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Aussie wins Top Chef: World All-Stars

"It’s the biggest moment of my life," says "Buddha” Lo who becomes the series' first two-time winner.

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Australian chef Kah-wai “Buddha” Lo has won Top Chef: World All-Stars taking out a US$250,000 prize and beating entrants from USA, France, Spain, Brazil, Thailand, Mexico, Jordan and more.

Lo, raised in Port Douglas, also won the preceding 19th season of Top Chef, becoming the series’ first two-time winner.

He made a clam velouté for his first course in honour of his living in the United States. He then cooked a lobster curry as a nod to Malaysia, and he made a ngau lam for Hong Kong (where his late father was from). For his dessert, he made his favorite Australian dessert, lamington.

Lo is currently an executive chef at Huso and cook at Eleven Madison Park in New York City. He was previously the head chef at Matteo’s Restaurant in Melbourne, and in 2014 worked at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in London, where he received the Gordon Ramsay Excellence Award.

“I just won Top Chef back-to-back. Oh, that feels unreal to say,” he said. “It’s the biggest moment of my life.”

He opened up about the “sign” he received from his father to compete on Top Chef: World All-Stars.

“Recently, I had a dream about my dad, and he was smiling at me, and I woke up and I couldn’t stop crying at 3 o’clock in the morning,” Buddha explained. “And two days after that dream, I actually got the phone call to come to Season 20 of Top Chef. And I felt like this was a sign from him, saying, ‘The goal was to win Season 19 so you can go on to Season 20 to win that.’”

Lo told Distractify, “I still don’t know what to do with prize money. I’ve just lived a little bit more comfortably than I have in my whole life.

“[The judges] already told me to cook the meal of my life less than a year ago (on Season 19), and not much has changed since there’s not a lot of growth since then.

“But it wasn’t just only doing great ideas or dishes, it’s also the fact that you need to, in my case. I wanted to make sure that it actually connects and makes sense, somehow. And that’s even harder when you’re cooking the best meal of your life.”

Top Chef screens in Australia, variously, on FOX Arena, Binge, 7Bravo and 9GO!

2 Responses

  1. His win was well deserved as he was consistent throughout the series and in the finale, If Sara Bradley‘s liver dish had worked out it may have been a different story. Buddha has worked hard from the young kid working for his dad in Port Douglas to his dedication to his craft..

  2. This was a fabulous season and I couldn’t be happier for Buddha. His creativity and skill were amazing to watch. To beat some of the best chefs from around the world is a magnificent achievement!

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