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The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio

Posted: 09 Nov 2011 04:20 AM PST

While a chef needs to cook well, a celebrity chef needs to do more than that.

IT is not easy being a modern-day chef, especially if you are going to appear on television. Think you are great in the kitchen? Good for you, but that's not the complete package.

At least, that's how it works according to the newest reality cooking show to air.

Many hopefuls tried their luck in being crowned the ultimate chef on the first Asian Food Channel (AFC) reality show, Eastern & Oriental (E&O) Search For AFC's Next Celebrity Chef.

Hundreds turned up for auditions in five locations around Asia – Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Philippines – but only 35 finalists made it through the stringent selection process.

"It's so much more than just being good in the kitchen. It's not enough to simply cook well; we are looking for someone with a warm personality, good managerial skills and is willing to be flexible, to learn and to share. We want a chef who can entertain: you don't want a chef on television who is so boring that you fall asleep or switch channels," says E&O group hospitality and lifestyle director Michael Saxon, one of the celebrity guest judges on the show. (The other two judges are AFC's chefs Anna Olson and Bruce Lim – who star in AFC's Fresh With Anna Olson and Tablescapes, respectively.

On the show, contestants were put through a series of challenges that tested their cooking abilities and how well they are able to strut their stuff on stage.

Elimination awaited them each week in the eight-part series.

"I was secretly ecstatic when I was asked to be a judge on the show. I had a great time working on it, I met many wonderful people, and I encountered many fantastic contestants who we will be honoured to hire any time. The quality of the contestants was very high," says Saxon, adding that he believes that most chefs are made, not born.

But reality cooking shows are a dime a dozen now, so what's so special about this one?

AFC co-founder and managing director Hian Goh doesn't want to divulge too much before the show's premiere, but he promises that this is a show in a league of its own. He says that they were uncompromising about looking for that well-rounded individual who could be a great leader in the kitchen, a great chef and a great spokesperson in front of the camera.

"Leave all your preconceptions behind – it's different from all the other reality cooking shows out there," he says, adding that the show was a dream come true.

"AFC has always wanted to do a reality show, so when that opportunity came, we put our heart and soul into it. This show is ambitious: it was exactly a hundred days ago that we put out a call for contestants, had auditions, filmed it and put it out there. We took a risk with many things. While some of these might go down well with the audience, other choices might come across as being rather controversial," he says.

At the end of the show, the winner will be signed on to an exclusive one-year contract as an AFC Celebrity Chef who will appear on the channel and will also be awarded the opportunity of a year-long employment contract as Creative Chef in the Hospitality & Lifestyle Division, E&O Group.

Saxon concludes: "To watch the contestants evolve from episode to episode, and feeling almost like a part of their lives as they grow... I have to say that there were times when I got a bit emotional. I could have never envisaged what I was getting into when I first started on this. The overall experience was wonderful. And at the end of the day, to me, it was more a journey than a television show".

E&O Search For AFC's Next Celebrity Chef premieres on Nov 9 at 10pm, on Astro Channel 703.

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Whine and dine

Posted: 09 Nov 2011 04:20 AM PST

Verdict? Tak cukup garam.

I OFTEN think that I would have grown up differently had the MasterChef television programme been around when I was younger.

I usually watch the show with my 15-year-old son who's picked up quite a number of cooking tips from the programme. In fact, he's quite a smart aleck in the kitchen and at the dinner table these days, because he's always making comments as if he were one of the judges on the show: "The cake is not moist enough", "You get a zero for presentation", "Not enough salt".

The both of us, truth be told, were really excited to see what MasterChef Malaysia would turn out like. Naturally we had high hopes, after MasterChef Australia, MasterChef US and Junior MasterChef Australia (the last being our favourite). I've only seen a handful of episodes of MasterChef Malaysia so far and I am hoping that the excitement picks up along the way.

The series – be it the Aussie version or US – does have its fair share of drama to be fair. But Malaysia seems to have really overcooked the show's emotional quotient. Every time someone has something not so nice to say, or if the judges have to send someone home, they're all apologising left, right and centre.

Yes, I understand it is the Malaysian way to minta maaf (say I'm sorry), but when you have to hear it over and over again, it gets a little taxing. It's a competition, people are going to have to be eliminated, there's nothing to be sorry about!

