Three MasterChef Asia judges revealed

SINGAPORE — A 3-Michelin starred chef, a Singapore-born MasterChef Australia finalist and a Hong Kong-born celebrity chef have been unveiled as the three judges for the first ever MasterChef Asia.

The chefs, Susur Lee, Bruno Ménard and Audra Morrice, were announced on the reality cooking show’s Facebook page today (May 26).

Lee, who is based in Toronto, owns several highly-acclaimed restaurants there. His restaurant, Susur, has been listed on various international Top 50 lists. In Singapore, Lee, who is known for his fusion cuisines, helms TungLok Heen at Hotel Michael at Resorts World Sentosa.

Ménard is the first 3-Michelin starred chef to be permanently based in Singapore, according to his Facebook page. He has started his culinary consulting firm here, and previously worked with restaurant group Déliciae. He has spent some two decades in Asia, and attained his three Michelin stars at Tokyo restaurant L’Osier.

Morrice, who is currently based in Australia, emerged as the finalist in MasterChef Australia 2012. She spent her “formative years” in Singapore, according to her website, and her style of food is “eclectically Asian drawing influence from her Chinese Indian heritage”. Since her days in MasterChef, she has started her own catering business and gives cooking classes.

The 15-episode series of MasterChef Asia, which was announced in February, will debut on the Lifetime channel later this year. There have previously been country-specific versions, such as in India, Korea, Malaysia and Pakistan.