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Top Chef Canada... n
Welcome to the biggest culinary stage in the country.
Ten chefs stepped into the spotlight...
Let's get this started.
- Woo! - Bap-bap-bap.
If you wanna see fireworks, don't take your eyes off of me.
...for a fierce culinary cook-off.
This is the biggest event we've ever done.
Doing Restaurant Wars on our first day.
What a way to start the competition.
Oh.
- ... - Damn.
Those who couldn't handle the heat...
The chicken's not to temp.
The rule is the rule.
She didn't complete the challenge.
...we're cut from the kitchen.
Please pack your knives and go.
And tonight, in Montreal,
it all comes down to the final three.
I'm not out here to put out crap.
I'm here to compete with the best.
I can smell the win from here.
The proof is in the pudding.
May the best man win. Or woman.
From Halifax, Moira.
I'm a really shy person,
but I know I'm a talented chef.
That bite, one of my favourite bites so far of the season.
I think your chickpea pasta is the best dish
we've seen in the entire competition.
Wow.
From Vancouver, Chanthy.
I have cooking in my DNA.
In the kitchen, I get to be performative, creative.
It's where I thrive.
This is so good.
You did this in 30 minutes. Unbelievable.
Eye on the prize.
And from Salt Spring Island, Haan.
I haven't been cooking professionally for three years.
I kind of thought I was a washed up has-been chef,
but I've proved by how many challenges I've won
that I'm the front runner.
The chef with the best dish...
Haan.
I'm coming. All my guns blazing.
Let's go!
Who will take the world stage
as Canada's Top Chef
and take home our biggest prize ever?
A brand new suite of KitchenAid appliances.
A relaxing vacation worth $10,000 from Vrbo.
A brand new Alfa Romeo Tonale plug-in hybrid electric.
$10,000 from Tim Hortons.
One year's worth of DoorDash grocery delivery.
A $100,000 cash prize.
And the title of Canada's Top Chef.
Oh, my gosh. Montreal.
Montreal.
I'm in Montreal, baby.
My career started in Montreal, and here I am,
back here for the finale of Top Chef Canada.
It's an incredible city.
Montreal is known as a culinary hotspot of Canada.
Some of the country's best restaurants are here.
Really talented chefs all gravitate to this city.
Make sure you put in his really long hair.
What's happening?
- Okay. Yes. - Oh, my God.
Chanthy looks like our child.
Look at those green eyes.
We look like one big happy family of chefs.
We're about to cook in the finals of Top Chef Canada.
Last elimination challenge, I was on the bottom.
That obviously is not a great place to be,
but I'm not gonna get distracted by one stumble.
I know that I've been one of the best cooks
for the entire competition.
I'm feeling very, very mentally strong,
and it's gonna take everybody's best cooking
to beat me.
Let's go.
Chefs, welcome to the Top Chef Canada finale
here at the Belvedere in the historic Old Port of Montreal.
- Yeah! - Yes.
You are the last chefs standing.
You've shown your skill, you've risen to the top,
and we're very excited to taste your food today.
Thank you.
In this challenge,
you'll have to make a Montreal-inspired dish
using these iconic Montreal flavours.
Nom nom.
We have wood-fired bagels from St-Viateur,
poutine from La Banquise,
and smoked meat sandwiches from Schwartz's Deli,
some of the most recognizable flavours
that Quebec has to offer.
All right, chefs, come have a taste.
- Race you to the sandwich. - All right.
I call poutine.
I love a good Schwartz sandwich.
Nothing is better.
- Mm. - Oh, that's good.
I've never tried this poutine.
It's all about the gravy.
Stay away from me.
Chefs, your guest judges today
are titans of the culinary scene here.
One is a chef, author, and co-founder
of the Joe Beef Group.
The other is the owner and executive chef
at Park in Montreal,
an AP in Toronto with restaurants around the world.
Please welcome, Fred Morin and Antonio Park.
Oh!
- Chefs. - Hello, chefs.
Cooking for Chef Antonio Park
and Chef Fred Morin is intimidating.
I'm both shocked and honoured.
- Hello, chefs. - Hello, chefs.
Fred, what do these iconic flavours
of Montreal mean to you?
Of course, this is the foundation,
the food we grew up with.
But the food today is so different in Montreal.
It's a city of transit. It's a place of immigration.
