‘I want to leave here wanting to come back’
It’s not all about fine dining: Gary Mehigan. Pic by Akila Jayawardena
The name Gary Mehigan requires no introduction if one is familiar with the sensation that is MasterChef Australia, the television show that made a household name of the former host and judge, who, along with fellow judges George Calombaris and Matt Preston, shaped the reality cooking competition into the phenomenon it is today.
Besides a 12-year stint on MasterChef Australia, the internationally acclaimed celebrity chef and author has been an integral part of other TV shows, gaining a global audience as one of Australia’s much-loved television presenters. In Sri Lanka for a three-day culinary extravaganza from November 30 to December 2, courtesy of Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts, the culinary maestro sat down with the Sunday Times to talk about his personally curated menus, his take on Sri Lankan cuisine, and his all-consuming love for travel and food.
The Master Table with Gary Mehigan presented by Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts gave food enthusiasts and connoisseurs the opportunity to experience the gastronomic creations of the British-Australian culinary expert with two five-course dinners curated by Gary himself followed by a brunch and high tea all at the Cinnamon Grand Colombo.
The first of the two culinary experiences took place in the more intimate setting of the London Grill restaurant while the second plated up for a larger crowd at the Atrium. The menus for both evenings were structurally similar, being full-course dinners, but varied slightly in the base ingredients used. Providing some insight into how he came up with the menu, Gary says he simply based it around the food he loves to eat. “When I put a menu together, what I’ll often do is just go ‘what dishes do I want to eat?’” He immediately thought of seafood in relation to Sri Lanka, with lagoon crab, prawns, dried fish, and mango coming to mind after a chat with one of his good mates who is Sri Lankan.
After that, it was a matter of conceptualising how the elements should complement each other in both texture and flavour. “I’d love to put crab together with mango because it’s a nice juxtaposition of flavours; subtle, soft, a little bit of texture and then the sweetness of the mango. Then what do I want with that? Crispy, crunchy garlic or shallots, maybe a Thai theme. Then I might write a couple of ideas down around that, so it tends to be just what I kind of imagine would taste nice,” explains Gary.
He also incorporated some of his go-to’s like Australian lamb punctuated with some local produce, Salmon caviar brought down from Yarra Valley in Victoria, and two kinds of seafood ravioli – prawn for one menu, and lobster for the other. “It’s mainly what people know me for – comfort food, strong flavours. I avoided Sri Lankan flavours completely because I didn’t want to come in and go ‘right, I want a hopper with, you know, a crab salad’. It’s ridiculous, you know? So I did my food.”
In a nod to Sri Lanka, the dessert he chose to go with incorporated Sri Lankan tea and coffee and consisted of a coffee flan, a biscuit of Earl Grey tea, hazelnut cream, and a jaggery caramel.
An avid traveller, Gary has a well-documented love for India and its culinary landscape with South Indian cuisine being one of his favourites. Talking about the similarities between the cuisine of South India and that of Sri Lanka, whether in terms of hoppers or appam, pittu or puttu, the use of curry leaves, chillies, lime, coconut, and jaggery, what makes it special to him is the ebb and flow which involves skills such as making roti or a hopper and the complex, unctuous flavours that can be subtle or punchy.
Though this is his first visit here, he is no stranger to Lankan cuisine due to Australia’s vast multicultural culinary offerings, with one of his favourite restaurants being Sydney’s Colombo Social. “I love Sri Lankan food, but it’s in an Australian context. We’ve got a big Sri Lankan community and so we’re familiar with many of those dishes but what happens with migrants is that often, their cuisine is frozen in time,” says Gary. “People cling on to what reminds them of home. They cling to a family recipe that won’t change because it’s crucial to underpinning their identity. So it will be interesting to see how it differs over here.”
This is one reason why Gary considers travel to be crucial in discovering and experiencing the cuisine of a culture. Even though one may have all the options at their doorstep, the real thing can only be found once you step out and travel. Whether it is India, Greece, or even Japan, the culture can vary completely within the country along with the cuisine. “You go to Sri Lanka, it will be the same. So that’s the discovery for me. What does it mean far north? What does it mean far south and how does it change? It can change for lots of reasons. It could be a religious influence, it could be a historical influence. It could be family. There are so many different things and that’s what I love about it. It’s the complexity that you want to dictate things into.”
Keen to explore once the events have concluded, Gary is looking forward to experiencing Sri Lanka on his terms like he usually does when visiting a new place. Time – and weather - permitting, the motorcycle enthusiast would jump at the chance to take it all in on a bike. Instead of dining at every restaurant recommended to him, he would much prefer a home dining or street experience. “Once we’ve delivered the events, my family and I are travelling and we’re having a holiday. So as we travel around the country, it’s kind of about eating as many different things as I can. That could be just walking into a shop and eating a Chunky Choc, which is something I was told about earlier.
“Some of those memories are the things that I want to carry away so you can have a laugh with friends and talk about them. It’s not all about fine dining. It’s not all about lagoon crab. Sometimes it can be the simplest thing that appeals to you. As I was telling my wife, I want to leave here wanting to come back.”
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