While the MasterChef contestants were on the boot camp of a lifetime in Singapore, the judges were on an educational journey of their own. Despite travelling through the country en route between New Zealand and England for the past 20 years, MasterChef judge and former trainee of Gordon Ramsay Josh Emett had never visited before. “It’s an incredible place – the culture is completely based on food.”
All three judges had their first meal at a hawker market – delicious, made-to-order street food, originally made in pots carried by street hawkers on poles. In the 1980s, the government created designated hawker centres for hygiene reasons – and it’s where you’ll find some of the best food in the world. ”Chilli crab, black carrot cake, grilled stingray – there’s so much to learn about food here. Even after a night I’d learned so much about cooking I never learned anywhere else,” says Josh.
While Josh took every chance he could to learn about Singapore’s diverse food culture for the first time, Ray McVinnie was happily immersing himself in a world he knows intimately – he’s been coming here for more than 20 years. “I honestly can’t remember how many times I’ve been here,” says Ray. He first learned about Singaporean cooking when New Zealand food writer Connie Clarkson took him to a different food outlet every day for a week to understand all the intricacies of creating delicious Asian food.
“I learn something every time I come here. That’s what I love about food – whatever country you’re in, when you hook into the food of a place, you hook into the culture and the people.” It wasn’t the first trip for modern-cuisine expert Simon Gault either. Like Josh and Ray, the Auckland chef was like a kid in a candy shop as he sampled food from as many of the 40,000 restaurants as possible. “We’re here for MasterChef, but the food is what it’s all about for me,” he enthuses, ordering several plates of food of which, he confesses, he has “no idea” what they are.
“Visiting here is yet more proof that with food, no matter how long you’ve been working with it, you’re constantly learning,” Simon explains. “Singapore really rates. In my opinion it beats Italy,
France, Spain – anywhere else in the world for food,” says Ray. ”These contestants have been given the chance of a lifetime.” And have they learned from it? “They are different people to the ones we first auditioned for the show,” says Josh.
“They have immersed themselves in learning and they are becoming excellent chefs.” Despite the surprises, the chefs are unanimous when it comes to elimination. “I can honestly say that Ray, Josh and I have never disagreed on who goes,” says Simon. “My only worry is that Charlene, who we all thought would make it through to the end, isn’t dark on me. Now I’m back from Singapore, I’d really like some great Fijian food from her one day!”
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