Masterchef Australia’s Gary Mehigan Will BBQ Lamb Chops at Ticketed Event in New Delhi

By Sourish Bhattacharyya

MASTERCHEF Australia co-host and judge and Melbourne restaurateur Gary Mehigan was in Mumbai some time back to promote the culinary wealth of his home state, Victoria. He’ll be back in India on Sunday, October 20, when he’ll preside over ‘A Great Southern BBQ’ at the Australian High Commission in New Delhi. The ticketed event has been planned to pump up the second round of Oz Fest as well as Australian lamb (don’t we all love it?), which has finally been allowed to be imported after a 12-year ban.

Gary Mehigan, on his favourite motorbike, the Royal Enfield,
with his Masterchef Australia co-host and judge George
Calombaris riding pillion in New Delhi. Since this picture
was shot last year, Calombaris has lost 20 kilos!

On a four-city tour covering Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Jodhpur, Gary will conduct a cooking demonstration with Australian lamb from Sanger, a Sydney-based company which has been in the business of meat exports since 1973. Joining him will be celebrity chef, television presenter and cookbook author Ritu Dalmia, who’ll be donning her hat as Fisher & Paykel brand ambassador and conducting on-the-spot cooking competitions for Gary to judge.

Now, just in case you’re wondering what Fisher & Paykel, a New Zealand kitchen appliances brand is doing at an Aussie event, it is because the event is being powered by the Australia, New Zealand & India Business Association (ANZIBA). The event will also see the Manesar-based La Carne Cuts, a new name in the business of charcuterie products and value-added meats that we will hear a lot of in the coming days.

“I am so excited to be returning to the saffron land for my third trip,” Gary is quoted as saying in a media release issued by the Australian High Commission. He came last year with his Masterchef Australia co-host and fellow judge George Calombaris last year as a part of the Oz Fest. The enthusiastic welcome the two got in India, and of course the impressive ratings of their show (Masterchef Australia has the highest viewership outside Australia in India), have been the reasons for Gary to keep coming back. Unsurprisingly, Gary, who makes no secret of his love for parantha, dosa and naan, is the ambassador of the ambitious Oz Fest for the second consecutive year.

Gary’s other engagements around the country will include a visit to the Royal Enfield factory, where he’ll hit the road with the new Continental GT racer, and a ‘BBQ duel’ featuring lamb from Mulwarra, which is another New South Wales company, at the Hyatt Regency Chennai. In Mumbai, Gary will autograph books for fans at Crosswords Bookstore, In-Orbit Mall, Malad, on 25 October. He will also join celebrity chef Vicky Ratnani on his new show ‘Party Kitchen’ on NDTV Good Times to dish out party recipes.

That’s a lot of travel, and it’ll all be filmed for his new television series pilot, ‘Far Flung with Gary Mehigan’. There’s never a dull moment in the life of celebrity chef.

Tickets are priced at Rs 3,000 (wine and beer included) per adult and Rs 750 per child below 12. Send an email to administrator@anziba.in or call +91 8285371826.