‘Very, very impressed’: MasterChef Australia cooks wow Hong Kong guest judge Vicky Cheng

Vicky Cheng (centre) with the MasterChef Australia judges at the Big Buddha in Lantau, Hong Kong. Photo: Kelly Gardner

• Vicky Cheng of VEA reflects on his guest judge stint on MasterChef Australia and why he would hire any of the contestants in a heartbeat

MasterChef is the OG of reality cooking shows, having first aired on British television screens way back in 1990. It had a very different look, feel and format then, but it sowed the seeds of what would become a cultural phenomenon.

To date, more than 60 territories have launched their own versions of the show, with the franchise becoming a true culinary juggernaut.

The Australian version of MasterChef debuted in 2009 and quickly became a smash hit. Even in its first season, viewership of the show's finale peaked at more than 4 million, making it the most-watched non-sport programme in Australia since ratings began.

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But those numbers pale in comparison with viewership across the world - MasterChef Australia is now broadcast in more than 120 countries to potential audiences totalling billions.

All of which explains why multi-award-winning Hong Kong chef Vicky Cheng of VEA and Wing jumped at the chance to appear in the Hong Kong segments of the show.

"I said yes right away because it's something that I've always looked up to," he says. He also revealed that he was the show's first pick to be the guest judge for the challenges based in Hong Kong.

"The judges and the people who were involved with selecting the person to be involved said that they only looked me up and nobody else. So, they were really crossing fingers that I'd say yes!"

And so the team and contestants of MasterChef Australia jetted off to Hong Kong for a week of culinary adventures, which began with a challenge held at the M+ Art Park overlooking Victoria Harbour.

Contestants were met with a "Mystery Box" filled with Hong Kong-centric ingredients and had 75 minutes to cook up something exceptional using at least one of them.

Another challenge saw them cook dishes at a dai pai dong on Stanley Street in Central, on Hong Kong Island. Three teams of two were divided into wok, stir-fry and deep-fry stations, with each having to create two dishes for 40 hungry diners.

Given Cheng's stellar reputation, the challenge that he was involved in was understandably much more technical - and much more refined.

His first restaurant, VEA, holds one Michelin star while Wing, his celebration of contemporary Chinese cuisine and European techniques, recently made a remarkable debut on the 2024 edition of the World's 50 Best Restaurants in 20th place.

MasterChef calls the challenge a "Pressure Test", where contestants normally have to try to reproduce a perfect copy of a famed chef's dish.

Cheng clearly thought long and hard about which dish to highlight - but there were some special conditions, given the show's decision on the filming location for the challenge.

"We actually filmed up at Po Lin Monastery [on Lantau Island], so part of the challenge was that it had to be vegetarian - because we were in the space of the Big Buddha [statue ], with no meat allowed," says Cheng. "Usually I always use dried seafood, as it's so representative of Wing, VEA and myself.

"Honestly, it forced us to be creative, as we put all our efforts into creating something aligned with my concept. "

Cheng ended up developing a new dish just for the show - but it was so good, as it turned out, that Cheng is going to add it to the menu at VEA. It champions a very humble ingredient, but one with very deep roots: daikon.

"My 'Three Ages of Daikon' dish uses an ingredient coming from my dad's hometown in Chiuchow," Cheng explains. As the name suggests, the dish presents the ingredient at different stages of maturation: milky white fresh daikon, bronzed two-year preserved daikon and 20-year preserved daikon, which is almost black.

Cheng believes most people do not know that daikon is capable of being a source of intense umami, the famed savoury "fifth taste" which adds depth of deliciousness. So, armed with a quintessential Chinese ingredient, Cheng crafted his completely vegetarian dish using largely French techniques.

"If you take a radish and boil it, then reduce it, it literally becomes like MSG [monosodium glutamate], so we took advantage of that and treated the vegetable like a piece of meat, roasting it like a big piece of beef bone," Cheng explains. "We caramelised it and made a stock out of all these vegetables, strained it and reduced it - it took almost as much time as if it was meat."

The chef adds that because Po Lin Monastery follows Buddhist principles, he was not permitted to use alliums such as onions and garlic to boost flavour.

The filming of Cheng's demonstration of the dish took place at VEA, but the cast and crew were so large that not everyone could fit in the restaurant.

Remarkably, the MasterChef contestants were given no recipe and were not allowed to take any notes. Cheng explained how many grams or millimetres were needed in the different steps, but ultimately they had to try and recreate the dish only from memory - all in just 75 minutes.

Not only that, but they were not cooking at VEA but outside, in the elements, by Big Buddha, almost 500 metres (1,640 feet) above sea level. As chance would have it, it also ended up being one of the coldest days in Hong Kong's recent history.

"It was freaking cold! Cooking in bare hands, it was crazy, freezing," Cheng laughs. "It felt like Canada!"

Despite the multiple hurdles they faced, Cheng says he was blown away by what the contestants ultimately produced on the day.

"I tell you, I was very, very impressed. Their execution, memory, discipline, but also hunger - I could feel that they were hungry to win it. I don't know if it was for the money [the overall winner takes home A$250,000 or US$166,000], the career or the pride - but they were absolutely hungry.

"The care, the outcome, the speed, the discipline - honestly, they could come into my kitchen at VEA and work right in front of you. If you just sat down to eat, you would feel like they were absolutely just part of the team. I don't know where these cooks come from - I wish I knew more home cooks like this!"

The dishes were judged by Cheng alongside the full-time MasterChef Australia judges Andy Allen; Poh Ling Yeow, a beloved alum from the first season of the show; food critic and journalist Sofia Levin; and award-winning French chef Jean-Christophe Novelli.

"Jean-Christophe is an inspiration, he was great. Poh is an incredibly talented artist and sent me one of her works which is now on my walls at home. And Sofia and Andy are super lovely, just great, nice people."

Although Cheng does not reveal the outcome of the Ages of Daikon challenge that he set, he clearly loved every minute of his time with the show.

"It felt great to know that they trust us - and me - to do this show that I've always looked up to. It was an absolutely brilliant experience."

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