This Filipina Is New Top Chef Champion, and She Didn’t Even Audition

(SPOT.ph) What do you get when you combine a penchant for cooking competition binge watches and a solid sense of self-belief? You get Rhoda Magbitang, a Filipino culinary star who's also the latest winner of Top Chef.

Her televised journey will feel very familiar to any of us who's had a big dream—after facing elimination in Week 5, Magbitang would claw her way back into the competition through Last Chance Kitchen, the show's companion web series that grants former contestants of the same season one shot at returning to the main program. It's almost no wonder how she put herself back on track, given her impressive résumé; she's built her career in the kitchens of Michelin-starred Mélisse, République, and rose to the position of executive chef at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.

Magbitang made her way to the United States at the age of 17, initially looking to pursue a career in education; lucky for us, her love of food outweighed everything else, leading her to enroll at Le Cordon Bleu. The rest, as they say, is history. Currently, she serves as the first female executive chef of the coveted CanoeHouse resort in Hawaii, where a casting agent encouraged her to apply for Top Chef. In the end, though, it was the show's network, Bravo, who sought her out themselves.

While she might say she's exceedingly lucky, her path also seems to be no coincidence. The reigning champion of the Top Chef franchise had her eyes glued to the show from day one, and grew up on a steady diet of Filipino home cooking—what better fuel for a future cooking show winner, right?

Still, she feels that any of her fellow competitors "could have been deserving of the win," citing that even in restaurants, one's reaction to one bad day could make all the difference. “When I started feeling more comfortable and stopped being so marred with self-doubt, that’s when I was cooking my best,” she shared in conversation with Food & Wine.

Magbitang's winning meal consisted of roasted sweet potato with miso butter and uni, followed by abalone lugaw. Bringing up the rear were upscaled versions of tortang talong and short-rib kaldereta ("a toast to my dad," she explains in the confessional), all four courses harking back to some memory or other of her parents' cooking. She has been praised for her consistent quality, excellent technique, and strong storytelling.

Also read: NY’s Michelin-Recognized Tadhana Is Finally Home in Manila