The Chronicle Herald (Provincial)
Andrew Al-khouri relished the opportunity
Fans of Masterchef Canada have to wait from week to week to watch the latest challenges and find out which contestant must say adieu to the kitchen, while those on the show have to perfect the art of biting their tongue.
Halifax chef Andrew Al-khouri has known for months that he was eliminated from the final four, and would not be taking part in this Sunday’s series finale of Masterchef Canada: Back to Win. But now that it’s down to the final three contestants — Dartmouth chef Andy Hay, Vancouver’s Thea Vanherwaarden and Markham bakery owner Christopher Siu —the owner of the downtown eatery afrite can finally speak freely again.
“This time I had fun with it, and didn’t tell my family anything,” says the Sydney River-raised restaurateur over a Zoom call. “So they were watching along, and it was better not to say anything because you get to create some excitement.
“Particularly at a time when there’s not a ton of content going out there. Everybody’s ripped through Netflix and seen everything, so this was a new story with someone they could root for, that they know.”
As the title Back to Win indicates, this season saw past contestants returning to face new challenges and show off new and improved skills honed in the years since their last appearances.
Since coming in 10th place during 2015’s Season Two, Al-khouri quit his day job as a federal tax officer, opened afrite on Lower Water Street, and earned a reputation for tasty burgers and funky fusion items like donair gnocchi and chicken shawarma fries.
For him, coming in fourth this time around still counts as a victory. He appeared on 11 out of 12 episodes, putting his best food forward week after week. At one point he received high praise from Chef Claudio Aprile that one of his desserts, a new take on peaches and cream, was three-star Michelin quality.
“It didn’t even faze me, I really enjoyed the whole thing, win or lose,” he says of the return experience. “I was there to promote my business, I think everybody knew that, and I was there to showcase where I’ve come from since my first time.
“I did that, I was proud of every dish, including the ones I got eliminated on, and I maintain that I thought they were amazing. It just so happens the judges disagreed and I totally respect that.
“It just so happens, at that point in the competition, even good dishes can send you home.”
On Sunday’s penultimate episode, he paid tribute to his mom Rajaa, whose use of the nickname “afrite” — which Al-khouri says is Arabic for “troublemaker” — inspired the name of his restaurant.
You could sense her influence in one of his final dishes, the lamb cabbage roll in tomato sauce that formed part of a trio of creations using the leafy green staple.
“I try to pay homage to my mom as much as possible, I’m probably going to get a reputation as a mama’s boy, I don’t know if that will help me,” he laughs.
“My mom is an incredible cook, but more important than that, she shaped us to be good people, all my siblings, and I’m really proud of that and really proud of her.
“She was brought to this country from Syria when she was 17, not really educated or speaking English, and she thrived in Cape Breton despite a lot of challenges. I think it was the right thing to do, since she brought me here.”
Meeting the seemingly impossible challenges of Masterchef Canada: Back to Win, getting reacquainted with the judges and learning from their experiences in the competitive world of fine dining, and seeing what the veteran competitors had to offer were all enjoyable aspects of being back on the show for Al-khouri.
But he also got to see the great strides made by his fellow Season Two competitor Siu, who the Haligonian picked as his odds-on favourite to earn this season’s Masterchef Canada title.
“I think about culture and tradition and flavour and all that sort of stuff,” he explains. “(Chris) thinks about technique first, and he came from a science background and a pharmacy background, and he thinks about food from that angle. He’s a chemist of food, in my opinion, and that really scared me because I don’t think like that.”
With COVID-19 restrictions in place, afrite is currently only open for takeout, so its owner isn’t enjoying the kind of warm and personal relationship with his customers that he’d normally enjoy, or receiving all of their hearty congratulations.
But he says they can expect to see the influence of his return to Masterchef Canada on his menu in the near future.
“More than 200 per cent, for sure,” he says enthusiastically. “The dishes I cooked on (the show), I’ll admit, a lot of the time I pre-planned to put them on the menu and incorporate them into the business.
“I’d be a fool not to parlay this amazing experience into my own journey, so you should expect to see — once things open up, obviously — a lot of changes in our menu.”