Cover Bravo’s ‘Top Chef’ Season 23 winner Rhoda Magbitang (Photo: Daniel Colvin)
Bravo’s ‘Top Chef’ Season 23 winner Rhoda Magbitang (Photo: Daniel Colvin)
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Born in tough kitchen environments and driven by determination, Filipino chef Rhoda Magbitang made her mark internationally, turning the simple flavours of her childhood into a refined, ingredient-focused success
The culinary world is a notoriously unforgiving industry, a high-octane space that demands far more than a sharp blade and a finely tuned palate. For Rhoda Magbitang, clinching the coveted title of Bravo’s Top Chef Season 23 winner was not merely a television triumph; it was the culmination of a life defined by unwavering resilience. Her winning menu was an ingredient-driven homage to her heritage, eschewing unnecessary culinary theatrics to present elegantly elevated Filipino classics. It was a triumphant moment on a global stage, but the journey to that finale meal was paved with detours, a healthy dose of culture shock and immense grit.
Long before cameras captured her command of a kitchen, Magbitang was a young woman in the Philippines, simply waiting for her family’s American visa process to finalise—an endeavour she remembers as tedious, time-consuming and expensive. To pass the time in a non-committal way before her eventual departure, she attended a small school on the third floor of the Santa Lucia mall on Marcos Highway, right across a Wendy’s. “You just go there, you sit in an air-conditioned room,” she amusingly recalls of the short-lived stint. She couldn’t even remember the study programme she was in.
However, arriving in the San Fernando Valley brought the stark reality of the American dream crashing down. Grappling with homesickness, Magbitang took a job at a copy centre owned by two Persian brothers in Northridge. The job was an eye-opening introduction to a new world, made more perplexing when she found herself receiving an envelope of cash every couple of weeks.
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Above ‘The Final Toast’ Episode 2314 (Photo: Paul Cheney / Bravo)
‘The Final Toast’ Episode 2314 (Photo: Paul Cheney / Bravo)
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Surprisingly, a professional culinary career was never part of her plans. As the eldest of six siblings, raised in a typical Filipino household with a stay-at-home mother and an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) father, she naturally gravitated towards kitchen duties simply to avoid cleaning the house or waking up early. She spent her mornings following her grandmother at the wet market, helping her prepare food. “The act of nourishing your loved ones is really cool; there is something satisfying about it,” Magbitang says. Yet when she relocated to the US, typical immigrant pressures steered her towards nursing or a standard university degree.
After dabbling unenthusiastically in community college, Magbitang found an unexpected calling. She began teaching at early childhood education centres within the Los Angeles Unified School District, working with underprivileged children, a job she fondly calls one of her most rewarding. This eventually led her to a privately owned establishment, Joyce’s Toluca Lake Preschool, where she spearheaded an after-school programme teaching young children how to assemble simple snacks, such as turkey roll-ups with cream cheese. That playful, hands-on interaction reignited a dormant spark; she soon enrolled at Le Cordon Bleu in Pasadena, fully intending to learn cooking techniques.
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Roasted sweet potato with miso butter and uni (Photo: Paul Cheney / Bravo)
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Trial by fire
Of course, the restaurant industry is a seductive, all-consuming beast. Her first real foray into a professional kitchen was at the highly acclaimed Melisse in Santa Monica. After boldly calling the chef de cuisine to enquire about a job vacancy, she found herself in an intense environment where she learnt the tenacity needed to survive. “Hard work doesn’t see colour,” she notes, carrying the hardworking mentality of her upbringing into the kitchen.
She later moved to A.O.C. under the legendary Suzanne Goin, a 180-degree shift to a joyful, farmer’s market-driven environment that shaped her rustic, heartfelt and seasonal California cooking style. But her true trial by fire was at José Andrés’s The Bazaar in Beverly Hills. Amidst an incredibly dynamic, buzzy kitchen the likes of which Los Angeles had never seen, she rapidly rose through the ranks to sous chef before the age of 30, managing up to 40 cooks during chaotic dinner services.
