A spot in the top six was up for grabs, and on a day when the standard of cooking was higher than ever, Tommy didn’t make the cut and plated up his final dish in the MasterChef kitchen.
The contestants entered the kitchen to face off in an all-in elimination, with those who made it through joining Linda in finals week.
Melissa announced that the challenge would take place over two rounds. In round one they would need to hero a chosen ingredient in a fast-food dish with the three least impressive dishes heading into round two.
At the top of the pack after the first round and through to finals week was Kishwar, Sabina and Justin. Pete, Elise and Tommy failed to impress the judges and were sent into round two, where they would have to use their chosen ingredient in a fancy, fine dining creation.
Pete was happy with his potato, buttermilk and olive and the judges agreed, it was salty, sweet, bitter and sour, and Jock said he’d done an amazing job.
For her first time in a round two elimination cook, Elise plated up spelt pappardelle with sardines and Jock said the sardines were perfectly cooked and every mouthful was delicious.
Tommy was stoked that he was able to create a fancy version of Bún Bò Huế. Mel said it was modern Vietnamese cuisine that would do anyone proud, but the way Tommy chose to serve his hero ingredient of steak very rare let him down, and he was sent home from the MasterChef Australia.
For new dad Tommy Pham, the hardest part of joining MasterChef Australia has been focusing on the competition and not what his baby boy Miles is doing back home.
Having welcomed Miles into the world with his partner in April 2020, Tommy is sacrificing a lot to work towards achieving his food dream.
Being raised by his Vietnamese mum, Tommy says home cooked meals from his childhood are what has most inspired his cooking and that his mum is the best cook in the world.
Growing up in Sydney, Tommy admits to falling in with the wrong crowd in his teens, but he eventually graduated from university and went on to work in IT before moving abroad to Japan. A two-year stint living and working in Tokyo, steered Tommy towards teaching and he is now a kindergarten teacher.
Always a lover of exotic foods, Tommy is largely self-taught, though his mum shared many recipes for Vietnamese basics. While living and working in Japan, Tommy fell deeper in love with cooking and when he missed home, he would turn to his mum’s classic dishes. For Tommy, food offers an indelible connection to his family and heritage.
With strengths in balancing unique flavours and knowledge of unusual ingredients, Tommy hopes to combine his two passions of traveling and cooking to one day follow in the footsteps of his food heroes. He dreams of travelling abroad, documenting different food cultures and sharing them with the world.
