One of Australia’s most watched television programs is coming to Brimbank.
Kim, a St Albans resident, is competing in the Channel Seven cooking show My Kitchen Rules.
The first round has contestants turning their homes into instant restaurants that host the other teams and judges Pete Evans and Manu Feildel.
Kim and her friend, Suong, chose Kim’s
St Albans home as their venue.
Kim said it was a surreal experience.
“I had neighbours asking me why Manu and Pete were arriving at my house,” she said. “It was a strange, yet fantastic experience.”
The duo, both Vietnamese refugees, have been friends since high school and had long harboured a desire to audition for the show.
“Each year, Suong and I would watch the show and talk about applying, but it was only this season that we took that leap,” Kim said. “I couldn’t believe it when they rang to say we’d been successful.”
The pair hopes to show the nation exactly what real Vietnamese food is, but Kim said there was another motivation driving them.
“We’re doing this for ourselves, but we’re also doing this for our families,” she said. “We have seven children between us and we want to do them proud.”
Kim describes her participation in the show as a great experience, but she admits to having some nerves about the increased profile that comes with it. But on the whole, she said the experience exceeded her expectations and she hoped it would help make her dreams a reality.
“I really want to open my own cafe,” she said. “I’d love to stay locally in Brimbank, but I’m also looking at inner-city areas because finding suitable premises is proving challenging.”
