Why Jason Barratt left Supernormal for a 20-seat fish-and-chip shop

After almost three years overseeing Supernormal Brisbane and Bar Miette, Jason Barratt is opening a 20-seat fish-and-chip shop in Burleigh Heads. The idea is deliberately simple: familiar food, serious sourcing and everything he has learnt in some of Australia's best kitchens

Jason Barratt has spent much of his career in serious restaurant kitchens.

Attica, Stokehouse, Raes on Wategos and Paper Daisy. Most recently, almost three years as executive chef across Supernormal Brisbane and Bar Miette. He also co-founded Melbourne sandwich shop Hector's Deli.

His next kitchen is a 20-seat fish-and-chip shop in Burleigh Heads.

Paradise Fish Shop opens on Wednesday 23 September, built around hand-battered fish, chips cut in-house, dim sims and the kind of Friday-night takeaway Jason remembers from growing up.

There is no degustation menu and no attempt to turn fish and chips into fine dining.

That is precisely what makes the move interesting.

The move came before the restaurant

Jason's decision to leave Brisbane was driven first by family.

He and his partner Josie wanted to raise their children on the Gold Coast. Once that decision had been made, the question became what kind of business made sense there.

Paradise draws on the neighbourhood fish-and-chip shops Jason remembers from childhood: lining up on a Friday night, ordering at the counter and taking dinner home wrapped up for the family.

He isn't trying to replace that model with something more elaborate.

The ambition is to execute it better.

Serious sourcing, familiar food

That starts with the fish.

Paradise will source fresh, sustainable seafood from fishers and suppliers working along Australia's east coast, with Jason putting the same emphasis on provenance that shaped his cooking in larger restaurant kitchens.

That focus on seafood is not new.

In 2025, Jason won the Tranche Scholarship, using the opportunity to explore sustainable seafood practices internationally, including planned work with seafood restaurants and organisations FishWise and Seafood Watch in California.

At Paradise, those ideas are being applied to one of Australia's most familiar takeaway formats.

The menu will include hand-battered fish, seasonal salads and chips cut in-house each day from Russet Burbank potatoes sourced directly from a Gippsland grower.

There will be a crumbed whiting sandwich, while even the dim sims are being made in-house using organic chicken thigh and Bangalow pork belly, served with seasoned soy and black vinegar.

Salsa verde, spicy tomato mayonnaise and a tartare with citrus and dill will also be made in the kitchen.

The detail matters, but Jason has been careful not to let it turn into a chef's interpretation of what a fish-and-chip shop should be.

He has spoken about taking a similar approach to Hector's Deli: start with the food people already know and want, then focus on making each element as good as possible.

Knowing what not to change

That restraint may be the more interesting lesson for chefs.

When someone comes from high-end kitchens, there can be a temptation to demonstrate that background on every plate.

Paradise is deliberately resisting that.

Fish is still battered. Chips are still chips. There are dim sims and a crumbed fish sandwich.

The technique and sourcing sit underneath the familiarity rather than replacing it.

It is a very different challenge from creating a restaurant dish from scratch.

For a fish-and-chip shop, the reference point already exists in the diner's head. The batter needs to be crisp, the fish needs to be well handled, the chips need to arrive properly cooked and the entire meal still needs to feel like something you would happily take to the beach.

Jason's experience becomes useful when it improves those fundamentals, not when it makes them more complicated.

Building a different type of business

The operating model has been kept relatively tight too.

Paradise has just 20 seats and will take orders in-store rather than through delivery platforms, maintaining the walk-in neighbourhood model that inspired it.

That is a significant change from overseeing Supernormal Brisbane and Bar Miette, two busy venues operating across different styles of food and service.

But Jason has not ruled out returning to restaurants in the future.

Paradise represents what makes sense for him now: a smaller business near the coast, built around family life and a style of food with which almost every Australian has an existing relationship.

For professional chefs, that makes the opening more interesting than simply watching another experienced chef go casual.

The question is what remains when the format is stripped right back.

In Jason's case, it appears to be the same things that mattered in bigger kitchens: product, suppliers, consistency and knowing exactly what the restaurant is trying to be.

Only this time, it comes wrapped with chips.

Paradise Fish Shop opens in Burleigh Heads on Wednesday 23 September 2026.