What's worse is that by Episode Two (before the season could kick off properly) one contestant decided to withdraw from the competition (for personal reasons, not elaborated on the show) and the rest of them were bawling their eyes out!

You know when people say things like this is a series that has made many a bold chef cry, I'm pretty sure that's not what they meant.

It was more than a little incredulous, because viewers hardly got the chance to get to know this particular contestant, so her departure was quite honestly insignificant – and too much kitchen time was spent fussing over her farewell. The MasterChef clock was ticking away all too laboriously for us viewers.

MasterChef, for those who have never tuned in to an episode, is a TV cooking game show franchise, which started on BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) in 1990, and has since expanded to many other countries, including the United States, Australia (both of which we get to watch here in Malaysia), New Zealand, Croatia, Greece, India, Sweden and Indonesia.

The Malaysian programme is a collaboration between Astro Ria and Star World, and is overseen by a consultant from Shine International, distributors of MasterChef. So, it's been a disappointment for me in some ways because I was expecting to get at least the same quality in terms of production.

As it stands now, I find the little anecdotes about contestants spliced between cooking challenges too boring and sometimes irrelevant or untimely.

The fact that some of the contestants speak in halting Bahasa Malaysia is another gripe I have. Maybe it would have been better to let the contestants speak in whatever language they feel most comfortable in – which contestant Brian sometimes resorts too (by the way, why are Brian and Wahidan allowed to wear hats in the kitchen? Who wears a hat in the kitchen?). We're Malaysian; we're bi, tri and sometimes quadrilingual, why not embrace that? (Stick some subtitles in for the rest of the world to keep up lah!)

Granted, not everyone has difficulty with the language. For instance, it was a joy to see Kenny Chan (of TV programme Baba & Nyonya fame) who was extremely comfortable speaking Malay and completely at ease on camera, sharing his tips on Nyonya cuisine. When you have someone like that on hand, why not make full use of the guy?

During one the of masterclasses, too, I had a problem with the sound. It's not easy filming a cooking show because there are all kinds of gadgets and gizmos working in the background – fryers, blenders and food processors. In a well-produced cookery show, however, the host's voice comes across clear and precise; thanks to filming and refilming, once for background sound, once for voice. This just doesn't seem to be the case here, because you have to strain to hear the chefs speak over all their kitchen noise.

The format of the show is similar to MasterChef Australia where contestants have to undergo a series of different challenges every week. And so instead of Mystery Box, here we have the "Peti Saji Misteri", and instead of Invention Test, we get the "Ujian Cipta Rasa", et cetera.

No real problem here, except perhaps the challenges seemed a bit too basic at the start of the show – peeling and dicing onions? Separating egg whites from yolks? Extracting coconut milk? – you'd think the 40 contestants allegedly chosen from thousands who came for auditions nationwide would be able to do these things blindfolded! Especially since we viewers have been raised on a diet of Junior MasterChef, in which eight-year-olds can make meringue pies and croquembouche!

On MasterChef Malaysia, instead we have contestants frying candlenuts whole and one has to wonder, do these people really know what they are doing?

I do, however, enjoy the fact that there were many local ingredients and recipes showcased. It gives me a sense of pride and familiarity.

As for the judges who take turns – Mohd Johari Edrus (Chef Jo), Yahaya Hassan (Chef Yahaya), Priya Menon (Chef Priya), Zubir Mohd Zain (Chef Zubir) and Mohd Nadzri Redzuawan (Chef Riz) – they are all highly qualified in the kitchen and are trying their best on screen too, I'm sure.

My gripes with them aren't so much to do with what they say, but how they say it (sometimes shouting and over-enthusiastic, sometimes wooden and robot-like) and also I have some wardrobe issues – they seem uncomfortable in their attire. Why wear a jacket if it isn't cold, for instance? We do live right next to the equator, after all. Haven't they noticed that most of the time the contestants are sweating buckets?

Having said all of that, will I be tuning in again? You betcha. There's just something fascinating about MasterChef that keeps me coming back for more. My favourite contestant so far? Nah, I don't want to jinx anyone.

There are 66 episodes in all. MasterChef Malaysia screens at 9pm over Astro Ria (Astro Ch 104) Saturdays to Wednesdays, and at 9.50pm on Thursday on Star World (Astro Ch 711). To keep up to date on eliminations and episodes, or for recipes, go to astro.com.my/portal/master-chef.

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Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Selasa, 8 November 2011