Jock Zonfrillo

Jock Zonfrillo (formerly Barry Zonfrillo, born 4 August 1976) is a Scottish celebrity chef, television presenter and philanthropist based in Melbourne, Victoria . Zonfrillo owned the now closed Restaurant Orana in Adelaide, Australia, and is the founder of the not-for-profit The Orana Foundation. Zonfrillo is one of the new MasterChef Australia judges alongside Andy Allen and Melissa Leong.

Jock Zonfrillo
Born (1976-08-04) 4 August 1976
Glasgow, Scotland
Known forMasterChef Australia judge
Children4
Culinary career
Cooking styleFrench, Italian, Scottish

Biography

Zonfrillo was born in Glasgow, Scotland. His mother's family is Scottish from Dalmellington, Ayrshire while his father’s is Italian from Scauri, Italy.[1] He attended Belmont Academy in Ayr, Scotland.

Zonfrillo first started working in kitchens as a dishwasher part time at the age of 13, while still at school and being classically French-trained, however quickly swapped roles to a chef filling in for a cook who called in sick. Zonfrillo then left school aged 15 and started an apprenticeship in the kitchens of The Turnberry Hotel, Scotland[2] after which he worked at the Arkle Restaurant in the Chester Grosvenor Hotel in Chester.[3]

Zonfrillo then worked for Marco Pierre White[4] and David Cavalier[5] before travelling to Australia for 12 months in to work with Dietmar Sawyere at Restaurant Forty One in Sydney[3] On returning to the UK, Zonfrillo returned to work for Marco Pierre White before taking his first Head Chef position aged 22 at The Tresanton Hotel, Cornwall, England.[3]

Zonfrillo returned to Australia in January 2000 as the Head Chef at Restaurant 41 in Sydney.

Zonfrillo now resides in New South Wales with his third wife Lauren (Fried) Zonfrillo who, as well as being a businesswoman, also appears regularly as a panellist on Gruen.[6]

In November 2013, Zonfrillo opened Restaurant Orana and Street ADL in Adelaide[7] winning multiple accolades in both, replacing Street ADL with Bistro Blackwood in September 2017.[8]

In 2016, Zonfrillo started his not-for-profit foundation, The Orana Foundation, to preserve the sophisticated cooking techniques and ingredients of the First Australians. The Orana Foundation was awarded the Good Food Guide Food For Good Award[9] in October 2017 and went on to receive global recognition for his Foundation work by winning Basque Culinary World Prize in July 2018.[10]

In 2017, Restaurant Orana was named Australia's 2018 Restaurant of the Year by Gourmet Traveller Magazine,[11] the same year Zonfrillo was named Australia's 2018 Hottest Chef in The Australian.[12]

In 2018, Zonfrillo was also named Australia's 2019 Restaurant of the Year by the Good Food Guide.[13]

In December 2018 Zonfrillo opened a restaurant called "Nonna Mallozzi". He closed it in July 2019 after posting losses exceeding $140,000 in the time it was open.[14]

In October 2019, Zonfrillo was announced as one of the new judges for MasterChef Australia in 2020, alongside Melissa Leong and Andy Allen.[15]

In July 2020, Zonfrillo was announced as one of the judges for Junior Masterchef Australia in 2020, alongside Melissa Leong and Andy Allen.[16]

MasterChef Australia received widespread acclaim in 2020 with the three new judges taking the reins, and was the highest rating TV show across all networks. The show also won the AACTA Award for the Best Reality Program.

Due to defamatory and inaccurate reporting about Zonfrillo and his Orana Foundation by The Australian Newspaper, Zonfrillo launched defamation proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia in September 2020 against Nationwide News. Zonfrillo's case was successful and Nationwide News settled the court case. An apology was printed in The Australian newspaper on 17 December 2020 and published on their website.[17]