I think you can find everything in Montreal.
That's what makes my city my city.
Antonio, what are you looking for from our chefs today?
I wanna feel your soul in those plates.
We're not just looking for bagel, poutine, or sandwiches.
We want you to take these ingredients
and these flavours and get inspired.
Chefs, to pick your iconic Montreal flavour,
come and draw knives.
Haan, you're up first.
Smoked meat.
Chanthy, you're next.
Poutine.
That means, Moira, you have bagels.
Chefs, you better be on your A game
because this is an elimination challenge.
Only two of you will advance to the final cook.
Good luck.
- Thank you, chef. - All right, chefs.
Your time starts...
Now!
Let's go!
- All right, good luck, guys. - Good luck!
This is the most high-stakes Quickfire of the competition.
One chef is gonna go home, and it's not gonna be me.
I've always thought Haan's my biggest competitor here,
but I'll be beating him this time.
Okay, Chanthy. Calm down.
Pressure's on.
I'm against the only two chefs
that have won any Quickfires.
Haan, his food is just very simple, very precise.
And Chanthy, he has an incredible ability
to tell a story with his food.
But I have so much confidence in my skills.
I really do deserve to be here.
It's anyone's game, but I hope it's mine.
So, I pulled poutine.
I love poutine. Crispy potatoes,
melting cheese curds, and luscious gravy.
But it's also very simple and basic.
So, I really need to draw on some creativity.
I'm going to blend Vietnamese and French together.
I'm gonna reimagine the poutine as pho,
which is Vietnamese steak noodle broth.
Steak poutine.
For the gravy, I'm making beef broth with pho spices.
Ginger, black cardamom, coriander, and black peppercorn.
For the fries, fried potatoes and laminated potato chips.
Cheese curds.
The best part of poutine is the cheese curds.
I've turned it into a mochi emulsion
with potatoes, mozzarella and rice noodles.
Oh, yeah.
I need to make sure that I have a perfect emulsion,
beautiful and airy,
so it has kind of like a melting, dramatic effect.
Hopefully this works out.
- 30 minutes left, chefs. - 30 minutes.
I got Schwartz's smoked meat.
For anybody who hasn't tried Montreal smoked meat,
basically like pastrami.
It's heavily covered in coriander and black pepper,
and it's smoke-filled, super tender.
It's delicious.
I'm trying to echo those flavours
as much as I can throughout the dish
while staying true to my style of cooking,
which is a bit more Asian-inspired.
I'm making Schwartz's smoked meat with homemade chili oil
and sweet soy and a cucumber celery salad.
I actually wanna incorporate the smoked meat into the dish
because it's an awesome product,
and the first thing I thought about,
what if my Taiwanese family had immigrated to Montreal?
What would they have done with some leftover Schwartz's meat?
I think this dish is what they would make.
Tasting pretty good, but only time will tell.
15 minutes left! Woo!
I pulled bagels.
Anytime anyone goes to Montreal,
you have to eat Montreal bagels with cream cheese smoked salmon.
It's an iconic Montreal dish.
So, I'm making a herb-crusted smoked and confit salmon.
I'm using cold smoked salmon
and I'm cooking it in my immersion circulator.
I want a very gentle cook.
I want this salmon to just melt in the judges' mouth.
Perfect.
I'm also doing lime-whipped mascarpone.
This is going to be my cream cheese element.
And instead of a bagel,
I have sesame and hemp seed flatbread
to add some nice sesame flavour
as well as some crunch to the dish.
High stakes Quickfire and I'm feeling it.
I'm confident this is the dish that gets me to the final two.
- Time, guys? - Four minutes.
Come on.
Hopefully, this will impress the judges.
My mochi, it's not moving.
It's stuck to the bottom of my canister.
Come on.
I need to get this.
What's a poutine without cheese curds?
I did not fight this hard to get eliminated at this point.
- Guys, 30. - 30 seconds, copy.
Hands up, hands up.
Good job, guys.
Hello.
Thank you, Chanthy.
I was lucky enough to get poutine,
and I made a play on pho-tine,
blending Vietnamese and French ingredients.
So, I encrusted bavette with a bit of Chinese five-spice,
and then you have a broth of chicken,
black cardamom, green cardamom and pho spices.
And then, I made a mochi out of potatoes, mozzarella,
and rice vermicelli noodles.
