Having just missed out on a place in the final three of MasterChef Australia hasn’t worried Tamara Graffen one jot.
The former engineering officer, who resigned from her role in Broome during the series, has already completed work experience at several establishments, including Quay in Sydney and Lune Croissanterie and On Nom in Melbourne.
With all the work keeping her on the east coast of Australia, Tamara, 28, reveals to TV WEEK that a move seems imminent.
She and husband Tim currently live in Broome, but are eyeing a relocation to Melbourne so she can pursue her food goals.
“I love Broome, but the food scene, in Melbourne in particular, is absolutely amazing,” Tamara says.
“Having spent so much time in Melbourne filming MasterChef, but not actually seeing a lot of great places to eat, I’m really enjoying getting involved in that now. Possibly we might move to Melbourne in the near future.”
In her final week in the competition, Tamara was offered work experience from two of the country’s best chefs, Alla Wolf-Tasker from Lake House in Daylesford and Peter Gilmore at Quay.
“I was absolutely blown-away and lost for words,” she says.
“That had to have been one of my favourite challenges – to cook something where there was no limits on what we could cook, and to cook for culinary royalty was absolutely incredible.”
A few weeks ago, Tamara headed to Quay to work alongside Peter.
“Peter Gilmore’s food is absolutely incredible,” she says.
“I really admire his work and I was so stoked to take him up on the offer.”
With only three now vying for the title – Ben Ungermann, Diana Chan and Karlie Verkerk – Tamara is tipping Karlie to win the series this year.
“She’s a really clever cook, and a really thoughtful cook and she just has such a knack for it,” Tamara says.
“Watching her work, is just like magic the way she move around the kitchen, so I was really impressed by her.”
