Gary Mehigan (born 12 February 1967) is an English-Australian chef and restaurateur. Mehigan was one of the original judges of the

Network 10 Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

series '' MasterChef Australia''.

Career

Chef

Mehigan trained at The Connaught and Le Souffle in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

before moving to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

in 1991. He has headed the kitchen in some of Melbourne's most prominent restaurants including Browns, Burnham Beeches Country House and Hotel Sofitel before opening the award-winning Fenix in 2000 and later selling it to the Leonda by the Yarra group in 2013. He formerly co-owned The Boathouse in the

suburb

Moonee Ponds Moonee Ponds is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Moonee Valley local government area. Moonee Ponds recorded a population of 16,224 at the 2 ...

. He was selected as one of the entrants to the 2012 edition of ''

Who's Who in Australia ''Who's Who in Australia'' (''WWIA'') is an Australian biographical dictionary first published by Fred Johns in 1906 as ''Johns's Notable Australians''. It is used as a resource for summary information on prominent Australians. ''WWIA'' is part of ...

''.

Television career

Mehigan was one of the original judges on

's '' MasterChef Australia'' with

George Calombaris George Dimitrios Calombaris (born 4 October 1978) is an Australian chef and restaurateur. Calombaris was one of the judges of the Network 10 series '' MasterChef Australia'' from 2009 to 2019. Prior to his role on ''MasterChef Australia'', Calo ...

and

Matt Preston Matt Preston (born 21 July 1961) is an English-Australian food critic, writer and television presenter. He is best known for his role as a judge on Network Ten's ''MasterChef Australia'' between 2009 and 2019, and for his weekly national food ...

. He left the show in 2019 after its 11th season. Mehigan also co-hosted two shows on Australia's

LifeStyle Food Lifestyle Food (stylised as Lifestyle FOOD) is an Australian pay-TV food channel, solely dedicated to food, wine and restaurant society. The channel is a subsidiary of Lifestyle, which runs 24 hours a day on the Foxtel. On 19 September 2016, ...

channel, ''

Good Chef Bad Chef ''Good Chef Bad Chef'' is an Australian television cooking show. The ''"Good Chef"'' presents health conscious recipes, while the ''"Bad Chef"'' presents indulgent recipes. The show's presenters are Adrian Richardson and Preeya Alexander. ''G ...

'' and ''Boys Weekend'', and appeared at the 2011 '' Good Food & Wine Show''. In July 2015, Mehigan began a new TV series called ''Far Flung with Gary Mehigan'', where he travelled to various countries in Asia such as India, Vietnam, Laos, China and South Korea to learn local cooking techniques and recipes, which he uses as inspiration for a recipe he demonstrates at the end of each episode. After leaving ''MasterChef Australia'', on 23 October 2019 it was announced that Mehigan and fellow ''MasterChef Australia'' judge Matt Preston would join Manu Feildel in 2020 with a new show on the

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...

called ''

Plate of Origin ''Plate of Origin'' (abbreviated as POO) was an Australian competitive cooking game show that was broadcast on the Seven Network. Celebrity chef Manu Feildel hosts the series alongside former ''MasterChef Australia'' judges chef Gary Mehigan and ...

''. In 2022 Mehigan appeared as a guest judge on the twelfth season of ''

My Kitchen Rules ''My Kitchen Rules'' (often abbreviated as ''MKR'') is an Australian competitive cooking game show broadcast on the Seven Network since 2010. The show is currently hosted and judged by chef Manu Feildel, who has appeared in every season of the s ...

''.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mehigan, Gary Living people British chefs British television chefs Australian television chefs Australian restaurateurs MasterChef Australia English emigrants to Australia 1967 births Television personalities from Melbourne