Thank you, Chanthy.
You definitely can say that it sort of mirrors
some of the elements of poutine
with a whole different flavour profile.
- Yeah, the guy can cook. - Yeah, he can cook.
I don't know what to think of the cheese, though.
Part of poutine is the squeaky cheese.
You need to use that cheese.
You cannot use a different cheese. That's number one.
Number two, there has to be a little bit
more element to the potatoes.
If he just gave us more potatoes and stuck with the curds,
that could have been a true home run.
Hello.
Thanks, Moira.
So, I have made herb-crusted smoked and confit salmon
with a lime-whipped mascarpone, salmon roe,
and a hemp seed and sesame flatbread.
- Thank you, Chef. - Thank you.
I think Moira did a very good job.
I like the way she interpreted a bagel with cream cheese.
The fact that she made fresh bread,
which emulates the bagel with the seasoning,
I think that's very unique.
Flavours are good, but the one mistake she did
is the salmon skin is not crispy enough.
They're a bit soggy on my plate.
I like the mascarpone.
It's, like, really creamy, really fatty.
Overall, it's delicious.
- Hello. - Hello, Haan.
So, I wanted to actually use the Schwartz's meat,
not just get inspired by it.
So, you have Schwartz meat on the bottom.
On top is a salad of cucumber, celery, cilantro,
some homemade sesame sauce and peanut and toasted sesame.
Thank you, Haan.
I love the spices and textures and freshness that goes with it,
but there's not enough transformation.
He basically only used the smoked meat.
Yep. If somebody wanted to play on the classic smoked meat,
rye bread, mustard, pickles,
there's a lot of ingredients there
to get to something more vibrant.
Haan has done this concept a number of times already,
so it's not new.
I really like his flavours, but he took the meat,
he kind of dressed it up in his own way.
Has he done enough?
Chefs, you guys are all amazingly talented.
Incredible flavours, incredible passion.
Thank you for sharing your soul with us.
- Thank you. - Thank you, Chef.
You impressed me.
Level of skills and cooking knowledge were there.
- Well done. - Thank you.
The chef with the winning dish is...
Moira.
Told you you were gonna do it.
I've never won a Quickfire before,
and I just won the one that counts.
Well done.
Thank you.
It's a 50-50 chance that I'm going to be Canada's Top Chef.
I'm ecstatic.
- Congratulations, Moira. - Thank you.
Chanthy, Haan...
one of you will make it to the final cook,
but one of you will be eliminated.
The Top Chef Canada kitchen appliances
are provided by KitchenAid.
Chanthy, Haan...
one of you will be eliminated.
Haan...
please pack your knives and go.
Yep, thank you guys very much. Love you guys.
Love you, buddy.
Yeah, it sucks to go out,
especially when I was so close to the finish,
but I got outcooked by two incredibly talented chefs
that I respect immensely.
- Haan, you did a great job. - Thank you.
Thanks very much.
Doing this competition has completely reignited
my passion for cooking
and now I'm leaving it so determined
to bring that passion back into my life,
but do it in a way that I can still be a good dad
and be there for my family.
And then there were two.
For your final challenge,
you'll need to prepare a five-course tasting menu
that shows us why you deserve to take the stage
as Canada's Top Chef.
We've seen the passion you've brought
to every challenge in this competition.
Now, put it on the plate for us one last time.
You'll be cooking and serving your final menu
in La Grande Salle,
an event space in the iconic Le Neuvième
in the heart of downtown Montreal.
Your final meal will be served with Campo Viejo Ecologico.
It's an organic Rioja produced sustainably.
And just like your final meals, it's made with passion.
Your first course, an amuse-bouche,
will be served head-to-head.
And the chef with the best amuse will win a $5,000 cash prize
courtesy of Campo Viejo.
Wow.
These will be the most important plates of your career as a chef.
We wanna see who you are and what's still to come.
The stage is set. The rest is up to you.
Good luck. See you soon.
- Thank you. - Thank you.
Jean-Talon Market, here we go.
We're going to Marché Jean-Talon to shop for our final cook.
Welcome, chefs.
Congratulations making it to the final.
- Are you guys excited? - Oh, yeah.
And the winner of Season 8 Top Chef Canada,
Chef Francis, is there to show us around.
Look at those beautiful strawberries.
