He survived the “choux-pocalypse” and quipped on national TV that “there is something about oysters and bacon fat that makes me smile.”
But North Turramurra’s Jamie Fleming, 26, was knocked out of Masterchef last night.
“I’m actually feeling really good,” he told the Advocate.
“Even though I’m disappointed I didn’t make it that last little bit I am very proud of how far I came and the future for me is very exciting,” he said.
“I’m actually feeling really good,” he told the Advocate.
“Even though I’m disappointed I didn’t make it that last little bit I am very proud of how far I came and the future for me is very exciting,” he said.
The father and city bartender proved he can serve up more than zingers on the popular Channel 10, but a chocolate dessert proved his undoing.
He predicted that sweets would cause him trouble and it came with Sepia chef Martin Benn’s 40-step dessert, chocolate forest floor, an intricate setup of chocolate “twigs” beneath a cherry sorbet.
“It’s about the only prediction I’ve made this year that’s been proven right,” he said.
Mr Fleming is already set to open a restaurant, Wilhelmina’s, “just outside the CBD”.
He wouldn’t reveal any more about the location but said he is already at work preparing recipies and menus, as he’ll be the head chef.
“There will be a big focus on cocktails wines and locally sourced seasonal produce,” he said.
“We’re trying to source as much as we can from within a few hours of Sydney, it’ll be really good food cooked simply.”
He said the show had been “great.”
“To be in an environment where you have only one thing to worry about and that’s your cooking, it’s a pretty great experience,” he said.
His passion started when aged six, he prepared a Thai curry at home.
“That was when I first realised that cooking could bring the family together, just like going to a restaurant, and that was that,” he said.
Studying finance and working long nights behind the bar, his enthusiasm never dimmed.
“I go all out, I never really cook the same thing twice – I go to the shops and come home with a thousand things and spend six hours in front of the stove.”
Mr Fleming was climbing rocks in Hampi, India, when entries opened for Masterchef and a mate talked him in to it.
He’s since proved himself an all-rounder: whipping up a fancy mango alfonso desert in three hours and surviving a hectic shift at Melbourne’s famous Taxi Kitchen.
Mr Fleming was visibly emotional after he was eliminated from the show and had earlier told the Advocate that he wanted to win.
“I love the pressure,” he had said.
“I didn’t come in to make the top ten, I came here to win the competition.”
