State: NSW

Age: 22

Occupation: Restaurant Manager

Born and raised in Sydney as part of a big Lebanese family, Larissa says weekends with her family have always revolved around food. With her dad one of nine children, Larissa and her three siblings spent their Sundays with all her cousins, enjoying big lunches and dinners. Everyone would bring plates of food, and her fondest memories are of her aunts in the kitchen preparing plates.

Finishing high school in 2014, Larissa went onto Macquarie University where she is now studying a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. Her mum owns a restaurant north of the city, and it’s there Larissa works as a Restaurant Manager. With her mum a chef, there’s strong argument Larissa has an ace in her pocket this competition. She admits that while she’s mostly self-taught, mum has always been there along the way to help out.

A lover of cooking shows, Larissa also boasts an extensive cookbook collection, and is a fan of the works of Karen Martini, David Chang, Gill Meller, Yotam Ottolenghi and Darren Purchese.

A fan of both sweet and savoury cooking, Larissa says she’s more experimental in sweet cooking but finds herself more intuitive in savoury. Confident that she can handle the pressure in the MasterChef kitchen, she says she is most practiced cooking Lebanese inspired dishes but considers herself an all-rounder in the kitchen, with a flair for Italian, Asian and French cuisine. Citing her favourites as Sydney’s Automata, Firedoor and Kensington Street Social, Larissa loves to dine out at local hotspots.

Leaving behind her family and partner of six years Luke, Larissa dreams of one day opening her own wine bar and restaurant, serving comforting yet sophisticated food with a seasonal menu.