They're still pretty firm, but really sweet at the same time.
So, I'm actually super vegetable-focused with my menu.
The only protein is the fish from my main.
Otherwise, everything's vegetarian.
Oh, cool. I love that. It's gonna be fresh.
My menu represents the way I like to eat.
It's drawing inspiration from people and places
and experiences throughout my life.
It's memories that have really shaped who I am
and why I'm here.
I'll take these haskap berries.
I get strawberries, radishes, asparagus, swordfish.
Beautiful.
No matter what you're looking for,
the best of Quebec is all right here.
- Thank you so much. - Merci beaucoup.
Hey, chef, so I'm looking for the best duck
and lamb in the market.
Yeah, I know where to go.
My menu is focused on Cambodian cuisine,
which is underrepresented,
and I wanna be the one to share it with the world.
Can I have one piece of duck?
This menu is extremely personal to me
as a second-generation Cambodian immigrant.
My parents found refuge in Canada in the 1980s.
They sacrificed everything and they restarted their lives here.
Mangosteen.
Yes, I'm making a mangosteen mignonette.
- Cool. - For oysters.
I really wanna stay true to my authentic self
and provide my story, my food, my way.
Merci beaucoup.
I'm so excited to get the cook started tomorrow,
but first, we have a surprise from Vrbo.
What?
Hi, guys.
Not in a million years did I expect to see my parents.
It's a nice reminder of why I'm here
and the people I care about and wanna make proud.
Final two, that's no joke.
You've got the time, you've got the thought process.
I know you can pull things together in a weird way
that we can't figure out, as to how to take stuff
out of the kitchen and make stuff.
So put all those pieces together
and you'll end up with something
that's just gonna blow them away.
Thank you.
My parents are the most supportive people.
I know they'll be extremely proud
if I were to be Canada's Top Chef,
but I know they're proud of me just for showing up.
Thank you.
- Surprise, baby. - Oh, my God!
What are you doing here?
I know.
Missed you.
I enter the Vrbo and I see Cameron.
It almost feels like I'm in a simulation.
Are you surprised?
I am surprised.
It took me a little while to process
that he's literally in front of me.
You're the most impressive person I know,
and I know you don't generally believe it, but it's true.
I don't believe it.
It's just incredible to see you come this far.
I'm glad that the rest of Canada is finally gonna see
what I have already known.
I'm feeling the pressures of the finale.
I wanna be the very first queer chef
to ever win Top Chef Canada.
Knowing that Cameron's there to support me and cheer me on
makes me feel good,
and I can't wait to be good in the kitchen.
Today is the highest stakes that we've had
in this entire competition.
One of us will be Top Chef.
That to me is exactly what an amuse should be.
This dish is fantastic. Wow!
When the star of the show wasn't cooked properly,
it's a big problem for me.
I don't even think even today
I'm fully absorbing how big this moment is.
The nerves are definitely at an all-time high.
It's so important to get today right.
I think once we step into that kitchen, it's just go time.
This is our opportunity just to put ourselves out there.
Quite honestly, there's no other chef
that I'd rather be in the finals with than you.
You too.
May the best chef win.
Kind of a big day today.
Today is the final cook-off.
For our final cook, we're at Le Neuvième,
and the chef with the winning menu will be Canada's Top Chef.
My menu is a showcase of Cambodian cuisine
with tons of influences from all of Southeast Asia.
I'm taking tons of risks today
because it's no time to play safe.
This is the most important cook of my life,
and I can't wait to take her down. Just kidding.
Slow down and breathe.
My menu is a seasonally-driven, vegetable-focused menu.
I'm showing the judges that simplicity
and highlighting beautiful ingredients is enough.
I don't think anyone's gonna be missing meat.
My amuse is very simple.
I just have some really beautiful radishes
that we got at the market.
I'm scooping out the radishes
and then filling with a goat cheese mousse.
The inspiration for this dish is from a restaurant
that I worked at called Actinolite,
where I learned the importance
of using produce from local farmers,
and it changed my life, both professionally and personally.
Obviously, I would love for my amuse to beat Chanthy's.
We're going head-to-head for the amuse,
and the winner gets a $5,000 prize.
That's a nice little confidence boost
to go into the rest of the menu.
Anything can happen.
To finding out who will be Canada's Top Chef.
Cheers to that.
