ABOUT THE CHEF

Gary Mehigan

Accolades & Awards:
Best Cinematography – Asian Television Awards 2019

TV Appearances:
Masterchef Australia – Judge
Plate of Origin
Melbourne Weekender
Masters of Taste
Good Chef Bad Chef
Boys Weekend

Podcast Series:
The Gary Mehigan Show

Books:
Comfort Food
Good Food Everyday
Bringing Flavour Home
Your Place or Mine
Cook with Us

Australian and International TV Presenter

Gary has been part of our television viewing since he first started as a co-host on Good Chef Bad Chef on Channel Seven in 2007. Since then he has been an integral part of shows like Boys Weekend and of course 12 years of Masterchef Australia, and Seven’s Plate of Origin. Gary’s TV audience stretches around the globe, and his series Far Flung and Masters of Taste, have well and truly cemented him as one of the most loved and TV Presenters both in Australia and internationally. He has just completed filming ten episodes of National Geographic India’s “Mega Festivals”, and spends a lot of time travelling in the region and working with Conosh, an experiential Food and education platform.
Gary’s Podcast series, titled “The Gary Mehigan Show”, included guests such as Nigella Lawson, Steve Price, Craig Reuscassel, Pia Miranda, and Maggie Beer, just to name a few. In 2018, the PWC Media Outlook used Gary’s interview with Nigella Lawson as an example of the power of the Trust Driver for traditional media.

Gary TV two seaons for Fox Life called Masters of Taste won Best Cinematography at the Asian Television Awards in 2019. He is now a regular presenter for Seven’s Melbourne Weekender. In Australia he has his brand of restaurants called Moga Moba, with the first one launching at Melbourne Airport’s Qantas domestic terminal in January 2024, and his frozen meal range for Providoor launched in October 2023. He continues to work with brands as a trusted Ambassador and Spokesperson, and has written 5 cookbooks – Comfort Food, Good Food Everyday, Bringing Flavour Home, Your Place or Mine and Cook with Us.

Gary says he feels blessed in his career, it has allowed him to travel, indulge his passions and meet some extraordinary people. He has by his own admission felt the pain and pressures of failure but enjoyed great success and couldn’t wish for more. He values, honesty, enthusiasm, passion and compassion, an d above all else he loves to teach.

A bit about Gary’s career prior to his Television Career…..

Gary was born and grew up in the UK, in a little place called Hayling Island on the South Coast of England, his Dad was an Engineer, Mum an artist and grandfather a chef and teacher. He attended Highbury College of Technology, where he studied to be a chef, before leaving for London to take up his first full-time position. Gary marks the two Michelin starred restaurants that were the most formative in his early career, as The Connaught Hotel under Michel Bourdan where he worked for almost 4 years and Le Souffle at The Hyde Park Intercontinental under Peter Kromberg. They were at the time, two hugely influential chefs in Britain with two opposing styles and ideas, one a bastion of “French haute Cuisine” and the other modern, creative and progressive.

He moved to Australia in 1991 where he worked at Burhnam Beeches, Browns Restaurant and Sofitel Melbourne before venturing into business at the age of 31. He then started Fenix Restaurant & Events which gained a hat in its first year, and which Gary owned for 14 years. Gary opened the Maribyrnong Boathouse in 2007, which proved to be a huge success known for its prime location and local clientele. Gary sold his interest in the Maribyrbong Boathouse earlier in 2017.

MasterChef was by all accounts, a game-changer for all involved. Eleven years and 12 series later, Gary, Matt & George became part of our daily viewing, when it comes to food. MasterChef Australia series 2 was the highest rating show on Australian television of all time and the show has inspired a new generation of young cooks to embrace food and cooking.