Thirteen-year-old Dinh Thanh Hai won MasterChef Junior Viet Nam Season 1 on December 25.

In the finale, Hai won the competition with his sauté fois gras and poached apple in red wine as the starter, sauté salmon with pomelo sauce as the main and panna cotta with passion fruit sauce and mango sauce as the dessert.

“When the judge called my name, I just wanted to leap for joy and shout ’I did it’. To me, being winner of MasterChef Junior demonstrates my efforts over the past years and helps to strengthen the passion for cooking within me,” Hai said at the show.

“I will continue my studies and pursue my passion for cooking. At the same time, I will explore more about food of different countries and different regions of Việt Nam,” Hải said.

“I have for long been interested in the MasterChef Junior show and dreamt to be one of its contestants. When I learnt it was being held in Viet Nam for the first time, I asked my parents to allow me to participate and get the opportunity to cook in the large kitchen of MasterChef Junior,” Hai, who has been cooking for five years, said

Hai is from Nha Trang City. During MasterChef Junior, it was his sauces that always impressed the judges. 

VNS