Morning Stars: Why Gary Mehigan, former MasterChef Australia judge, doesn’t need an alarm clock

Celebrity chef and former MasterChef Australia judge Gary Mehigan.

How you start each morning has a huge impact — positively or negatively — on the rest of your day, believes Gary Mehigan. That’s the reason the former MasterChef Australia judge prefers to be up by 6.30 every morning and manages to pack a considerable amount of work before the world is up. A self-confessed “food-obsessed traveller”, Mehigan is in Mumbai to host a special eggless pastry class being held in association with Conosh, an experience dining and culinary learning platform. Edited excerpts:

Are you a morning person? What are your mornings like?

Ask my wife. It drives her nuts. I am a very routine-driven individual. I wake up at 6.30 am every day and have a cup of coffee, even though the trend right now is that you shouldn’t. But I only have one or maybe two coffees in the day. Then, I take my dogs for a walk. I am a modern man who does a couple of chores around the house. So, I do the washes, a bit of ironing, wash the car before I get down to working on menus and other professional things — all before 11 am. I find mornings the most productive part of the day.

Are you particular about your coffee?

I am a bit obsessed about my coffee. Making the perfect flat white — double shot, 20 gm of coffee, 23 seconds of extraction — is a ceremony I enjoy every morning. And then the day can go any way. It could be a crazy day of working 12-20 hours a day or you could find me in the garden picking sticks.

How many hours of sleep do you need?

As long as I get six, I am good. If it’s under five I get grumpy. I am not a napper in the day. My wife is, which drives me bonkers.

What about breakfast?

I don’t eat breakfast any more. It’s a weird thing. I don’t know what happened. My father told me, ‘as you get older you don’t want to eat so much.’ Well he was wrong! I do eat a lot but it tends to be later in the day. People ask me if I am intermittent fasting but the truth is that I don’t feel hungry in the morning. It’s almost a chef habit. Chefs, in a terrible way, often don’t eat very well themselves but tend to feed their customers wonderfully. But then, late at night, I am peering into the fridge. It’s terrible. Isn’t it? I have an obsession with cheese which makes it even worse.

What about breakfast on a lazy Sunday at home or when you are travelling?

In India, I have a soft spot for dosa — rava dosa, masala dosa. And I have a mild obsession with idli and medu vada. I love that about travelling. At home, it’s the simple things. I might make a loaf of sourdough when my wife is fast asleep. I love to take a couple of slices of the freshly baked bread, toast it and top it with eggs from a free range farm called Yolky Dokey, literally five minutes down the road. I love their eggs. Right now, it’s wild mushroom season in Australia. So, it’s homemade bread, a slather of butter, poached eggs, wild mushrooms — it’s amazing.

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What’s your morning alarm sound?

I don’t need to set an alarm. I wake up to daylight. But if it’s an important thing I set two alarms — 15 minutes apart.

What’s the secret to not going off to sleep after the alarm goes off?

I learnt this from my days at the Canal — swing your legs out of bed as soon as you hear the alarm and sit up. Do not, under any circumstances, turn off the alarm and go back to sleep.

What were mornings like when you were growing up?

I was always a busy kid and lived a blessed life. Much before social media and other things, my friends and I spent the days taking our bicycle out, making camps, not worried about being out from sunrise to sunset. My mom would always get angry not knowing where we were. Climbing trees was a favourite thing. When I finally went to London to work, it felt like being in the army. I survived on little sleep, highly motivated, driven by trying to be the best and perfecting my craft. I remember walking through the London streets at 5.30 in the morning, working on the butchery at the Canal and thinking I am never going to survive this. But I did. Working 14 hours a day, cutting my fingers and having sore hands from breaking down beasts. But it’s training that I will never forget, never regret.

You travel a lot. What are some of your favourite morning memories from around the world?

Oh, so many good memories. Sitting on a Parisian street sipping on coffee and dipping my croissant into it. Nothing gets better than that in Paris. It’s beautiful. Sitting down on a little plastic stool on the streets of Hanoi and eating bun cha, basically sweating into a bowl of noodles and soup is another everlasting memory. In Thailand, I have had many a memorable mornings eating a simple omelette on the beach.

Omelette on a beach in Thailand is one of Gary Mehigan's favourite morning memories. (Photo: Markus Inkler via Unsplash)

Any famous person you would love to have breakfast with?  

It will have to be my wife Mandy or there will be massive trouble at home. But I do like to catch up with friends over breakfast. Coffee and breakfast is a thing in Melbourne. While I am away I get numerous texts saying from friends asking ‘when you are you back let’s catch up for breakfast.’ Breakfast is a good way to catch up with people with a time limit. Dinners can go on and on.