When Rhoda Magbitang walked into the finale of Top Chef: Carolinas, she did not reach for the safest or most technically impressive menu she could construct. Instead, she went home — to Antipolo, to her mother’s kitchen, to the food she grew up eating as the eldest of six children. That decision made history.
Magbitang was named the winner of Season 23 of Bravo’s Top Chef, taking home the $250,000 grand prize after a season defined as much by resilience as by culinary brilliance. She became the first contestant in 23 seasons to win the first two elimination challenges, only to experience a sharp reversal of fortune midway through. She was eliminated during Week 5 of the competition but battled her way back through Last Chance Kitchen, defeating every opponent she faced before reclaiming her spot in the finale.
In the end, the judges’ decision came down to something more than technique.
A Menu Built From Memory
Facing a judges’ table that included Food & Wine editor-in-chief Hunter Lewis, chefs Eric Ferguson, Camari Mick, and Nok Suntaranon, and Top Chef alums Sara Bradley, Joe Flamm, and Stephanie Izard, Magbitang prepared a four-course Filipino-inspired meal for the finale.
She opened with a toast to California, presenting roasted sweet potato with miso butter and uni, followed by abalone lugaw, a porridge her mother would make whenever she was unwell. She then served tortang talong, the grilled eggplant omelet she ate as a child, before closing with kaldereta, a short rib stew her father makes during the holidays. She chose not to serve dessert, saying it was important for her to honor her parents through the savory courses alone.
It was her appetizer of roasted sweet potatoes with miso butter, topped with fresh uni and charred sweet potato leaves, that particularly impressed the judges. Food & Wine’s Hunter Lewis noted that it was by far the most competitive finale he had experienced in several seasons.
From Antipolo To The World’s Best Kitchens
Magbitang grew up in Antipolo, Philippines, as the eldest of six children, where her love of cooking began in the family kitchen, inspired by her grandmother’s food stall and the traditional Filipino dishes she learned to prepare at a young age.
She moved to California at age 17 with plans to become a teacher, but discovered a passion for cooking while teaching students how to prepare simple after-school snacks, which eventually led her to enroll at Le Cordon Bleu in Pasadena. Her career would go on to span some of the country’s most celebrated kitchens, including Michelin-starred Melisse, Suzanne Goin’s A.O.C., Republique, and Bazaar by Jose Andres. She later served as executive chef at Chateau Marmont and led the culinary team at The Inn at Mattei’s Tavern, Auberge Collection, earning Michelin Guide recognition.
By 2024, she relocated to Hawaii to run CanoeHouse at the Mauna Lani resort. A casting agent encouraged her to try out for Top Chef: Carolinas, and the rest is history. At CanoeHouse, Magbitang made history as the first female executive chef, specializing in modern Hawaiian cuisine while incorporating Japanese cooking methods alongside flavors that reflect her Filipino heritage.
Follow Your Heart
Magbitang’s triumph has resonated far beyond the competition itself. She has said that she grew up eating Filipino cuisine but does not regularly cook it professionally, which makes her achievement all the more striking. To bring kamote, lugaw, tortang talong, and kaldereta to one of the most-watched culinary competition stages in the world and win is a statement that Filipino food belongs at the very top of the global conversation.
Magbitang has shared that she knew what she wanted to do and simply had to trust that everything would fall into place. For Filipinos everywhere, her win is a reminder that the food of home, the food of grandmothers, of holiday gatherings, of mornings spent in the family kitchen, carries a power that no technique alone can manufacture.
Rhoda Magbitang did not just win Top Chef. She brought Filipino food to the world’s table, and the world said yes.
