‘I'm a sucker for any pub': MasterChef winner Nat Thaipun's go-to spots to eat and drink
When she's not globetrotting, Thaipun picks up shifts cooking at Melbourne's three-hatted Vue de Monde, as you do.
Yes, it's been a rapid rise for the former environmental science student and barista, who still lives in an inner-city Melbourne share house and now counts Jamie Oliver as a friend, but cooking has always been in her veins. Her parents ran popular Sunbury restaurant Thai Hut, until it closed in 2019 after 30 years.
It was her experience at The Zin House, Mudgee's biodynamic farm and restaurant, that spurred Thaipun to accept a spot on MasterChef. The restaurant's commitment to organic practices also prompted her to return to Thailand for a deeper exploration of her culinary heritage before filming began.
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News.com.au
9 hours ago
- News.com.au
MasterChef fan favourite sent packing in shock elimination, as top five revealed
One of the fan favourites on this season of MasterChef Australia has been eliminated just shy of the grand final. Sunday's high-stakes episode saw the remaining contestants battle it out to make the top five, with debut MasterChef winner Julie Goodwin and most recent victor Nat Thaipun forming part of the special-look judging panel. The current season of the long-running Ten cooking series has seen past stars return to the kitchen for another shot at the title. In Sunday's elimination, Goodwin and Thaipun set the contestants a challenge of creating a meal with ingredients they each used in their respective winning dishes. With just 60 minutes on the clock, Depinder and Ben ultimately came out on top, joining last week's immunity winners Callum and Laura to make up the top four. Sarah and Jamie were then sent to a second round for the final spot, tasked with whipping up yet another dish from Goodwin and Thaipun's pantries. Sarah, who recently went public with her relationship with fellow MasterChef star Declan, set herself the almighty feat of making Pork Assiette – which required her to cook pork three different ways in just 60 minutes. Jamie, meanwhile, leant into classic flavours with roast chicken and vegetables. After a last-minute hurdle, in which Jamie was forced to abandon his failed gnocchi, the first-time returnee was ultimately victorious over Sarah, with the judges unable to look past her undercooked pork belly. The third-time MasterChef competitor, and runner-up in season 14, broke down in tears upon realising she just missed out on the top five, as the judges rallied around her. 'Sarah. You are so unique,' Jean-Christophe Novelli said. 'It is a pleasure watching you cooking. Every single dish you came out with were very different, and please, do not change. 'It's just a bad day in the office. You are so credible. Trust me. I really admire you.' While Sarah didn't make it to the final, the TV cook did leave the show with a new love in her life, Declan, who was eliminated several weeks ago. The pair revealed their secret relationship to Stellar in June, saying they began dating during filming of the latest season in Melbourne. 'We instantly got along and started spending a lot of time together,' Declan, 27, said. 'Nothing was ever rushed or forced – we just enjoyed spending time together. And Sarah, being from Melbourne, knew all the places to go. So we'd go to the beach, or go-karting, and we went out for lots of dinners.' It was Declan who made the first move on Sarah, who has a 14-year-old son, as she faced elimination for the first time. 'I was [panicking]. 'Oh sh*t. I've been spending all this time with this bloody amazing chick and now she might be leaving,'' he told the magazine. 'And so, as she's walking into the elimination [challenge], I said, 'Sarah, can I ask you something? Would you like to go on a date with me?' And she just looked at me and said, 'You're a bloody idiot!'' MASTERCHEF AUSTRALIA'S TOP FIVE REVEAL THEIR HIGHLIGHTS: Ben Macdonald, New Zealand 'Travelling to Doha and winning immunity cooking in an Alain Ducasse restaurant. Unforgettable,' Macdonald said. Callum Hann, South Australia 'All the way back on day one, I was lucky enough to be the leader of the Green Team in the Gordon Ramsay service challenge, and we won! Afterwards, Gordon said to me 'if this is how you run your restaurants, I can't wait to make a reservation'. To get that positive reinforcement from one of the best chefs in the world was a pretty incredible feeling. 'Another great memory was our trip to Doha and cooking with so many ingredients in the desert that I've never heard of or seen before. Winning the first immunity challenge of International Week was incredible. 'Cooking with Hugh Allen and Vue de Monde, with another ingredient I wasn't familiar with, was also a very special experience.' Depinder Chhibber, NSW 'My proudest achievement would be winning immunity in the final challenge in Doha. I had a rough week so winning that immunity just made it all worth it. 'My fondest memory is the Dough-Fest team challenge where Callum and I were safe [with immunity] and we got to roam the MasterChef Garden and taste everyone's the dishes.' 'My fondest memory of the season far is definitely winning a business class flight to Doha in the travel challenge. Getting to travel in style with some of my good friends was pretty wild.'
