Tastes of Bay chef is also a commercial fisherman

2018-07-21

A rare combination of chef and commercial fisherman, Andrew Mirosch is the perfect person to host the Hervey Bay Seafood Festival’s six-course Tastes of the Bay seafood and wine experience.

Based in Brisbane, Mr Mirosch is also a presenter on Creek to Coast and has been coming up to the festival for the past six years.

“I love it, it’s like a holiday,” he said. “I really enjoy it. The customers are nice. The return business is pretty good.”

He uses only local seafood and produce at the lunch on August 12 which this year features diamond scale mullet, Hervey Bay scallops, tiger prawns from inside Fraser Island, octopus and squid.

“It’s prepared in different ways, the squid’s not deep fried with salt and pepper.

“Every year I try to choose different products, different seafood.      

“This is a good chance to eat a wide variety of wild catch seafood.

“It’s all supplied by local fishermen in Hervey Bay.”

Mr Mirosch is also full of praise for the Year 10, 11 and 12 hospitality students from Urangan State High School who volunteer to serve, wash dishes and perform other tasks at the lunch.

“They’re absolutely brilliant – they’re extremely well trained.

He’s even hired four or five of the students over the years as apprentice chefs with one of them scheduled to return on the day to lend a hand.

Mr Mirosch will also bring a friend, also a chef, and a son and daughter to help out.

He said he always stayed for a few days in Hervey Bay, usually spending one of them out on the water with a professional fisherman to see what was being caught.

Mr Mirosch first combined commercial fishing with his work as a chef in the 1990s and he supplied his own restaurant on North Stradbroke Island.

He sold both the restaurant and fishing licence after 10 years but bought another commercial fishing licence to supply Sirromet Wines in the Brisbane suburb of Mount Cotton, where he was executive chef with 120 staff until March this year. 

He continues to fish professionally but will dust off his knives to once again present Tastes of the Bay.

The Seafood Festival is part of the Hervey Bay Ocean Festival, presented in partnership with USC, which also includes a free public lecture by a USC marine conservationist about the impact of rubbish on sea life on August 10; the Fraser Coast Kite Karnival and Coast Pop Up Sunset Pier Party on August 11; the Fraser Coast Chronicle Whale Parade and Concert on August 18; and the Paddle Out for Whales in Torquay on August 19.

The Queensland Government, via Tourism and Events Queensland, supports the Hervey Bay Ocean Festival which features on the It’s Live! In Queensland events calendar. Your perfect next event is in Queensland where live events combine with the most incredible destinations, and life is beautiful one day, perfect the next.

Tickets for Tastes of the Bay, priced at $130 including general admission, are available online via herveybayoceanfestival.com.au.

ENDS

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