Since 2016, Josh Niland has been a pioneering force in the field of “scale-to-tail” cookery. Along with his wife Julie Niland, the critically acclaimed Sydney chef and author has stoked the public’s appetite for all things pescatarian over the years: with a spectrum of dining concepts running the gamut from dynamic fine dining (Saint Peter) to the classic, ever-popular fish & chippy (Charcoal Fish).
Now, audiences abroad will come to reckon fully with the country’s fish-mad wunderkind who – at the age of 34 – has just been named to this year’s edition of The Best Chef Awards – a global power ranking within which Niland is Australia’s sole plenipotentiary – and a very impressive one at that.
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“My mission is to bring desirability to the whole fish,” said Josh Niland, whose prodigious mastery over bones, offal, and cod fat has won him a devout fanbase; the kind who fork out $300 for an advanced fish butchery masterclass.
“It’s neglectful, ignorant and plain ridiculous that across the world, over half of all fish is tossed in the bin.”
This exhaustive approach to cooking and understanding maritime protein – akin to what Fergus Henderson did for land-based beasts at his London restaurant Saint John – has seen Niland commended not just as one of the world’s Top 100 chefs overall (#78), but also for his work in sustainability, for which he took home The Best Chef’s Innovation Award.
It’s yet another feather in Niland’s cap, who was inarguably already one of Australia’s most recognisable culinary ambassadors in 2020 – the year he was crowned the country’s first ever James Beard Award winner for his magnum opus, The Whole Fish Cookbook.
First showcased in 2015, The Best Chef awards are intended to inspire younger culinary talent by focusing on individual chefs rather than restaurants or a collective hospitality group. Other notable awardees in this year’s list include Massimo Bottura of Osteria Francescana (#4), French stalwart Julien Royer (#28), and Mingles’ Mingoo Kang (#55).
For all of this year’s rankings and the full list of category-specific awards, head to the link below.
