Regina Troy Barrios

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Miko Aspiras MasterChef Australia

<div>A Filipino pastry chef’s full-circle moment on one of the world’s biggest culinary stages.</div>In April, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/chefmikoaspiras/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Miko Aspiras</a> received a message from the producers of<a href="https://www.instagram.com/masterchefau/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> MasterChef Australia</a>. They were casting upcoming episodes and wanted to know if he’d be open to appearing. At first, it was for a top-five or top-six challenge. Then came a surprising change: they wanted him for the finale.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1754981378892GROUP_1.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/>Miko Aspiras steps in as judge at MasterChef Australia’s high-stakes finale | Photo: MasterChef Australia </div>“I was excited and thrilled just to be considered… but to be told that my work is worthy of the finale episode—that’s something else,” Aspiras says.It’s the kind of moment that redefines an entire career. The MasterChef Australia finale is known for its pressure, precision, and prestige. Past guest judges have included global icons like Heston Blumenthal, Massimo Bottura, Dominique Crenn, and Clare Smyth. The guest judge doesn’t just show up—they create the final challenge: a technically demanding, emotionally resonant dish that finalists must execute in real time.Aspiras designed a dessert.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1754981283707HERODISH_6.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/>Aspiras with his hero dessert, ready for its grand unveiling on finale night | Photo: MasterChef Australia</div><h2>The dessert that told his story</h2>The dish began as something small—just a post on Instagram. But the producers saw something personal, something true in it. “It represented who I am as a pastry chef, my influences and techniques, and what I love to do,” Aspiras says.Reimagined for the finale, it became a challenge meant to test every skill the finalists had. “Ultimately, we were able to make something that’s extremely technical and just an amazing representation of who I am,” he says. “It represents my background now as a Filipino and as an Australian.”To watch contestants bring his vision to life was, he says, “such an awesome thing to witness.”<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1754981399908COOK_2.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/>Watching contestants bring his vision to life was “awesome,” says Aspiras | Photo: MasterChef Australia</div><h2>The contestant who became a judge</h2>Not long after moving to Australia in 2019, Aspiras had quietly auditioned for MasterChef. Not as a judge, but as a contestant. He never heard back.Years later, standing on the finale set as a guest judge, a producer recalled that moment. “Maybe it didn’t happen because you were meant for something better,” they told him.The twist? It was pastry artist Amaury Guichon—renowned for his gravity-defying chocolate sculptures—who recommended him for the role. “We met briefly in 2018 in Italy,” Aspiras says. “I never thought he’d remember me. So to find out he thought of me for this role… that was a full-circle moment.”<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1754981437510INTRO_4.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/>Caught up in the electrifying energy of the MasterChef Australia finale set | Photo: MasterChef Australia</div><h2>A career that led to the world stage</h2>That moment only makes sense when you look at the years that led up to it. Aspiras had arrived in Sydney as executive pastry chef at Hilton, where his Basque burnt cheesecakes sold out on launch day.He didn’t climb the ranks—he hit the ground running. Within a week of landing, he was heading the pastry kitchen. He later joined the fine-dining Italian restaurant Seta, then co-founded Don’t Doughnuts in Darlinghurst, where his sourdough-brioche doughnuts filled with Basque cheesecake and glazed in Vegemite butterscotch attracted a cult following.He was becoming known not just for his technique but also the way he used it to tell stories about identity. Through the Filipino Food Movement, he introduced traditional flavors to new audiences, folding them into French pastry, then layering on distinctly Australian ingredients like lemon myrtle, wattleseed, and eucalyptus.It was this kind of flavor fluency—rooted, bilingual, inventive—that MasterChef saw and celebrated.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1754982416061SOLO_3.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/>The boy who dreamed in sugar, all grown up and making MasterChef history | Photo: MasterChef Australia</div><h2>Before that, there was the boy who dreamed in sugar</h2>At 21, Aspiras was already a rising star in Manila’s pastry world. He had won gold at the 2011 Hong Kong International Culinary Classic, then trained at Raffles Makati, honing a style that became architectural, elegant, and imaginative.In the years that followed, he helped shape Manila’s pastry scene: co-founding Scout’s Honor, launching Le Petit Soufflé, building entremets at The Workshop that became the talk of the capital. At one point, it felt like Manila’s dessert trends had his fingerprints all over them.And then, at the height of it all—he walked away.In 2019, he left Manila for Sydney, a move that stunned the local culinary world. As respected food journalist Nana Ozaeta wrote in her piece <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/ancx/food-drink/features/02/08/20/miko-aspiras-was-the-phs-most-sought-after-pastry-chefwhat-on-earth-is-he-doing-in-sydney" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">“Miko Aspiras was the PH’s most sought-after pastry chef—what on earth is he doing in Sydney?”</a>: “There isn’t quite anyone like Aspiras who galvanized and energized the industry with his forward-looking ideas, bold flavor combinations, and knack for creating just the right product for the right time.”Even from afar, he stayed connected—mentoring his teams, and staging Home Sweet Home, a one-night Filipino-Australian dessert tasting at The Grid just before the pandemic.Then came the silence.Until now—with MasterChef Australia bringing him back into the spotlight.<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1754982444480VERDICT_2.jpg" style="width:900px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/>A glittering, high-drama finale to crown this season’s MasterChef Australia champion.” | Photo: MasterChef Australia</div><h2>The peak is not the peak</h2>“Once upon a time, I thought I had reached my peak,” Aspiras says. “But working and moving to Australia, I learned so much more about myself. I’m a totally different person now. A totally different leader. A totally different chef.”His MasterChef appearance isn’t just a professional milestone—it’s a personal reckoning. A reminder of how far he has come, and how much further he could still go. But it’s also something more. A turning point for Filipino pastry on the global stage. It proves that Filipino chefs can define the narrative, shape the challenge, and stand at the summit—not just as contestants, but as creators of the finale itself.And yet, he still remembers where it began. “That first shoot, that first interview—I didn’t know what to expect,” he says, recalling his 2011 feature with Food Magazine, the print publication that would later evolve into Metro.Style’s food section. “But I believed in myself. And I met people who believed in me, too. Food was the first to expose me to the industry and bring my story to a wider public. That kind of reach—across different communities—is rare.”He pauses.“I remember the words you used to describe me. ‘Golden boy.’ At the time, I couldn’t believe it. Now I live by it. Those were humble beginnings… but look—I’m living it. And not just living it. I’m proof it’s possible.”

He once auditioned as a contestant. Now, he’s the judge designing the finale dessert.

He once auditioned as a contestant. Now, he’s the judge designing the finale dessert.

The Untold Story Of How Miko Aspiras Made His Mark At The MasterChef Australia Finale

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The Untold Story Of How Miko Aspiras Made His Mark At The MasterChef Australia Finale

Troy Barrios

Published Aug 12, 2025 09:00 PM PHT

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