Since coming fourth on season 11 of MasterChef Australia in 2019, Tim Bone has been busy cooking up a toasted sandwich empire, starting the café Tim’s Toasties in his Victorian home town of Ballarat, 90 minutes west of Melbourne.
“Everyone loves a toastie,” explains the 39-year-old former teacher. His business started out as a mobile gourmet-sandwich company, before expanding into a bricks-and-mortar store.
Tim says a trip to New York helped inspire his business. While there, he ate the best grilled cheese melt on the Lower East Side. “I went there and thought, ‘How can a toastie taste so damn good?’
“But it wasn’t until after I was on MasterChef in 2019 that I had the confidence to throw in the towel at my teaching job. MasterChef changed the trajectory of my life and I’ve been flipping toasties since!”
Tim’s business isn’t the only thing that has grown since season 11. He and his wife Abbey are also busy raising their two adorable sons, Toby, four, and Jude, 15 months.
“The reason I’m back on MasterChef is to teach my boys that you can follow your dream, to back yourself and have a crack,” says Tim, who also hosts Aussie food show Good Chef Bad Chef. “I’m really excited to show my kids how to take life by the horns and run with it.”
Toby and Jude have inherited their dad’s love of cooking, helping out with meals. “Jude’s got a little stand at the kitchen bench where he can stir,” Tim smiles. “Whereas Toby’s a bit older, so he’s getting into the chopping side of things.”
For his second season on MasterChef, Tim’s hoping to prove his skills in the kitchen are worthy of winning.
“I’m a bit starstruck competing against the likes of Sarah Todd, Callum Hann and Laura Sharrad,” he admits. “Cooking alongside them is not only daunting, but it’s also pretty cool to be considered worthy of being in the same class as them.”
Meanwhile, Tim’s top tips for making the perfect toastie are using quality bread and a mix of cheeses, including, camembert, brie and goat’s cheese. He says, “You also want a good lathering of real butter on the outside of the toastie. That’s what gives you the golden crunch.”
MasterChef Australia: Back To Win screens 7.30pm Monday to Wednesday on TVNZ 2 and streams on TVNZ+.
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