some loose shell from shucking inside(?).
Highlights for food: fish liver tartlets, cured mackerel, custard tart, tuna fudge (one of the petit fours).
Service definitely carried the experience for me, I didn't think the food was mindblowingly good, but it's very evident that a lot of work went into its preparation (e.g. many elements go onto one dish), which I suppose is what you're paying for.
Some gripes about the food: overall, I think the menu/concept could've been finessed – there are plenty of heavy hitting flavours and (creamy/oily) textures (marron/lobster broth, fish liver pate, tuna nduja, tuna wellington, custard tart) so I was craving something refreshing/light/acidic – the palate cleanser of native fruit sorbets came close, but I think a seafood dish that took on this role would have made the menu more dynamic/interesting.
Also, huge props to the team for maximising the yield of the produce (which they mention a couple times throughout service), but grinding fish bone to make a limp/mealy noodle was not particularly inspiring + I thought the use of marron/lobster shells in the soup would allude to a course involving it later but sadly I was wrong (ahaha).
Nonetheless, I'd visit again now that I've a better understanding of what to expect. The venue is lovely, and the staff were the warmest and most enthusiastic about the menu I've seen in a while 🙂
by romeotang0
4 Comments
Big bucket list place for me
I visited a few weeks ago and had the same menu.
The fish charcuterie course was impressive in the effort involved, and it was decent tasting. Savory highlights for me were the salt and vinegar mackerel (very nice balance of sharp and fatty) and the yellowfin tuna wellington (very impressed by the cuisson on this one).
Service in my case was friendly and enthusiastic but not efficient. My primary server was a new kid from London, so he copped to being unsure of a few things. I also ordered a cocktail to have with my desserts that didn’t arrive until both dessert courses were done!
Now that I have a sense of their philosophy and cooking style – if I lived in Sydney, I’d visit again, but not for another year at least. Since I **don’t** live there, I’ll probably pass on it in lieu of other spots next time I’m back.
I had a pretty rough dinner at this restaurant just before the pandemic, when the head chef was getting all instafamous and off on a book tour somewhere. I watched the guy running the pass finger-prod my whole fish for doneness (hello, instant read thermometers exist). The fish, no surprise, came out raw around the spine and had to be sent back. The whole experience was not good.
Granted, this several years ago. I’d give them another shot next time I’m in town, but it goes down one of the most disappointing “the internet is not real life” moments of my adult dining life.
On oysters, for what ever reason Australia seems to be the only place that rinses their oysters after shucking, which is probably why Saint Peter mentioned it.
Not sure why, oyster brine is a commonality elsewhere and is even occasionally used in cooking (see, oysters and pearls, TFL)