Some of the country’s top chefs - including Peter Gordon and Hannah Miller Childs - will face off to see who can best recreate some of New Zealand’s best-loved treats.
Some of the country’s top chefs - including Peter Gordon and Hannah Miller Childs - will face off to see who can best recreate some of New Zealand’s best-loved treats.
Which A-list chefs will be having a snack-off? Here’s what we know about the hot talent and sizzling stars.
It will be knives at dawn this month when some of the country’s top chefs face off to see who can best recreate some of New Zealand’s most beloved treats in the second season of TVNZ’s Snack Masters, which also seesTom Sainsbury and Kim Crossman return to host the duels.
Who’s on the tools this season? Spy can reveal that among the competing chefs are:
“Mike the Russian is a superb, creative and well-known chef, so when I found out I was up against him, I am not going to lie, I was bricking it,” Stewart tells Spy. He has known Shatura for many years and says with the knowledge of his rival chef’s well-honed skills as a pastry chef, he would come very prepared for whatever the snack was.
Spy learned Stewart and Shatura had to recreate the KitKat chocolate bar; Shatura says unfortunately, he never got a chance to taste the snack when he was a kid in Russia.
Stewart and Shatura had to recreate the KitKat chocolate bar.
“However, I do love KitKats, and it was a memorable experience trying to recreate it.” Stewart nibbles all the chocolate off a KitKat and then dissects the wafer piece by piece, and says that’s exactly what he ended up doing in order to recreate it and find out how the little sucker was put together.
For Chandra and Hogg-Wharekawa, their “snack” was baked beans (although some could argue this Kiwi classic is more of a meal in itself).
Chandra spent his childhood between New Zealand and Fiji, and his passion was showcasing his culture in his food and elevating it into fine dining at Sidhart, as he did with baked beans on the show. “Growing up here and in Fiji, baked beans is an important part of childhood - coming home after school and having it on toast with a bit of cheese, or even coming home after a night out and having it straight out of the can,” says Chandra.
Chandra's passion was showcasing his culture in his food and elevating it into fine dining at Sidhart.
Miller Childs and Gordon had to recreate Burger Rings. When Miller Childs saw Gordon was her opponent, she says she was definitely a bit nervous about taking on the king of fusion food. “I come from a chef background but have spent more time in the butchery in recent years, so I worried about not being able to match his expertise,” says Miller Childs.
She grew up in the United States and says upon her first time having Burger Rings, she wasn’t quite sure what to think. “Were they a burger-flavoured Cheeto?” she wondered. “But as I had a few more I quickly realised how moreish they are, and I easily ate a whole bag.” The renowned “Lady Butcher” was very relieved to get a savoury snack to make, especially one involving meat flavours.
Snack Masters launches on May 23 at 7.30pm on TVNZ 2 and TVNZ+.
