Could a Singaporean take the title of MasterChef Asia?

SINGAPORE — The inaugural MasterChef Asia, an adaptation of the popular reality television series that pits home-cooks against each other in a series of individual and group culinary challenges, was shot in Singapore. But for Singaporean contestants Lennard Yeong, a 27-year-old engineer; Woo Wai Leong, a 27-year-old lawyer and Sandrian Tan, a 41-year-old homemaker, the familiar territory did not necessarily give them an edge.

As judge Audra Morrice had put it, contestants “lived in a bubble” for the five weeks of filming, which meant that they had no face to face contact with family and friends for the entire duration they were holed up in Carlton Hotel. This, however, helped to build camaraderie and set the tone of the series. Unlike the American version, which was described by Michele Schofield, senior vice-president of programming and production at A+E Networks Asia, as “gimmicky” (referring to the nature of the challenges that seemed out to get contestants), MasterChef Asia is more about celebrating a shared love of food.

All three Singapore contestants talked about how viewers of the show do not realise how physically demanding the competition is. Contestants are required to cook and compete every day for as long as they remain in the competition. And each day started at 6.30am and could last up to 15 hours.

Growing up on Singaporean food also had little bearing. Woo and Yeong both admit to not being very familiar with Asian cooking, while Tan draws more inspiration from being half Thai. In fact, Yeong made chilli crab and laksa for the first time before the competition, in anticipation of a possible challenge that might require him to cook a national dish.

“If anything, there was a lot more pressure on us. The show was set in Singapore, so some of the challenges were a bit more Singapore-centric. We felt expected to do better because we were wearing the Singapore flag on our aprons,” Yeong said. In one challenge, contestants had to prepare dishes from one of the three ethnic cuisines in Singapore — Malay, Chinese or Indian — to sell at a stall at Lau Pa Sat.

However, the judges — celebrity chef Susur Lee, three Michelin-starred chef Bruno Menard and MasterChef Australia finalist Audra Morrice — identified distinctly Singaporeans traits that were helpful in the competition.

Lee and Morrice agreed that Singaporeans’ love for travelling makes them sophisticated and worldly cooks. “You can tell they’ve dined in some really great restaurants. At the same time, they also eat in hawker centres,” Morrice said. Lee was similarly impressed by how the Singaporean contestants’ food reflected the global and modern, as well as traditional, and said there were some dishes he had never seen before.

Menard felt that easy access to information in Singapore made the contestants knowledgeable cooks who were able to apply techniques being used by top chefs around the world.

Tan even used “kiasi” (afraid to die) to describe the Singaporean contestants, which Singaporean-born Morrice said is “a common strength of character”. However you choose to define it, Morrice said it was important to winning the competition. “Every time you’re in that kitchen, you need to give it 110 per cent and want to win it.”

As to whether these traits were enough for one of the three to win the title of MasterChef Asia, the judges refused to comment. “You’ll never guess who wins it,” Morrice teased.

The first season of MasterChef Asia premieres tomorrow at 9pm on Lifetime (StarHub TV Channel 514). Visit http://msn.com/masterchefasia for more information.