Everyone loves a great fish-&-chipper. And when it’s this good and in your ’hood, consider yourself blessed.

It began with a little Paddington place called Saint Peter, still a landmark eatery for what it does with fish. And ambience. And service. And taste. Owner-chef Josh Niland’s work with sustainable sourcing and no-waste cooking has won him fame both at home and beyond.

In 2018, Saint Peter’s companion store opened a few doors down. From the finest Australian fresh fish (dry-aged, carefully scaled, cut to order, sustainably caught or farmed) to a few fabulous fridge and freezer items (love the rillettes, the scallop dumplings, the fish charcuterie), the slender Paddington Fish Butchery is the go-to for excellent produce but also a small cooked-to-order menu.

Last year came the next Josh and (wife/co-owner) Julie Niland enterprise – the hugely popular Charcoal Fish in Rose Bay. With a few pavement seats, its focus is inventive takeaway, mostly using sustainably farmed Murray cod – and all parts of it, from barbecued wings to whole, sweet, juicy rotisserie-d fillets with the crispiest of skin. And the crunchiest fish & chips (hint: a rice flour, beer, bicarb and vodka batter has something to do with it. Find the recipe here).

And now, there’s Fish Butchery Waterloo, a large, light and bright, open corner space on busy Bourke St that’s essentially the sum of all the Niland parts. Immaculate fresh fish, takeaways, take-homes – fish pies and sausage rolls, anyone? – and seats outside. Plus, plenty of on-show room for what’s usually behind-the-scenes work – all the things a growing sustainable-fish empire requires like mass-scale potato chipping, fish cleaning, bun and flatbread baking, and when we dropped in, rolling, filling and looping metres of fish sausage.

“It all felt fairly natural,” says Josh Niland. “Saint Peter ran out of room so we did Fish Butchery. We opened Charcoal Fish because Paddo ran out of room and our takeaway range Mr Niland at Home, was growing. But then we had so much Murray cod stored at Paddo that the fish rails actually fell down.

“So Julie and I agreed we needed another space! For efficiencies, for staff growth and some fun retail and takeaway too.”

And fun it is. There’s a Murray cod souvlaki on flatbread with chips, classic fish & chips (Busselton nannygai when we were there) and barbecued rock flathead that’s sweet, light and lovely with a cabbage and hazelnut slaw on the side. From the drinks fridge, we sip a Saint Peter Sea Spray ale with the slightest hint of lemon myrtle and sea parsley and a Poor Tom’s negroni spritz in a bright red and silver can.

The yellowfin tuna cheeseburger is as meatily delicious as we remember from its debut at Charcoal Fish – and here it comes with Murray cod bacon, if you fancy. And it’s a mighty fun time on the footpath watching the world whiz by.

Waterloo residents, rejoice. You can get this back to your living rooms still fresh from the fryer. Everyone else, use those outdoor seats for maximum just-cooked enjoyment.

And don’t forget you can extend the excitement by exploring fridge, freezer and fresh fish sections, too.

Related food news: Charcoal Fish has opened in Rose Bay and the cod rolls are a revelation