Grumpy chef may be next MasterChef NZ judge

Marco Pierre White was at one time the youngest chef to be awarded three Michelin stars, at the age of 33.

World-famous celebrity chef and restaurateur Marco Pierre White has been wining and dining in Auckland this week, prompting speculation he will appear on the new series of MasterChef NZ.

The Brit, regarded as one of the world's most gifted — and volatile — chefs, was spotted lunching at Al Brown's award-winning Federal St eatery Depot on Thursday.

White, 53, has been a regular on the Australian version of MasterChef for the past four years. Brown is a new addition to the judging panel of TV3's reboot of MasterChef NZ, being filmed now and premiering next Sunday night.

White was at one time the youngest chef to be awarded three Michelin stars, at the age of 33.

He was dubbed the enfant terrible of the restaurant scene and is as known for his fiery temper as his kitchen prowess.

He regularly ejected customers from his restaurants if he didn't agree with their comments about his food.

And once, when an assistant complained about the heat in the kitchen, White cut open the back of his trousers and jacket with a knife.

White also mentored hot-head Gordon Ramsay, before the pair fell out. Their feud began when Ramsay implied his former boss was a good chef but not a great restaurateur and arrived at White's wedding to third wife Mati with a camera crew in tow without permission.

White is no stranger to the Southern Hemisphere.

He has mentored some of the amateur cooking hopefuls on Australia's MasterChef with a mix of encouragement and cutting comments.

TV3 picked up the rights to MasterChef after TVNZ signalled last year it would not continue with the series it first aired in 2010.