MasterChef Australia has been a real rollercoaster for high school teacher Mimi Wong – from the lows of forgetting to plate up her sauce in a sauce challenge, to the highs of wowing dessert king Adriano Zumbo with her croquembouche.
“Burnout is real – the show is exhausting,” admits Mimi, 25. “The contestants are so talented, yet the schedule and pressure gets to us sometimes. I’m one of the younger people and I didn’t have the wisdom of age!”
Despite the bumpy road, Mimi made it to Hong Kong Week, which was meaningful for the budding chef. Mimi was born in Hong Kong but moved to Sydney with her family when she was a year old. She and her brother returned to live with their grandmother in Hong Kong when she was 11.
It’s under her nana’s roof that Mimi learnt the art of Cantonese cooking, so it was surreal to go back to Hong Kong as part of MasterChef.
“It seemed so serendipitous that was the location,” Mimi says. “I was overwhelmed and thought, ‘This has to mean something, surely?’”
Mimi found time to visit family and it was an emotional reunion, she confesses. “I needed that release of having somebody else take care of me. I went to see my mum, stepdad and grandma. That contact, even just a hug, meant the world. There were lots of cathartic tears.”
Mimi also showed the other contestants around Hong Kong. She smiles, “It was a special joy to hang out with Pezza. He’s never left Australia, so it was wonderful to bring him into my world and show him some of my food. I’m never going to forget it.”
MasterChef Australia screens 7pm Sundays and 7.30pm Monday to Wednesday on TVNZ 2.
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
