Former MasterChef judge Gary Mehigan sells Malvern East home

The Malvern East home of former MasterChef  judge Gary Mehigan has been sold, more than three months after it was first listed with a price guide of $5.9 million to $6.49 million.

The stylish home at 66 Central Park Road was first listed in late November and was due to go under the hammer on December 12.

However, it was withdrawn just hours before the scheduled auction, with listing agent Joanna Nairn from Marshall White Stonnington confirming they were in “private negotiations with two parties”.

This week, a caveat was slapped on the property, public records show. However, the records will not show how much the new owners paid for the celebrity chef’s home until the property has settled.

Mehigan and his wife Mandy bought the four-bedroom, three-bathroom home in her name for $3,301,000 in 2012, public records show.

Sitting on 1070 square metres, opposite Central Park in a tightly held and much-sought-after pocket of Malvern East known as the Gascoigne Estate, the updated period home also features three parking spaces, a study and a solar-heated pool.

The kitchen has two ovens and a wine fridge and extends to an al fresco dining area with a barbecue.

Ms Nairn described the home, built in about 1886, as an entertainer’s home.

“It is an amazing home on great land literally directly opposite Central Park,” she said. “It is a great entertaining home and, for the gardening enthusiast, there is a fabulous herb patch.”

Mehigan is planning to spend more time at his country property, joining a growing number of city-dwellers seeking a post-COVID tree-change.

Mehigan shot to fame as one of the judges on the long-running reality cooking show MasterChef Australia, appearing from 2009 to 2019.

Last year, he co-hosted the new cooking game show Plate of Origin alongside fellow former MasterChef Australia judge and food critic Matt Preston and celebrity chef Manu Feildel.