Daniel ‘Dobbers’ Dobra – Queensland’s most famous chef you’ve probably never heard of

He has more than half a million followers on social media and people recognising him in the street, but this Sunshine Coast local could be the most famous chef you’ve never heard of.

Sunshine Coast Chef Daniel “Dobbers” Dobra who has amassed a social media following of over half a million people through his colourful cooking and recipe sharing videos. Picture Lachie Millard

Meet Queensland’s most famous chef you’ve probably never heard of.

Sunshine Coast-based Daniel “Dobbers” Dobra has amassed more than a whopping 410,000 followers on Instagram and in excess of 160,000 on TikTok.

He has people recognise him in the street almost on the daily, while diners would reserve tables at restaurant Market Bistro in Maroochydore where he worked as head chef just for a chance to see him, with one keen fan even flying from the UK to meet him.

“It’s a beautiful thing,” said the humble kitchen whiz.

“It’s nice to be recognised but what’s even better is, it’s nice to be appreciated.”

Mr Dobra was an early adopter of Instagram and had 10,000 followers, but in November last year he decided to put more effort into growing his account. In just four months he boomed to a massive 200,000 followers, gaining traction by providing glimpses into his everyday life as a chef – filming everything from recipes to prepping and plating of food, with a video of him making carrot puree going viral attracting more than 1.8m views. In the five months since, he has doubled his followers.

Sunshine Coast Chef Daniel “Dobbers” Dobra. Picture Lachie Millard

“What amazes me is it is stuff I see and do everyday of the week as a chef, but to the average Joe out there it is amazing,” he said.

Also helping grow the chef’s enormous online presence has been his “how to” videos, where he shares tips and tricks on everything from how to prepare and portion green beans to how to truss pork belly or plate up pasta.

“Once it started growing I thought, ‘If I have this following online, I’m going to share as much knowledge as possible with those around the world because no one owns knowledge and it’s so important we share it for the next generation’,” he said.

Mr Dobra, who has even more followers on social media than well-known celebrity chefs such as Maggie Beer, Matt Moran, Manu Feildel and Neil Perry, said most of his fans were either young, aspiring chefs or retired chefs who liked to reminisce about the good old days.

He said juggling his content creation around his full-time cheffing job was tricky, but he loved to be able to give back and hoped to leave the cheffing world better than he found it.

His social media fame has now led him to resign from his full-time role at Market Bistro to start an educational YouTube channel next month offering cooking advice, teaching culinary skills and answering the questions that he is asked the most online, from how to poach an egg to how to cook steak.