When Philip closes his eyes and thinks of food, he sees his Greek grandfather in his backyard greenhouse picking fresh tomatoes, and can smell his grandma’s feta and spinach pastry pies sizzling on the kitchen hotplate.

Thanks to his grandmother Eleni, cooking runs through Philip’s veins, allowing him to re-live his cherished childhood memories every dinner time.

“I was pretty much born into food,” says Philip, who was brought up with his sister by his maternal grandparents in Hobart after his parents separated when he was four-years-old. “They’re not with us anymore but when I pull off a dish that’s as half as good as my grandmother’s, it brings back all those memories of her. When I miss her, I love to recreate some of her food and it makes me feel better.

“When she passed away six years ago, she left me with her passion for cooking. That part of her is still here and now it’s inside of me. Hopefully, one day I’ll pass that on to my children.”

Philip spent his childhood picking vegetables from his grandfather’s four greenhouses for his grandmother to cook. As he stood on his toes to see over the kitchen bench, his eyes widened as Eleni cooked. He learnt from an early age the first rule of Greek cooking: food fixes everything.

“No matter how bad things are, when you get everybody together and have good Greek food, everything is fine and happy,” he smiles. “It’s medicine.”

While cooking is in his heart, Philip’s bread and butter comes from his job as an accountant.

“When I was finishing school, I wanted to be a chef but everyone turned me against it to go to university,” he explains. “Being a good Greek boy, I did what everyone expected of me, and I’ve now been an accountant for two years. But I’m at peace when I’m in the kitchen, and I love it.”

He’s hoping that being in MasterChef Australia may be the beginning of a new life as a chef.

“I have everything to gain and nothing to lose,” he says. “Being on MasterChef is like experiencing an apprenticeship on steroids.”

 If appearing on MasterChef is the ultimate training ground for a budding chef, then student Philip has landed his dream teacher in judge George Calombaris, who the contestant idolises.

“It’d be great to get a job in George’s restaurant in Mykonos!” he laughs. “But seriously, my biggest hero out of all the chefs I know is George. What he does with Greek food is what I want to do.”