MasterChef Australia S10 is ready to kick-off with a bang with 24 home cooks who will do battle for the prestigious apron. Amongst the contestants is Metter Chin, a 54-year-old aspiring chef from New South Wales with a Malaysian background.
Born in Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Metter was raised by his parents, alongside three siblings. Later living in New Zealand, Hong Kong and New York, Metter now calls Sydney home, where he lives with his long-term partner, Joey. A Project Manager by trade, Metter is passionate about his cultural heritage and traditional way of cooking; Metter describes his cooking style as traditional Hakka, with modern Australian and Malaysian influences.
Metter’s participation in the new season of MasterChef Australia will certainly be viewed with keen interest following Diana Chan’s win last year. The Malaysian-born cook worked her way to victory to become the winner of MasterChef Australia S9. One wonders if Metter will do the same by impressing judges Gary Mehigan, George Calombaris and Matt Preston in this year’s competition.
You’re one of the oldest competitors in Season 10. Does that put you in advantage or disadvantage?
Like everything we do there are pros and cons. The advantage of being older is that you are more knowledgeable and have a better coverage of palate and food. But you don’t move as fast or be as flexible as the younger competitors. They can surely move faster and think faster than me because they are always on the go.
Following Diana Chan’s win in Season 9, do you feel you have added pressure to do well as you share similar Malaysian roots?
I think so. Diana has set the bar for other cooks from Malaysia. So we all have to perform better or at least equal to the standards Diana has displayed on MasterChef. She’s certainly a very good cook and it will force all of us to raise our game.
What inspired you to try out for MasterChef?
It was just an opportunity that came up. I did want to enter the competition earlier but I felt that I needed to work on a few more dishes first. But whenthe opportunity suddenly presented itself, I felt it was worth the risk and decided to give it a go.
Your cooking styles merge Hakka, modern Australia and Malaysian influences. Is this a natural reflection of your background?
Most definitely! Using some of the cooking knowledge and palate that I have especially from my Malaysian background not only helps me to project a different style of cooking but it also helps improve on what I’ve learnt on the kitchen.
What’s the signature Metter Chin dish that you feel most comfortable making?
I would say the Shitake Mushroom Chicken. I presented that to the judges and that’s how I got into MasterChef Australia 2018. My favourite cuisines are Hakka and Malaysian and I always go back to my roots and I believe those two cuisines really show flavour and the style of cooking that I have.
Is there an element in your cooking that needs to be fixed? If so, where do you think it needs work and how will you go about improving on it?
I think we all have weaknesses in our cooking and personally for me, baking is really not my thing. In the elimination show when I was baking my Apple Tart Tatin, when I cut my fingers, everything sort of deteriorated from there. So I think I need to improve on my baking for sure.
You’re going to a dinner party, what are you bringing?
Well it depends on whose dinner party it is. In Australia we have a lot of pot luck and I always like to bring a lot of my Malaysian food with me because it’s always a hit. You could say it’s a cuisine that is universally loved by people around the world.
MasterChef Australia S10 Premieres 18 June 2018 on Lifetime (Astro Ch 709), Mondays to Fridays 8pm and 10.55pm.