It's all on the line.
May the best bite win.
Hi, Chanthy. Hi, Moira.
Hello.
- Hi, chefs. - Chef.
Good to see you again.
All right, Moira, why don't you tell us the theme of your menu?
So, the theme of my menu is really just a journey
of flavours and experiences.
I really believe in cooking from the heart
while staying true to the kind of food
that I truly enjoy to eat,
which is very vegetable-forward.
For my amuse, I have some beautiful radishes
that I filled with a herb-whipped goat cheese.
Thank you, Moira.
How about you, Chanthy?
Why don't you tell us about your menu?
So my menu is a showcase of Cambodian flavours
and a huge nod to the two people that I love most,
which is Cameron and my grandmother.
We have beach angel oysters
with a native plant to Cambodia called mangosteen.
I turned that into a mignonette.
There's lime caviar and a dill oil.
All right, thank you, chefs.
- Thank you so much. Enjoy. - Thank you, chefs.
Okay, let's see Moira's.
I think Moira's amuse was fantastic.
A beautiful, bright, fresh bite at the start of your meal.
Exactly what an amuse should be.
Those radishes, she highlighted it
with not an overpowering flavour.
The whipped goat cheese was a perfect accent.
Mild but welcoming.
I think it's a great understanding of, like, going to
a market and picking up a good ingredient,
and that's, like, a really good quality for a chef.
Well, let's try Chanthy's.
Mmm.
I've never had a mangosteen.
Sweet and creamy.
- That's fresh. - Okay.
Mmm. Wow.
There is so much flavour, but it's delicate,
and the sweetness of the mangosteen.
Perfect first bite.
It was just very, like, harmonious.
And I haven't really had that combination presented
- quite in that way before. - Yeah.
I found it was almost too harmonious.
I didn't really pick out too much of anything.
It almost feels like maybe he's leaning too much
on the oyster here, you know?
Would it be fair, though, if we were like,
she's leaning into the radish,
and then he's leaning into the oyster.
That is the primary ingredient.
I feel like she showcased her primary ingredient better.
I loved the radishes. They were great.
Just a little bit on the simple side.
- Who had the best amuse? - Moira.
I would give it to Chanthy.
Hard decision.
Chefs, both of your amuse were an amazing start to the meal.
The chef with the best amuse is...
Moira.
Thank you.
Well done. Well done.
You have won a $5,000 cash prize courtesy of Campo Viejo.
Thank you.
This is an amazing kickstart
for the rest of the meal. It's nice having this boost
of confidence that the judges are supportive
of the direction I'm going here.
- Congratulations, Moira. - Thank you, chef.
I'm gonna get you on the next one.
For my appetizer, I'm making a bowl of rice called borbor.
Borbor is a staple in every single Cambodian household.
There's another version of it called congee.
I'm really trying to elevate this dish,
so I'm marinating scallops with my homemade XO sauce
and making a beautiful foam
out of fresh green peppercorn with white soy.
It's going to add a touch of whimsicality.
When the judges receive the borbor,
I don't want them to see any ingredients.
I want them to be surprised under this veil of foam.
Oh, wow.
- Hi, chef. - Hello again.
This is an ode to my grandmother.
I've made a borbor.
A lot of other countries have congee.
This is kind of our own version.
So we have broken rice with East Coast scallops
and an XO sauce with spot prawn,
and on top you have a fresh peppercorn and white soy foam.
This is a hug from my grandmother to you.
- Thank you. - Thank you, Chanthy.
The smell is insane.
There's a lot of pepper going on there.
There's a lot of flavour for an appetizer.
But I understand. The more I dig into it,
it's really beautiful and exciting.
I haven't had congee quite like this before.
This is, like, layers of umami.
It's rich. It's flavourful.
I mean, to get a foam to stand like this,
a foam that also carries this much flavour...
- Holy moly, this is good. - Yeah.
This is, like, very crazy for me to hear so many people
talk about congee in such a passionate way.
It's emotional.
It's sweet.
It's a dish that I would bring for lunch
and get made fun of so much.
'Cause you open it up and there's a smell.
Aww.
I think that when you create a dish like this
that everyone's gonna pay for and you can see it
in the context of fine dining, you nailed it.
Mushrooms are beautiful.
My appetizer is a chanterelle mushroom parfait
with haskap compote and roasted and pickled chanterelles.
