MasterChef judge and celebrated chef Jock Zonfrillo is writing his memoir and leaves nothing off the table

Celebrity chef Jock Zonfrillo swears he’ll never write a cookbook even though he owns many himself. While many of his chef mates have shared their culinary stories through recipes, Zonfrillo has opted to plate up his own degustation by way of a new autobiography.

“I have been asked so many times to write a cookbook. It just doesn’t appeal to me. It never has,” Zonfrillo says. “What I do know is that I will never write one. Many people think I am mad not to. I know just how much effort, time and people are needed behind the scenes for it. I just don’t think that format is for me. I prefer to tell people my story my way, and now I’m doing it.”

Zonfrillo is calling Melbourne home for now as he returns to the city for his second season judging MasterChef Australia.

In between filming the new season at the Royal Melbourne Showgrounds alongside co-hosts Melissa Leong and Andy Allen, he is writing the tell-all book – a personal deep dive into what has made him.

Due for release this year, it covers all those personal highs and lows – career moves that changed his path forever – with plenty of detail around his now closed Restaurant Orana in South Australia – where cooking with indigenous ingredients became an obsession that still carries through his not-for-profit organisation, The Orana Foundation.

“I don’t have anything to hide,” Zonfrillo says.  “I’ve been pretty open about my drug past [in his teens]; I made some bad choices in my life. But through this autobiography, a reader can ascertain for themselves how I got to be where I am and the reason I became a drug addict. I got some free kicks along the way and some struggles too. What you see is what you get with me.”

The 44-year-old says nothing feels more like a pressure test than reliving the past on paper.

“To write this book has been the hardest thing I have ever been asked to do. It’s been one-part cathartic, one-part emotional turmoil. Nothing quite shakes you up like bringing up the past,” says Zonfrillo, who lives in Carlton with his wife Lauren and their two children: Alfie, 3, and Isla, born last October.

“It’s hard to reflect on your life, but I think the time is right.”

The classically French-trained chef began washing dishes at 13 and left school at 15 to chase his culinary dream. He rose through the ranks working for Michelin-starred chefs Marco Pierre White at the Hyde Park London and David Cavalier.

Zonfrillo, who moved to Australia in 1999 to work as the head chef at Restaurant 41 in Sydney, says Melbourne is certainly ticking all the boxes for his family. The decision to be based here was all thanks to COVID-19, which made it difficult for him to keep travelling interstate while filming the TV cooking show [between Adelaide and Melbourne] with so much uncertainty around border closures.

“There is still a huge sense of uncertainty around filming this season,” Zonfrillo says.

“In previous years, the MasterChef hosts would go overseas for some shows, but now even interstate travel comes with a question mark. Shuffling a crew of 100 people when we do off-site filming means we can’t take that risk with that many people in quarantine should it come to that.”

Returning for his second season comes with plenty of excitement though, for the chef who loves to cook at home.

“We’re all about showing you relatable people who happen to be the best humans and cooks,” says Zonfrillo, who started filming in November last year.

“We have some people who have had decade long careers in other fields come to the show – landscape gardeners, doctors, lawyers – who gave that up to follow their food dream. It’s admirable, and only something like COVID-19 could have brought that.

“As a result of that, we see some of the best meals come from them.  They are really focused on getting better and learning – that’s the biggest difference I see this year.”

Having lived through Melbourne’s lockdown last year makes him an honorary Melburnian too.

“Melbourne has been extremely welcoming with open arms,” says Zonfrillo.

“To see how Melburnians supported their local restaurants during lockdown was also quite amazing. A lot of restaurants were saved because of that desire to order dine-in at home. I am sure the food scene will come back; it’s not a matter of if; it’s simply about when.”

And when it comes to dining out, you’ll find Zonfrillo exploring Lygon Street, the CBD and Gertrude Street – with Marion Wine Bar and Cutler and Co a couple of his favourites.  At home, he always has a lump of pecorino in the fridge and a black pepper mill at the ready when whipping up his signature cacio e pepe pasta dish for the family.

“The kitchen is quite cathartic for me. I still really enjoy it,” he says.

The father of four (with two older children from a previous relationship) won’t rule out opening a restaurant in Melbourne either.

“What’s next?  I don’t know the answer today, but … not a day goes by [when] I don’t cook. I love telling stories through food.

“Will I open in Melbourne or Sydney, will there be an Orana 2.0? Anything is potentially on the table. Never rule it out.”