Masterchef Judge John Torode in Penang

Our most influential celebrity was John Torode, the UK Masterchef judge.

When he came to see me, it was nearly evening. Must have been quite a hectic day for him as Penang being hot and humid as usual. Tried as he might be, I could see he was exhausted but he keep his composure.

John Torode in Penang

We had lots of fun talking, cooking and filming for his tour in Asia. He was very humble though you know me, I bravely shared some tips of our style of cooking.

He kept saying, Pearly….I love the way you do this and that. Very modest man. The best remark for me at the end of the 2nd day when we bade goodbye was him telling me this. I am sure you would be happy to receive this compliment too, if you were ME.

Quoting John. “Pearly, I have to tell you this. Most times when we film, if it was a challenge, we won’t talk about it. Last night with you, the crew and I talked non stop until midnight and we were still talking.”

How was that? I was flabbergasted for days afters.

John Torode in Penang with Nyonya Pearly Kee

A little about John Torode as what I gather. He comes from Australia and is a celebrity chef by then.  In the 90s, he moved to UK and worked for the Conran Group of restaurant.  He appeared on ITV1 and later in 2005 got into Masterchef on BBC One.

Read more about John Torode here. Has the Luxe before and his second restaurant is called, ‘ Smiths of Smithfield. I know he has written a couple of books.

The unsung heroes of John Torode.

One of the nicest filming crew we have met so far.  While they were setting the place, my neighbor had their telly on and it was quite loud and disturbing. They asked if my neighbor could keep it low. I was like, OMG, how am I going to tell them to shut up.

Luckily, I had my knight in shining amour Chandra with his sweet smile, going over and asked Aunty Wong to lower their telly so we could have a smooth filming. Lo and behold, my neighbor told us after the filming that whenever we need them to quiet down, let them know. Hmmm in my heart, I was thinking, can they be quiet everyday as they even talked loudly. Touche.

Anyway,we end up being best of friends and neighbor. One good thing happened which I am forever grateful. John Torode had a good filming and we ended up as good friends with our neighbor.

Chandra and I will miss the crew.