This was inspired by good old Dad.
My dad was always on the hunt of, like, cool, wild edibles.
It's just a nice memory that I have.
To make my parfait, I start with a reduction of a little bit
of ice wine, shallots, black pepper, and lemon thyme.
This is blended with eggs, cream, and roasted mushrooms.
Hmm, hmm! It's so good.
I'd like the judges to have the opportunity to try things
individually, the parfait and the compote,
or just take a spoon, scoop right through both,
and put it right on their toast.
I love a choose-your-own-adventure.
So for my appetizer, I have this chanterelle mushroom parfait,
I have a haskap berry compote,
and some pickled and roasted chanterelles.
It's very much inspired by my father.
I think it would be his favourite,
but I think he would also say everything I make
is his favourite, so it's hard to know.
Thank you, Moira.
- Thank you. - Thank you.
The mushroom puree is earthy and creamy and luscious,
and truly the star of this plate.
I thought for sure this was foie gras.
Yeah, me too.
It had the unctuousness.
It had the velvety-ness.
- Kind of tastes like it. - You don't have the mouthfeel.
A lot of people, this is the movement,
going more plant-based and more vegetarian.
It's playful, and it's like, is it PB&J?
Is it the foie gras?
I think it's, like, a super cute dish.
And right now I'm going to make a fermented fish sauce.
For my first main, I'm making roasted duck breast
and tirk prahok,
which is a fermented fish paste.
It's a risky dish because it's so pungent.
This specific prahok is pounded fermented fish
with tons of herbs, lemongrass,
galangal, and green Thai chilies.
The roasted duck is going to act as a vehicle for the sauce.
I'm adding Chinese five-spice, soy sauce,
a bit of oyster sauce, and sweet soy.
I really want this to kind of feel like
a glazed barbecue situation.
I hope that they tell me they've never had a dish like it before.
Top Chef standards.
My first main course pays homage to the Mekong River,
the lifeblood of Cambodia.
The dish is called duck with tirk prahok.
Prahok is a fermented fish sauce.
It has a bit of galangal, lemongrass,
and about five or six different herbs.
- Enjoy. - Thank you, Chanthy.
Thank you.
- It's potent. - Oof.
I am awake.
It packs a pow.
This fish sauce is something that is so powerful,
but it goes so well with the fattiness of the duck.
I'm loving Chanthy's duck.
It's really delicious.
I was not imagining this flavour profile.
And that flavour of the sauce
is something I haven't quite had before,
with this pungent fishiness that's not off-putting at all.
This dish is fantastic.
I think, like, I'm learning about Chanthy.
I love that guy.
I'm having a blast!
They're the cutest!
I'm making a play on tortellini in brodo,
but mine is potato and Parmesan agnolotti
in a roasted potato skin broth.
The reason I'm using the potato skins,
there's some really interesting, rich, roasty flavours.
So that's going to add some depth to my broth.
I'm cooking food that I'm very familiar with.
It's coming from the heart.
That's all I need.
My first main course is inspired by
the first time I travelled to Italy.
It is a potato agnolotti in a roasted potato skin broth
with some lemon balm oil and some sea parsley.
- Wonderful. - Thank you so much. Enjoy.
Thank you.
Is there a bitterness in the broth?
Mm-hmm.
It's the potato skins.
Bitterness isn't necessarily a bad component in a dish,
but this is not all the way there.
It was so overwhelmingly bitter.
I even tried to, like, escape with other elements,
and I couldn't even get there
because the bitter just overpowered everything.
The technique on the pasta was well-made, but it's bland.
It's tasteless.
Yeah.
I'm so happy. It's completely pink inside.
Just have to slice and serve.
For my second main, I'm doing a Cambodian lamb korma
inspired by India.
Lamb korma is lamb cooked slowly in yogourt and spices.
But in this case, I'm using coconut milk
and Cambodian curry paste.
I'm ready.
Mmm.
So, Chanthy, this is your final main course.
What have you made for us?
I made a roasted lamb in red curry,
and a very special northern Indian korma
mixed with Szechuan chili oil and lemongrass and galangal.
I was fortunate enough to have my grandmother alive when...
when I came out.
She was the very first person that I told.
So we were having curried beef balls and fish balls, and...
I just really wanted to pay homage to that moment,
because it was the very first time
she said that "I love you."
