NO TIME FOR OLD WINES RESTAURANTS WHERE OLD-SCHOOL WINE LISTS NO LONGER CUT THE MOUTARDE 1 1 SAINT PETER, SYDNEY Josh Niland’s revolutionary “gill to fin” approach to fish cookery has spawned three cookery books, a brace of “fish butcheries”, and Saint Peter, his bijou restaurant in Sydney’s Paddington neighbourhood. “Butchery” is an apt term: his menu might feature mortadella, salami, rillettes and chorizo, but they are made, respectively, from rock flathead, yellowfin tuna, smoked bonito and Murray cod. Such innovation deserves an equally trailblazing drinks list. It’s the fiefdom of head sommelier Houston Barakat, whose criteria are strict: “If it’s not exciting, if it doesn’t represent value, if it doesn’t champion individuality and excellence, it doesn’t make the cut. We don’t tend to use many classic French wine pairings: with the dollar/euro exchange rate as it is, they don’t always represent great value, especially now [that] our homegrown wines have come on leaps and bounds. Occasionally, we have a customer who expects something more ‘premium’ than a sake made in a tiny garage in Melbourne, but we don’t want to play safe or be predictable.” At Saint Peter, the synergy exists not just between kitchen and bar, but with suppliers as well: the organic rice Niland and his chefs use in the kitchen is grown by the same farmers who supply the brewers at Melbourne Sake. 46