Above From the episode titled ‘Cut and Dry’, Magbitang with Jonathan Dearden (Photo: Paul Cheney / Bravo)
From the episode titled ‘Cut and Dry’, Magbitang with Jonathan Dearden (Photo: Paul Cheney / Bravo)
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This inadvertently prepared her for the sheer unpredictability of Top Chef, conditioning her to think on her feet and adapt to sudden logistical nightmares without compromising her vision. Interestingly, the televised competition almost missed out on her entirely. A casting agent initially reached out while Magbitang was busy opening a Michelin-recognised restaurant for the prestigious Auberge Resort collection in Los Olivos, California, and was planning a massive relocation to Costa Rica. However, a 60th birthday trip to Hawaii for her mother completely altered her trajectory. Convinced by a general manager to move to the Mauna Lani property instead (still part of the Auberge Collection), she embraced island life in 2024, drawn by its relative proximity to the Philippines and the ease with which friends and family could visit. When the Top Chef casting agent checked in a year later, the timing was finally right, and that was the start of her tedious Top Chef journey.
A global stage
Her television stint was nothing short of dramatic. Eliminated in week five, she fought her way back through the notoriously intense Top Chef: Last Chance Kitchen. She found her ultimate focus by tackling challenges one day at a time with sheer, quiet determination.
In the finale, she presented her soul on a plate. There was a comforting lugaw (porridge), cleverly enriched with abalone and liver mousse to mimic the creaminess of an egg. She served an eggplant dish called tortang talong, crowned with crispy pork belly and a vinegar dip, alongside a short-rib caldereta that tasted exactly like a perfect spoonful straight from her father’s pot. Today, as the fourth Asian woman ever to win the title, Magbitang is moved by her cultural impact. She marvels at the young girls who visit her restaurant in Hawaii, finding genuine hope and inspiration in her screen presence.
Now armed with a US$250,000 prize, she plans to travel, hoping to savour the cuisines of Vietnam, Japan and Central America. Most importantly, she yearns to return to the Philippines. Beyond the food, it is the people she misses most: the loud, rambunctious shared meals in her childhood family compound and, of course, the glory of Filipino home-cooked meals.
“Just because a chef tells you that this is the way to do something, it doesn’t mean that you can’t find other ways to do that one thing”
Professionally, Magbitang aims to deepen her culinary style. Her finale win unexpectedly threw a wrench in her path, sparking a desire to explore the array of indigenous Filipino ingredients she feels she has yet to fully understand, inspired by innovative local restaurants like Hapag. For the next generation of Filipino culinary talent, her advice is as sharp as her chef’s knife: “Be open to learning always. Just because a chef tells you that this is the way to do something, it doesn’t mean that you can’t find other ways to do that one thing. Explore. Be kind to yourself.” Above all, she advocates radical self-compassion. In an industry obsessed with perfection, it is easy to internalise criticism, but Magbitang insists that forgiving oneself and allowing space to grow is fundamental. “Giving yourself enough space to grow is important. Don’t be afraid to take chances. Just go for it. At the end of the day, you’re doing this for yourself, not for your boss. You’re growing into a better chef,” the Top Chef Season 23 winner says.
Above Magbitang with the other Top Chef contenders, Sherry Cardoso, Sieger Bayer, Dearden and Laurence Louie (Photo: Paul Cheney / Bravo)
Magbitang with the other Top Chef contenders, Sherry Cardoso, Sieger Bayer, Dearden and Laurence Louie (Photo: Paul Cheney / Bravo)
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True greatness, as she has so brilliantly proven, is less about an unbroken streak of perfection and more about the unwavering grit to keep showing up. For Magbitang, the ultimate victory wasn’t merely surviving the fire; it was having the audacity to cook from the heart, proving that the most powerful dish a chef can serve is their own unapologetic story.
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Whether on assignment or not, Maritess is always on the lookout for off-the-beaten-path destinations as well as the yummiest finds in the Philippines and abroad. In 2020, she plunged into the black hole of Korean la la land. Follow her escapades at @matetreyes.
