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Restaurant Revolution's Jock Zonfrillo: 'How I beat my demons'

Meet Jock Zonfrillo. Photo: New Idea
Meet Jock Zonfrillo. Photo: New Idea

Meet Jock Zonfrillo. Photo: New Idea

Tattooed chef Jock Zonfrillo will try almost anything in his quest for new flavours to savour.

READ: Find the Restaurant Revolution locations

The charismatic Scotsman has chowed down on raw cow stomach in Ethiopia, eaten bats in Vanuatu, piranha in Peru and even tasted giant mangrove worms in Arnhem Land.


'A lot of people might think that’s absolutely disgusting,' Jock grins. 'But it tastes like fresh clam, just in a different shape. Never judge a book by its cover!'

The host of Channel Seven’s new cooking show Restaurant Revolution admits he’s a man obsessed.

READ: House Rules Steve and Tiana: Our painful past'

Once it was heroin, an addiction he finally beat after two attempts by starting over in Australia.

'It was a clean break in the year 2000 and I haven’t looked back since,' he says. 'Growing up in Glasgow, drugs were just part of life. A lot of my friends didn’t make it and it took me a long time to grow up and grow out of it.'


Now he’s fixated with food – except for that famous Scottish speciality, the deep-fried Mars bar.

Don’t mention this treat to a bloke who trained with Marco Pierre White, cooked alongside Gordon Ramsay – 'I never talk bout that. Never!' – and counts Heston Blumenthal as a friend.

Restaurant Rules begins at 7.30pm on Tuesday July 28 on Channel Seven.

To read the rest of Jock's gutsy story, pick up this week's New Idea magazine, on sale now!

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