Perth Now
a day ago
- Perth Now
Meet the Aussie duo rewiring comedy
In early 2020, appearing on the YouTube interview show Hot Ones, legendary comedian Will Ferrell mused on the future of comedy. Comedy clubs were back then and are now a shadow of their former selves and mere days ago CBS announced the cancellation of The Late Night Show with Stephen Colbert after 33 years on air, 10 of those with Colbert as host. But laughs aren't dead, they're just online now. Social media is proving the new frontier for comedians looking to cut their teeth, allowing budding comics to record sketches, develop characters and grow a platform without the aid of more traditional pathways. Half the world away from that Ferrell interview, comedy duo Swag on the Beat started life in a Melbourne supermarket after an innocent one-take video poking fun at Covid supermarket etiquette gathered almost 30,000 views. Melbourne duo Swag On The Beat made up of Isaac Gibbons and Jack Say. David Crosling Credit: News Corp Australia Today, the duo – made up of Jack Say, 28, and Isaac Gibbons, 29 – have amassed more than 3.3 million followers across Instagram, TikTok and Facebook. Having recently completed a live show tour around Australia, New Zealand and England, Say and Gibbons agreed with Ferrell's assessment that there was no substitute for honing a comedian's craft quite like performing in front of a crowd. However, they argued the nature of social media management meant nowadays comics needed to be a 'jack of all trades'. 'It was an amazing cutting of the teeth moment for us,' Say told NewsWire. 'We learned so much about live audiences, but it feels like now – you hear musicians talk about it as well – not only do you have to 'make the music', but you have to be the advertiser and you have to do all the social media stuff that comes along with it. 'It feels like you almost have to be a jack of all trades and to service each platform with what it requires in order to have a grip in the industry.' The boys just reached one million followers on Instagram alone. David Crosling Credit: News Corp Australia Continuing the aspiration of multi-platform mastery, the duo have cracked into the podcast space. It's a dangerous time to make the move. Internet commentators have complained the market is now so over-saturated that the sale of podcasting equipment ought to be restricted or banned. The boys, however, are finding the change of pace a welcome return to the ad lib comedy style of their younger years. 'Speaking for myself, I wasn't a huge podcast guy, so I guess I was always astounded by the amount of podcasts out there that have strong listenership,' Gibbons said. 'Obviously, it's a growing platform and there's people that listen to all kinds of content. And I think rather than talking other people down or focusing on how types of podcasts that don't deserve listeners, get listeners, maybe it's worth acknowledging that there's all kinds of listeners for different types of content and trying to tap into that, appreciate that everyone listens to different stuff and try to make something that can appeal to a lot of people.' Making content that is appealing to a wide spate of people is no easy task in the modern world and it's something that Say and Gibbons have made pains to improve on in recent years. 'We were talking about this earlier today actually. Something we've crystallised since the start of Swag and we're getting closer and closer to is being able to provide content that anyone can listen to,' Say said. Comedy legend Barry Humphries is among the boys' role models. Openart AI Credit: Supplied 'If you're 15 or 75, we would like to create stuff that anyone can enjoy, anyone can palate. 'While being fresh and interesting is kind of the goal for us, we don't want to exclude any group or person or people from our stuff. 'It's that classic line from when they wrote the Mr. Bean TV show. 'If a joke couldn't be understood by people in Egypt, then it didn't get in'. He's on the extreme level where he didn't even speak, but we're sort of taking a leaf out of that book, which is: Does this allow everyone who can hear and watch our stuff the chance to enjoy it? 'There's only so much you can do as two guys, but we feel like we're getting better at dividing our time and energy up into multiple parts of the industry, which feels like an essential thing.' It's difficult to put your finger on Australian comedy in the same way you can identify dry British humour or brazen American comedies, and the nature of social media skits as an emerging form of content means prospective filmers may lack the comic role models of other mediums. However the boys cast the net wide and believe the vagueness offers an opportunity to cherry pick and aspire to the best. 'We're big fans of Chris Lilly, everything done by Chris Lilly,' Gibbons said. Australian icon in Chris Lilley as Jonah Takalua. Supplied Credit: Supplied 'I love the character comedy and the way he can very convincingly play all different types of characters. Sacha Baron Cohen as well. 'I think the Godfather of Australian comedy, Barry Humphries, is of course iconic. Flight of the Concords is a duo who has a hilarious dynamic and incorporates music which we try to do as well.' '(American and British humour) both are incredible, but I suppose beyond personal preference of the comedy styles, as Australia does in many other ways, we sort of take little bits of longstanding cultures that we like and try and incorporate them into our own things,' Say added. 'Maybe there's a bit of that going on that is forming the Australian comedy style.' The duo has partnered with KitKat to release a line of Commuter Camouflage Hoodies and are celebrating reaching one million followers on Instagram by throwing a party at the Railway Hotel in Brunswick on Saturday, August 30, announcing a secret project they've 'been working on for months'.
AU Financial Review
3 days ago
- AU Financial Review
Inside the test kitchen powering Coles' home brand-led profit surge
Four perfect scoops of vanilla bean ice cream are sitting in white ramekins, a numbered card for each. Michael Weldon takes one scoop at a time and considers its texture, taste and aroma. Then he picks one. The former MasterChef contestant now runs the test kitchen at Coles and is taking part in one of his own blind taste tests. Luckily, he picks the supermarket's brand as his favourite. A second tester considers the scoops – including from Aldi and premium brand Connoisseur – and lands on ice cream from Woolworths.
