Brothers Matthew and George Mirosevich have launched a new fine-dining experience known as The Barechested Chef.
The two chefs come to your home, prepare and serve lunch or dinner for you and your guests, and clean up your kitchen afterwards. They also cater for corporate functions.
Matthew and George grew up in Port Stephens and are both recipients of the esteemed Brett Graham culinary scholarship. Matthew has worked at Quay and Bacco Osteria, and George at restaurants including Muse, Restaurant Mason, Bistro Guillaume and Signal Box, which he co-owns.
The Bare Chested Chef idea came about when Matthew was living on Sydney's Northern Beaches.
"Lockdown happened and I went from working lots of hours to nothing, so I started making menus, popped them online, and if people were interested I would deliver a meal box to them," he said.
"It got quite busy so eventually I started the brand and the website and decided to do it full-time."
George saw the potential, liked the name ("People associated it with us, being charismatic and quirky, so we just ran with it") and stepped down from his head chef role at Signal Box.
"I was pretty young when we opened Signal Box - I was 24 then and I'm 27 now - and it's not that I wasn't enjoying myself, I was just due for a change," George said.
He hopes The Bare Chested Chef will take off in Newcastle, where the pair share a house. The brothers are good mates who exercise together and share a desire to promote a "healthy chef" culture while educating people about cooking.
"I've always gone against the grain as a chef," George said.
"I remember rocking up to Sepia when the guys would be going out for 'five pint Fridays' and I would be fresh out of the gym with my chicken and broccoli meal from home and they would be looking at me, like, 'What are you doing mate?' and downing Red Bulls.
"A big part of our offering at The Bare Chested Chef is the experience, not just cooking behind the scenes. It's about interacting with the customers and getting them involved, not just heads down in the kitchen."
George credits working alongside chef Brett Graham at The Ledbury in London with instilling in him core values about cooking for others: "Brett was all about relatable food, and doing food better than anyone else."
He and Matthew currently drive to and from Sydney several times a week in a refrigerated van, using the time on the road to make phone calls and bounce ideas off one another.
"We don't want to sacrifice quality for quantity," said Matthew.
"We want to make sure the brand is consistently producing the level of food that we want it to before bringing in a larger team."
For details go to barechestedchef.com.au
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