Jock Zonfrillo is a Scottish celebrity chef, television presenter and philanthropist based in Adelaide, South Australia. Zonfrillo owns Restaurant Orana in Adelaide, Australia, and is the founder of the not-for-profit The Orana Foundation. Zonfrillo is one of the new MasterChef Australia judges alongside Andy Allen and Melissa Leong.
Biography
Zonfrillo was born in Glasgow, Scotland. His mother's family is Scottish from Dalmellington, Ayrshire while his father’s is Italian from Scauri, Italy. He attended Belmont Academy in Ayr, Scotland. Zonfrillo first started working in kitchens as a dishwasher part time at the age of 13, while still at school and being classically French-trained, however quickly swapped roles to a chef filling in for a cook who called in sick. Zonfrillo then left school aged 15 and started an apprenticeship in the kitchens of The Turnberry Hotel, Scotland after which he worked at the Arkle Restaurant in the Chester Grosvenor Hotel in Chester. Zonfrillo then worked for Marco Pierre White and David Cavalier before travelling to Australia for 12 months in to work with Dietmar Sawyere at Restaurant Forty One in Sydney On returning to the UK, Zonfrillo returned to work for Marco Pierre White before taking his first Head Chef position aged 22 at The Tresanton Hotel, Cornwall, England. Zonfrillo returned to Australia in January 2000 as the Head Chef at Restaurant 41 in Sydney. In May 2007 Zonfrillo was made bankrupt after a creditors petition from Martin Krammer was successful in the Federal Magistrates Court Zonfrillo now resides in Adelaide, South Australia with his third wife Lauren Zonfrillo who herself, as well as being a prominent businesswoman, also appears regularly as a panellist on Gruen. In November 2013, Zonfrillo opened Restaurant Orana and Street ADL in Adelaide winning multiple accolades in both, replacing Street ADL with Bistro Blackwood in September 2017. In 2017, Restaurant Orana was named Australia's 2018 Restaurant of the Year by Gourmet Traveller Magazine, the same year Zonfrillo was named Australia's 2018 Hottest Chef in The Australian. In 2016, Zonfrillo started his not-for-profit foundation, The Orana Foundation, to preserve the sophisticated cooking techniques and ingredients of The First Australians. The Orana Foundation was awarded the Good Food Guide Food For Good Award in October 2017 and went on to receive global recognition for his Foundation work by winning Basque Culinary World Prize in July 2018. In 2018, Zonfrillo was also named Australia's 2019 Restaurant of the Year by the Good Food Guide. In December 2018 Zonfrillo opened a restaurant called "Nonna Mallozzi", he later closed it in July 2019 after posting losses exceeding $140,000 in the time it was open In October 2019, Zonfrillo was announced as one of the new judges for MasterChef Australia in 2020, alongside Melissa Leong and Andy Allen. An investigative article on July 6 2020 in The Australian made the claim that payments from the Orana Foundation were paid into companies associated with Zonfrillo and his wife. The article also claimed that indigenous representatives had withdrawn from the indigenous governance panel process. An indigenous foods database funded by the Foundation was subject to a legal dispute between the Foundation and the University of Adelaide. Indigenous groups have called on Zonfrillo to apologise and hand over his database to a body controlled by Indigenous people
