Ask Miguel Maestre just how long he’s been in Australia and nobody seems more surprised by the answer than the man himself.
“22 years!” he says with a booming laugh.
“Which means I’ve been in Australia for the same time now that I lived in Spain!”
It’s a home he’s well and truly come to love since he arrived in 2004 as what he calls – with another laugh, of course – “a really young chef with an empty wallet but a suitcase full of dreams”.
Miguel had left Spain at 21, heading to the UK, where he would spend three years before following his Australian wife to-be, Sascha, to Sydney when she returned home.
He took jobs in local restaurants and was working his way up the kitchen chain until, one day, fate stepped in.
He was in Cru restaurant in Sydney’s Overseas Passenger Terminal as head chef Ed ‘Fast Ed’ Halmagyi shot a segment for Better Homes and Gardens and asked the chatty Spaniard if he could help out.
From bustling kitchens to TV
Miguel stepped in front of the camera and the rest is history. That one scene turned into appearances on other shows, including Ready Steady Cook and MasterChef Australia, with Miguel building a reputation not only as a cook, but as a personality whose bubbly enthusiasm brought much more to the screen than just recipe tips.
Those roles took him to The Living Room, where he, Amanda Keller, Dr Chris Brown and Barry Du Bois formed a partnership that would last more than 10 years.
That, in turn, led to other non-cooking roles, including winning I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! in 2020.
Life in Sydney
Away from the cameras, it also led him to head a successful cooking empire, with his Maestre Enterprises now marketing dozens of food-related products… and an Aussie life he loves.
“We live in [Sydney’s] Northern Beaches area and I love it very much,” he says. “When I have the chance, I love to get up and go for a swim to start my day.
“Sascha is the CEO of our company – she is a great mum and a beautiful wife. We are like the yin and yang – she is everything that I’m not. We are a great team and we work really well together.”
And his children, he says with obvious pride, are little Aussies.
“Claudia is an unbelievable cook and Morgan, he’s a rugby player. Rugby League, Rugby Union, he just loves rugby!
“They’re both very healthy and very beautiful, and I just feel really lucky.”
Could The Living Room be making a comeback?
Miguel, 46, himself is still filled with the enthusiasm that took him from Fast Ed’s kitchen to our TV screens so long ago.
He’s currently juggling his business with food and wine festival appearances, and multiple TV projects, like Chefs Ahoy and Luxury Escapes, with plans for an SBS show called Miguel’s Fiesta in 2027.
And possibly even a return of one of his best-loved roles.
“I’m going to throw a spanner in the works here, but I heard from some little birds in Channel 10 that they were saying they want to bring back The Living Room, so you never know!” he says.
That would be a dream come true for Miguel, who’d get to hang out with his best friends more regularly.
“I went out with Chris, Barry and Amanda last week,” he says, “We went to a restaurant and were sitting there, the four of us, having the most beautiful time.
“It’s been, like, four years since the show has been on and the friendship is still there. You know when you find people you really belong to? You belong together? That’s us.
“And I think that’s what made the show so successful for so many years, because we were really good friends. The one thing you can’t manufacture in television is chemistry and we have it… so, fingers crossed!”
But no matter what happens, his mission will be the same: to enjoy the life he has found.
“Honestly, I’m just trying to be healthy, trying to be a better husband, a better brother, a better father. I just want to be a nice guy, really!” he says.
And to Miguel, that means adding more years to his time in Australia.
“You know how people say, ‘Oh, I’m self-made’? Well, that’s not true,” he says, “I think Australia has made me who I am!
“Australia is my home and my heart beats to a different vibration now – one part saying ‘olé!’ and the other part saying ‘how ya goin’, mate?’”
