Inside Laura Sharrad’s secret love story: How MasterChef’s pasta queen met her husband Max five years ago… thanks to judge Jock Zonfrillo
MasterChef Australia star Laura Sharrad married fellow chef Max in a beautiful wedding in 2018.
But their love story actually began three years earlier, thanks to judge Jock Zonfrillo.
After finishing in second place on MasterChef’s sixth season, Laura, whose surname at the time was Cassai, began working as a pastry chef at Jock’s Orana restaurant in Adelaide in 2015.
How they met: MasterChef star Laura Sharrad (left) married fellow chef Max (right) in 2018 – but their love story actually began three years earlier, thanks to judge Jock Zonfrillo
She found herself working in the kitchen with Max, and their romance quickly blossomed.
‘I knew from day one. I could just tell, it was love at first sight,’ Max told The Adelaide Advertiser in 2017, following their engagement in Tuscany.
Speaking of the romantic sunset proposal, Laura said: ‘As soon as he pulled out the little box, I just started crying and blubbering… I cried the whole time. It was simply beautiful, just perfect.’
Matchmaker: After finishing in second place on MasterChef’s sixth season, Laura, whose surname at the time was Cassai, began working as a pastry chef at Jock’s Orana restaurant in Adelaide in 2015. She found herself working in the kitchen with Max, and their romance quickly blossomed. Pictured: Jock Zonfrillo on MasterChef: Back to Win
Perfect proposal: In 2017, Max proposed to Laura in Tuscany. She later said of the proposal, ‘I cried the whole time. It was simply beautiful, just perfect’
Max added: ‘Though she didn’t really say yes, she was just crying and nodding. But I’m stoked. She’s the woman of my dreams.’
The couple tied the knot in the Barossa Valley in 2018, surrounded by family and friends.
They are also business partners, and opened their own Italian restaurant, Nido, in Adelaide’s Hyde Park last year.
Working relationship: The pair tied the knot in the Barossa Valley in 2018. They’re also business partners, and opened their own Italian restaurant, Nido, in Adelaide’s Hyde Park last year
Max told Adelaide Now last year that he and Laura were the perfect team.
‘She has strengths where I might not have them, like making those delicate little pasta shapes and the intricacies of pastry,’ he said.
‘My mind goes at a million miles an hour so I might not have the patience for that. Her strengths play to my weaknesses, and vice-versa.’
Laura is currently in the running for a place in the top five on MasterChef: Back to Win, which continues Sunday at 7:30pm on Channel 10.
She previously said she had sacrificed their restaurant to take part in the show.
‘Not only had I left my husband Max back at home in Adelaide, but our business too. Everyone’s made sacrifices to be on the show, but I used that as fuel to push me in every cook,’ she told TV Week.
Will she make it? Laura is currently in the running for a place in the top five on MasterChef: Back to Win, which continues Sunday at 7:30pm on Channel 10