By Benjamin Millar
Footscray kitchen whizz Simon Toohey plans to take his MasterChef success forward into a sizzling new career.
Toohey, 32, was one of only three contestants to survive weeks of culinary challenges on the hit Network 10 show all the way to Tuesday’s night’s grand finale.
His appearance was only secured after he managed to create a complicated ‘white coral’ dessert challenge set by chef Peter Gilmore, joining Larissa and Tessa in the MasterChef Australia grand finale.
The challenge – cooking a three-course meal to feed 60 guests to take out the coveted title of MasterChef 2019.
Toohey began his challenge by cooking an entree of roasted heirloom beets with a beet leaf puree.
His main course was lobster served with a champagne sauce.
Dessert was pumpkin seed oil cake with roasted pumpkin ice cream, rounding out his series-long focus on drawing the best out of vegetables across every meal.
Toohey finished as the top placed Victorian and picked up $20,000 in prize money, edged into third place in the final episode by winner Larissa Takchi of NSW and Queenslander Tessa Boersma.
He said it had been an honour to appear on the program and he would make the most of the experience as he pursues his dream to open a vegan smokehouse.
Toohey paid special tribute to his partner Georgie, thanking her for pushing him to apply to be a contestant.
“It was my partner’s idea. I’ve always loved watching MasterChef and wanted to be in the food industry.
“My partner Georgie said ‘you are doing it, so we sat down and applied. I’m really grateful to her.”