A response that I didn't get from the rest of my family.
Thank you.
Thank you for sharing that.
- Thank you. - Thank you very much.
There's just so much flavour from that curry,
and I think this is the point of the menu
where he is going bold, in your face.
My lamb is cooked to perfection.
I have a ton of fat, though.
Mm-hmm. Yeah, mine too.
For me, it just feels very rich.
- It's rich. - Yeah.
I'll give you that, but I found the sauce had decent acidity.
Very vibrant flavour.
Okay.
Thank you.
- Hi, Moira. - Hi.
Why don't you tell us what you made for us?
So for my second main here,
I made some sumac-roasted swordfish
with crispy artichokes,
asparagus, and some pickled cherries.
I was inspired by my time in New York.
My stage, I was set up in the dish pit
with two cases of artichokes
and I just spent my entire day there.
So this dish was inspired by just
pushing through some really hard times.
- Hope you enjoy. - Great.
- Thank you. - Thank you.
Thank you, Moira.
It arrives in front of me, I think it's
a very pretty plate, but it's a surprisingly safe plate.
Asparagus, love. Artichokes, love.
This pickled cherries, awesome. Love that.
Everything was done nicely.
Nothing stands out.
The swordfish, for me, wasn't cooked properly.
Swordfish needs one to two minutes on each side.
It should be tender.
When the star of the show wasn't cooked properly,
it's a big problem for me.
I feel like I've never felt more in my stride than I did today.
This is my last dish.
I'm making what I'm calling the whipped cream tea party.
Main components are sponge cake, black pepper,
strawberry compote, and salted rose white chocolate ganache.
I'm keeping this pretty simple.
Regardless of what happens, I'm so proud of myself.
Can't ask for much more.
Except for $100,000.
- Hello. - Hi, Moira.
What have you made for us?
I call this my whipped cream tea party.
Growing up, my grandmother and I,
she would do baked goods for the whole family,
but her and I would always sneak away, fill her fancy china,
and just eat bowls of whipped cream,
'cause that's what we loved.
We have a very simple sponge cake,
a black pepper and strawberry compote
as well as a white chocolate and salted rose tuile,
and I've topped it off with
some very lightly sweetened cream and some basil oil.
- I hope you enjoy. - Thank you, Moira.
Thank you.
I feel like I'm in her kitchen.
Mm-hmm.
Obviously, it does feel simple,
but you can really taste the love.
It's like home.
This is very reminiscent of my childhood.
You could say that it's a bit simple for the finale dinner,
but it sure is tasty.
So, on that note, we close off Moira's menu.
Kudos.
- Hi, Chanthy. - Hello, chefs.
So I've prepared a coconut anglaise
with compressed watermelon, a basil oil,
honey and chocolate tuile,
and a sorbet out of lime leaves and yogourt.
I thought we'd start fresh and end fresh.
- Thank you. - Thank you, Chanthy.
When I tasted that ice cream,
I was like, "Wow!"
Totally.
That lime leaf is unbelievable.
And the coconut? Oh, my gosh, it was so refreshing to the palate.
There's, like, six desserts in here,
and they all work together.
He did a perfect job of everything.
We're done.
That was an incredibly memorable meal,
and we had five courses from just incredibly talented chefs.
Francis, thank you so much for joining us.
What a pleasure. Had a great meal.
We need to head back to Judges' Table
to find out who is the winner.
- Wow. - Absolutely.
Promise we'll still be friends?
Obviously.
How could we not?
All right.
Chanthy and Moira.
We got to know you better as chefs
and people through your dishes today.
Thank you both. It was a really great meal.
You took us to moments in your childhood.
You took us to defining moments in your lives.
You made us feel what you felt, and it was unforgettable.
It's been an honour.
Moira, I just think you're bringing some really
inventive dishes to plant-forward dining.
The mushroom puree, it landed and we all went to foie gras,
even knowing that it was plant-forward.
But you brought the flavour that was so velvety,
it was such a delightful surprise.
You really toyed with us.
You set down something that almost looked
like an abstract painting.
You should allow your guests to explore your food,
and we did exactly that.
- I thought it was fantastic. - Thank you.
I loved the whimsy of your whipped cream tea party.
The strawberry-to-cake ratio was really lovely and super bright.
