Born as Barry Zonfrillo in Glasgow in 1976, he started working in kitchens at the young age of 13, starting his apprenticeship at Turnberry Hotel when he was 15, becoming one of its youngest-ever apprentices.
At 17, he began working for the celebrated British chef Marco Pierre White. Zonfrillo revealed in his 2021 memoir Last Shot that he was homeless and addicted to heroin at that time. He was appointed head chef at Cornwall’s Tresanton hotel when he was just 22.
In 2000, Zonfrillo became the head chef at Sydney’s Forty One, but in 2002, he was fired after he set fire to an apprentice’s pants as a practical joke. The apprentice sued him and won $75,000 in damages in 2007, and Zonfrillo declared bankruptcy in the same year.
He then opened several restaurants in Adelaide, including Restaurant Orana, Street ADL, Bistro Blackwood, and Nonna Mallozzi.
Restaurant Orana won several awards, including being named Australia’s Restaurant of the Year in 2018 by Gourmet Traveller magazine and the Good Food Guide in 2019. It was awarded three hats in 2019 and 2020 but had to close in March 2020.
In 2019, Zonfrillo became a judge on MasterChef Australia, replacing the show’s original hosts Matt Preston, George Calombaris, and Gary Mehigan.
However, some of the stories mentioned in his memoir were controversially disputed. White, his former employer, stated that almost everything Zonfrillo wrote about him was untrue, and Zonfrillo’s claim of visiting hundreds of Indigenous communities was also questioned.
Did Jock Zonfrillo work for Gordon Ramsay?
Gordon Ramsay’s blue team sous-chef for Hell’s Kitchen seasons 17 and 18, which aired on Fox and then ITV in the UK, was Petrie.
Does Jock from MasterChef have a restaurant?
Yes, after relocating to Australia, he opened Bistro Blackwood and Restaurant Orana in Adelaide, where his talent allowed him to flourish in some of the most challenging kitchens in the world.