Recognitions
  • 2014 South Australian Best New Restaurant and South Australian Restaurant of the Year - The Advertiser Food Awards[18]
  • 2015 South Australian Restaurant of the Year - The Advertiser Food Awards[19]
  • 2015 Chef of The Year - Restaurant & Catering Awards[20]
  • 2015 and 2016 Australia's Hot 50 Restaurants - The Australian[21][22]
  • 2017 Hottest Chef & Hottest South Australian Restaurant - The Australian[23]
  • 2017 Food for Good Award - The Good Food Guide[24]
  • 2018 Australian Restaurant of the Year - Gourmet Traveller Magazine
  • 2018 Australia's Hottest Chef - The Australian
  • 2018 South Australian's Hottest Restaurant - The Australian
  • 2018 Australian Food for Good Award - The Good Food Guide
  • 2018 Basque Culinary World Prize - Basque Culinary Center[25]
  • 2019 Australian Restaurant of the Year - The Good Food Guide.[13]

Television

References
  1. "The Scottish 'nomad chef' redefining Australia's national cuisine". Financial Times.
  2. "The Gospel, according to Jock". The Advertiser. 14 March 2014.
  3. "St Mawes the merrier". The Caterer.
  4. Thomsen, Simon (24 August 2017). "The chef at Australia's best restaurant has an incredible story about how Marco Pierre White saved his career". Business Insider.
  5. "Restaurateur Jock Zonfrillo to host Seven's Restaurant Revolution". Mediaweek. 22 June 2015.
  6. "'Businesses need to use their own data, and buy the right data'". Money magazine. 2018-03-22.
  7. "Street-ADL And Orana". The Adelaide Review. 2013-11-15.
  8. "Jock reveals project Bistro". The Advertiser. 20 September 2017.
  9. "All the Good Food Guide 2018 award winners". Good Food. 2017-10-16.
  10. Barth, Jill. "Winner Of Basque Culinary World Prize: 'Give Back More Than You Take'". Forbes.
  11. Sly, David. "Get to know Orana, Australia's Restaurant of the Year 2018". Gourmet Traveller.
  12. "Hot 50 restaurants: What's hot in 2018". The Australian.
  13. "The Good Food Guide 2019: Full list of award winners". Good Food. 9 October 2018.
  14. "MasterChef host's failed venture "may have traded insolvent"". InDaily. 2020-07-07. Retrieved 2020-07-12.
  15. "MasterChef Australia: New judges announced". news.com.au. 10 October 2019. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
  16. "Jock, Melissa And Andy Return For Junior MasterChef". 10 play. 2020-07-20. Retrieved 2020-08-15.
  17. Dore, Christopher (17 December 2020). "Apology to Mr Jock Zonfrillo". The Australian Newspaper. Nationwide News. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
  18. Wilkinson, Simon (3 November 2014). "Orana named Restaurant of the Year". The Advertiser.
  19. "Advertiser Food Awards: Orana named Adelaide's best restaurant". The Advertiser.
  20. "Full List Of Winners From The 2015 SA Restaurant And Catering Awards For Excellence". Glam Adelaide. 2015-08-04.
  21. "SA eateries shine in national restaurant awards". The Adelaide Review. 2015-08-24.
  22. Lethlean, John (11 August 2016). "Hot 50 Restaurants".
  23. "2017 Hot50 restaurants SA". The Australian. 2017-08-10.
  24. editors, Good Food Guide (2017-10-16). "All the Good Food Guide 2018 award winners". Good Food.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  25. Barth, Jill. "Winner Of Basque Culinary World Prize: 'Give Back More Than You Take'". Forbes.
  26. "Who was that MasterChef hottie?". NewsComAu. Retrieved 2018-09-21.
  27. McIver, Brian (2014-10-06). "Chef's passion for cooking has taken him all over the world". Daily Record.
  28. ""Nomad Chef" set for Australian debut on Discovery".
  29. Rigden, Clare (2015-07-22). "Jock Zonfrillo: Reluctant restaurant revolutionary". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2018-09-11.
  30. "New deal for SA cooking show Chef Exchange is a huge tourism boost". The Advertiser.
  31. "Production Begins on Chef Exchange Series 2". 57 Films.
  32. "MasterChef finalists battle it out on Sydney Harbour". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2018-09-21.
  33. "'MasterChef' has called in one of Australia's culinary big guns for Best Of The Best Week". 10 Daily. Retrieved 2019-06-24.
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