I love that you kept the whipped cream not sweet
so that there was really nice balance in there.
I just truly felt even more connected to you
by eating that and hearing your story.
Thank you.
Let's talk about your agnolotti in brodo.
I'm curious as to why you doubled down on potato
on that particular dish.
I wanted to offer some richness to the broth,
and I find that potato skins really offer that.
I think you did a really masterful job with the pasta.
The broth had good clarity, but I found it had a bitterness
from the skins that continued to develop on your palate,
and I didn't find I got the relief from the filling.
Understood.
Chanthy.
The congee made me so emotional.
I've never seen such a joyous reaction to such a humble dish.
You had layers of flavour, layers of texture.
Every single ingredient that you talked about
was perfectly balanced with one another.
It was incredible.
Thank you so much.
That congee, every bite was a new kind of treasure, a gem.
It was a masterpiece in
making something ostensibly simple very complex.
Thank you so much. Appreciate it.
Duck is a really hard protein to get right.
But I have to say,
it was the best duck I've ever eaten in my life.
Thank you.
When you said fermented fish as a basis for the sauce,
my expectation was something completely different.
The duck was perfectly tender.
That was the most refreshing duck I've ever eaten in my life.
And when do you ever
say something like that?
Thank you for letting me be weird.
The fermented fish was so pungent,
but worked so beautifully with the duck.
You took it as far as you could possibly go.
I'm gonna be thinking about that duck
for a very, very long time.
Thank you. I truly measured with my heart.
With your final main course, how did you prepare the lamb?
The lamb was first marinated,
and then I roasted it.
It had an amazing cook.
Unfortunately, the one thing that kind of troubled us
was the amount of fat on that lamb saddle.
On some portions, it felt almost equal in weight
to the actual meat on the cuts.
I left it in a larger format
so that you did have the option to slice it off.
That was my intention, and I'm sorry
that it didn't communicate that way.
Moira, we've really seen you
come into your own over this competition.
How do you think this has changed you?
The biggest hurdle was just bringing myself to come here
and putting myself out there.
Today was a really wonderful opportunity to remind myself
that you can put it all out there.
It's been an incredible journey,
and I've learned a lot about myself,
and it really has been a team effort to get me here,
and I just really wanna make everyone proud.
Chanthy, what did it mean to you
to be able to showcase Cambodian cuisine on this stage?
It felt like a moment of expression
of therapy through cooking.
I think my story really resonates
with a lot of second-generation immigrants
and a lot of people that are in the same communities as me,
so I think that to be Top Chef could be a great opportunity to
share this story with not only Canada, but internationally.
I'm in awe with him every day.
Aw.
Chefs, we asked you to create a five-course tasting menu
that showed us who you are as a chef
and what you bring to the world stage.
Both of your menus impressed us,
but only one of you can be Top Chef.
Chanthy, Moira,
both of your menus impressed us,
but only one of you can be Top Chef.
Moira, you told us a deeply personal story
and showcased plant-forward cuisine in a way that moved us.
Chanthy, you introduced us to Cambodian flavours
and gave us unexpected and memorable dishes.
Chanthy.
You are Canada's Top Chef.
Oh, my God.
Congratulations, Chanthy.
I just became Canada's Top Chef.
I'm the very first Southeast Asian and queer chef
to ever be crowned Canada's Top Chef.
How freaking exciting is that?
Chanthy, congratulations.
How does it feel?
All the pressure from my shoulders
just melted away after you said that,
and I just feel really good,
and I'm so honoured to be able to cook for you
and to cook with you, and...
Thank you so much.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Well, thank you.
Moira, I have to say,
watching your transformation in the competition,
you had extraordinary skills.
You can see that your level of confidence increased.
I really think that you're a different chef leaving.
Thank you so much. It really makes the world.
I'm grateful for this experience,
and even though I haven't won the title,
I'm leaving here with a tremendous amount of pride.
I put myself out there in a way that I never thought I would.
What's life if you're not taking risks?
Oh, my God!
I knew you could do it.
Congratulations. I knew you had it in you.
A second-generation immigrant made it to the top.
I worked my butt off and paved the way
for a lot of other people with this win.
Throughout my career,
I had to prove to a whole bunch of other people
that I do belong in this industry, and here I am.
To Chanthy, Canada's Top Chef.
- Congratulations. - Cheers.