The final challenge on MasterChef Australia 2021 will be set by none other than Peter Gilmore — one of the country’s most celebrated and awarded chefs.
As executive chef at the stunning Quay in Sydney, Peter’s food is something that people from all over the world have flocked to enjoy, with the restaurant earning three Chefs Hats for 12 consecutive years and being named Restaurant of the Year five times. Quay was also listed for five years on the World’s 50 Best Restaurant list and held the title of Best Restaurant in Australasia for three of those years.
So yeah, he’s a pretty huge deal!
Gilmore has also been featured on MasterChef numerous times before, so if you haven’t made it to Quay yet, you will probably still recognise this acclaimed culinary icon — and you’ll almost definitely recognise his incredible snow egg dessert.
Prior to becoming the executive chef at Quay and Bennelong at the Sydney Opera House, Sydney-born Gilmore was head chef at De Beers Restaurant in Whale Beach, which is unfortunately now closed.
Gilmore began cooking when he was 16 years old and describes his cuisine as “food inspired by nature”. A passionate gardener himself, he was one of the first chefs in Australia to embrace heirloom varieties of vegetables and continues to work in partnership with small and artesian producers who cultivate bespoke produce exclusively for both Quay and Bennelong.
In addition to running two of the most awarded restaurants in Sydney (Bennelong even took out the award for ‘Best New Restaurant’ at all three major Australian Restaurant Awards the year it opened) Gilmore is also the proud author of three cookbooks.
In 2010 he released his first cookbook, Quay: Food Inspired by Nature, followed by Organum: Nature, Texture, Intensity, Purity in 2014, and From The Earth: World’s Great, Rare and Almost Forgotten Vegetables in 2018.
While the snow egg is no longer on the menu at Quay, the eight-course offering showcases Gilmore’s skill and love of unique ingredients — as witnessed by dishes such as Tasmanian rock lobster with ginger scented milk curd, super chicken broth and sudachi citrus or the Porridge of native weeping millet & heirloom grains, Maremma quail skirret, and Terra Preta truffle.
I mean, my mouth is watering and I don’t even know what half of those ingredients are.
Even better is the fact that Quay is set in the most stunning spot in Sydney — at the Overseas Passenger Terminal overlooking Sydney Harbour. It’s a truly magical place to celebrate a special occasion, or even host a wedding — as many people do.
So, with one of the most intimidating resumes in Australian cuisine to his name, just what will Gilmore task the remaining MasterChef finalists — Pete, Kishwar and Justin — with doing in order to take home the grand prize of $250,000? What we do know is that he will be asking them to make not one, but two of his intricate dishes so it is going to unmissable television, for sure.
The MasterChef Australia grand finale airs tonight (July 13) on Network 10 and 10 Play.
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