Age: 25

State: NSW

Occupation: High School Teacher

A highly curious cook, for high school teacher Mimi Wong, lately her passion for food has begun to exceed the boundaries of home cooking, so she has come to the best place to test them: the MasterChef Australia kitchen.

Born in Hong Kong, Mimi moved to Sydney aged one, but returned to Hong Kong to live at age 11 for seven years with her beloved grandma, or Ah Por, following her parents’ divorce. She and brother Jonathan were raised in humble Hong Kong public housing, her grandma instilling in them the philosophies of being a nurturer, cook and caretaker.

Their tiny apartment was full of love and steeped in tradition, always with the scent of poached snapper, soy-braised chicken or coconut and red date syrup on the stove top. Formative memories of being her grandma’s sous chef for Chinese New Year have paved the way for Mimi’s passion.

Since returning to Sydney in 2016, Mimi has met her insatiable thirst for what she calls “cultural recharge”, through Cantonese food. Grateful for the gift of connection it has allowed, Mimi has grown closer to both her grandmothers, neither of whom speak much English, as food helped bridge the divide of age, distance and language.

Heavily influenced by the strict cultural practices around food growing up, today Mimi loves playing in the grey space of Asian fusion. Also a big fan of cooking tarts, Mimi says she has an equal amount of sweet and savoury teeth, and is adept at turning her talents either way, though she will need to keep her perfectionist tendencies in check.

Outside of her deep ties to her heritage, Mimi seeks inspiration from food heroes in all forms. From the likes of David Chang, Roy Choi and Yotam Ottolenghi, she also looks to heavy-hitters online, including Molly Baz, Claire Saffitz and Chucky Cruz, to sate her thirst for knowledge.

Inspired by her students, Mimi is harnessing their spirit and courage to go after her goals, role modelling how to chase your passion and risk it for reward.

Visualising herself in a professional kitchen in the future, Mimi would one day love her own venue with a chalkboard of rotating specials, where Cantonese influences would shine.