The Dinner Party Chef

Are you looking for something different for your next dinner party which is less than the cost of a restaurant? The Dinner Party Chef, award-winning author Robert Bousamra*, can whip up everything from a refined European 3-course dinner to a traditional home style Lebanese feast.

Brisbane's most unique and ultimate dinner party – one where your own private chef (Robert) arrives at the host’s house during the day and prepares the entire meal from scratch, before serving it up to guests with a five-star presentation.

Robert will purchase and bring all the ingredients, inform you with a comprehensive list of what is needed, and if you don’t have the items, he will bring them along. 

The result is a truly delicious culinary experience that all up, costs less than the price you would pay to dine at a restaurant (with plenty of leftover). Sit back, sip wine and converse with Robert, as he puts together your feast.

Robert’s first cookbook ‘Lebanon to Ghana – The Food I Grew Up With’, based on his families’ recipes, takes you on a journey from Africa to Lebanon. Roberts second book, a combination of reinterpreted classics plus his own creations 'Take Back Control Of What You Eat’, is a testament to his talent and knowledge of food. This beautifully photographed cookbook not only provides fabulously tasty and nutritious meals, but a wealth of researched information on the interaction of food and the human body. It will change the way you cook! 

Robert’s style of cooking revolves around the traditions that created the cottage industries of our grandparents' times, when families made their own sauces, jams, pastries, breads, pickles cheeses, yoghurts and cured their own meats. These traditions learned from his mother and sister are the foundation of Robert's cooking style, where he prepares from scratch, sauces, marinades, dips, pastes, pates and even crackers. Most of this can be observed throughout the preparation process and Robert, who is a charming fountain of cooking tales and knowledge, is only too happy to explain as he goes.

Robert’s service provides two styles dining: the first, ‘Lebanese Feast’, best suited for 8-12 people, where guests help themselves. This service includes dips, cheeses, bread, table starters, salads, with focus on a main course and finishing with traditional sweets. 

The second dining experience, 'Mezza' provides a more intricately delicious selection suited to a group up to eight people. Robert will assist and talk you through the menu selection, making sure all the flavours work together and offer advice on wines to go with your meal.

The ‘World Food’ menu, a plated service for 6-8 guests, is as good as you will find in any of the best restaurants, with a range of European classics and a modern fusion of Arabic, African and Asian flavours.

Good to know - Robert also offers fun cooking class parties for up to eight people, where you learn to cook the delicious food and then sit down with friends and family to enjoy the fruits of your labour. These are fun afternoons of bonding and group learning are to be enjoyed by all.

Need to know - This is not a catering service, but rather a personalised experience in which almost the entire prep and cooking process happens in the host’s kitchen. The result is a unique and memorable dinner party that everyone will be talking about for a long time. 

* Robert, a fascinating creative character with many tales to tell, spent the early years of his life in Ghana, and has worked in several creative industries, such as graphic and industrial design, commercial pottery to aromatherapy.