Spy: Kiwi chefs take on Aussie My Kitchen Rules NZ judges

MKR NZ Guest Judges Sid Sahrawat, Thomas Hishon, Matt Lambert and Nick Honeyman. Photo / Instagram

Kiwi chefs made their presence known to the Aussie hosts of My Kitchen Rules NZ last week.

The latest version of the series has Australian judges Manu Feildel and Colin Fassnidge fronting the show — which is filming in Auckland.

In the original NZ incarnation, A-list Kiwi chefs Ben Bayly and Gareth Stewart judged and fronted the show. Last Thursday night, renowned local chefs Sid Sahrawat, Thomas Hishon, Matt Lambert and Nick Honeyman flew the flag for the local hospitality scene.

The four filmed a guest judging episode in The French Kitchen — Sid’s private dining room at Sid at The French Cafe.

A spokesperson for TVNZ confirmed to Spy the four had joined Feildel and Fassnidge.

Honeyman, who owns Paris Butter in Herne Bay and seasonal restaurant Le Petit Leon in France, loved catching up with his Kiwi counterparts on his visit home.

Sahrawat and his wife Chand have won numerous awards on the Kiwi culinary scene. Their restaurant Cassia in Fort Lane is currently closed due to flooding for the second time this year, and they are running the menu in the private dining part of their Sid at The French Cafe spot on Symonds St.

Of the six restaurants named in dining bible La Liste’s top 1000 restaurants, Sid at The French Cafe topped the charts in NZ with a score of 94. Six other Kiwi establishments also made the list.

Lambert is acclaimed internationally and returned home to NZ in 2020 having worked on multiple projects in the US, including his own restaurant The Musket Room in New York, for which he earned a Michelin star between 2013 and 2020. Lambert is executive chef at Rodd and Gunn’s The Lodge Bar in Queenstown and Auckland.

Most recently he designed the food offering for the Scarlet Lady — the first cruise ship for Sir Richard Branson’s shipping line Virgin Voyage — and its restaurant, The Test Kitchen.

Hishon is most famous for his award-winning Ponsonby restaurant Orphans Kitchen, and also Kingi at The Hotel Britomart.

Last week, last year’s MasterChef NZ finalist Elliot McClymont told Spy he would love to have gone on My Kitchen Rules NZ this year with his wife Sammy. However, this year the show filming dates didn’t work out as the couple were away, but they are going to apply next year.