Josh Emett, internationally acclaimed Michelin star chef, is the chef behind Auckland's Ostro and co-owner of Rata restaurant in Queenstown.
For 11 years, Emett worked alongside Gordon Ramsay in London, New York and Melbourne, achieving four Michelin stars and an outstanding international reputation. More recently he has become a well-known face on television, as a MasterChef New Zealand judge and a MasterChef Australia celebrity chef.
He is also behind the Chef Series food range, which is available in supermarkets throughout New Zealand.
Brought up on a farm outside Hamilton in New Zealand, Emett discovered cooking and his love of food at a young age. Having graduated from Waikato Tech, he worked at Auckland’s acclaimed Cin Cin. He then went to London in 1994, where he worked at Coast restaurant in Mayfair with Steve Terry, before working for three years with Donovan Cooke in Melbourne at est est est, one of the city’s most highly regarded restaurants.
He joined Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in Chelsea as senior chef de partie, and quickly worked his way up the ranks. Restaurant Gordon Ramsay won three Michelin stars, making it London’s only three-star restaurant. In 2001 Emett was selected for the team to launch the critically acclaimed Gordon Ramsay at Claridge’s, with Michael Sargeant. He then became head chef at The Savoy Grill, following its major refurbishment, with Marcus Wareing, winning it a Michelin star in 2004 — the first in its 100-plus-year history.
In 2006, he oversaw the opening in New York of Gordon Ramsay at The London NYC (which won two Michelin stars within 10 months), and later Gordon Ramsay at The London West Hollywood (which won a Michelin star).
Receiving exceptional reviews in both the British and American media, in 2008 he was named ‘New York Rising Star Chef’, appeared as a guest judge on Hell’s Kitchen USA, and won the new Food Network’s show Chopped.
In 2010, Emett moved to Melbourne to open Gordon Ramsay’s first two restaurants in Australia — maze and maze Grill — along with operating the food and beverage service in Australia’s largest hotel, the new Crown Metropol. From there came the appearances on MasterChef Australia and MasterChef New Zealand. He joined MatserChef New Zealand fulltime in the second series, and the show continues in its fifth season to be one of the country’s highest-rating shows.
