Former Supernormal Chef Jason Barratt to Open a Nostalgic Fish’n’Chip Shop on the Gold Coast

Jason Barratt remembers going to his local fish’n’chip shop as a kid. “Ripping down there on a Friday night, lining up, ordering, watching Home and Away on the TV,” he says. “But as I got older and went into my teens, I stopped going.”

Barratt went on to pursue a fine-dining career at Melbourne institutions Attica and Stokehouse, before moving to Cabarita in northern New South Wales to lead the kitchen at Paper Daisy at Halcyon House for five years. Now, after three years as executive chef at Supernormal Brisbane and a young family in tow, Barratt has departed to open Paradise Fish Shop in Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast.

The chef says he felt like there was a gap in the market for something inspired by the newspaper-wrapped era of classic Aussie fish’n’chip shops he grew up in. “We really wanted to hit those nostalgic memories people always refer back to. With QR ordering and Uber Eats, [those memories] have become a bit lost in Australian culture”.  

The concept also “made sense” given his connections with local suppliers. Named for the Gold Coast’s history as a tourist paradise, the new shop will serve sustainably caught fish from local fishers including Daniel Fleming, Ben Murray and Wayne James. A farmer in Gippsland, Victoria supplies spuds for the chips, which are handcut daily. 

The nostalgia really kicks in with dim sims (house-made with organic chicken thigh and Bangalow pork belly) and panko-crumbed pineapple fritters. Sauces will include a classic tartare, a salsa verde and a spicy tomato mayonnaise. Seasonal salads and potato scallops showered in chicken salt are present and accounted for.

Paradise will be licensed, with beers by Gold Coast brewing titan Balter, a handful of minimal-intervention wines and a frozen Tequila Sunrise on the drinks list. Non-alc options include Yumbo and Capi sodas.

This isn’t Barratt’s first foray into casual dining. As the co-founder of Melbourne’s Hector’s Deli along with fellow Stokehouse alum Dom Wilton, he helped kick off a golden age of takeaway-friendly concepts by high-end chefs. He’s applying the same attention to detail at Paradise. “Similar to what we did at Hector’s, we’ve spent a lot of time refining the recipes using really good ingredients,” he says. “We’re making something that’s already good, just a little bit better.”

Paradise Fish Shop will open at 3 Deodar Drive, Burleigh Heads on Wednesday September 23. 

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