Michael Bonacini is a judge on MasterChef Canada. He is known for his calm and polite judging style, providing constructive feedback without being overly harsh. As the owner of Oliver & Bonacini restaurants, he is also renowned for his meticulous attention to detail and high standards. Bonacini established himself early in his career and has since grown his and Peter Oliver's restaurant business to include over a dozen locations grossing over $100 million annually. Though now focusing more on the business, Bonacini remains passionate about food, farming, and his role on MasterChef Canada.

1. ICHAELBONACINI
Knives dance across green garnishes as
the two remaining MasterChef Canada
contestants rush to get their finale
entrees onto their respective plates.The
usually composed Michael Bonacini is
brimming with excitement as
he and his co-judges, Alvin
Leung and Claudio Aprile,
count down the round’s final
seconds.
“Five, four, three, two, one,”
call out the judges in unison,
with each tick of the oversized
clock. As the clock runs out,
Bonacini’s excitement is
palpable, which is
uncharacteristic for one of
Toronto’s most elegant
restaurateurs.
MasterChef Canada cuts to
the next scene. Bonacini —
dressed in a slim-fitting,
classically tailored black suit
punctuated with a white pocket
square — is sitting behind the
judges’ table.
His cool composure has
returned as he assesses finalist
Eric Chong’s poached lobster
and egg noodle dish.
MasterChef Canada’s British
judge is certainly no Gordon
Ramsay. Bonacini’s cool, even-
keeled style of judging is honest
and descriptive without veering
toward hyperbole.
MasterChef Canada, Season 1
winner, Eric Chong, would
classify Michael Bonacini’s judging
style as “classy and polite.”According to
Chong, one of the youngest winners in
MasterChef history: “He will never
completely bash you like Alvin but will
casually say he’s not a fan of it. He will
compliment you like a gentleman.He is
like a teacher who writes, ‘Needs more
improvement,’ whereas Alvin would
write, ‘Worst dish ever.’”
“I certainly started watching the
show even more vehemently than I had
before,” says Bonacini on preparing to
be a judge.
The chef who started his culinary
career in Canada in 1985 at the
Windsor Arms Hotel wasn’t
particularly stressed out about
cultivating a judging persona.
“I am who I am, and I have
tasted hundreds of thousands
of dishes,”says the 55-year-old
co-owner of the Oliver &
Bonacini restaurant empire.
“Michael Bonacini does
Michael Bonacini best.”
Despite looking like he’s just
come from a fashion shoot for
Zoomer magazine (the
restaurateur is perennially
perfectly polished, perfectly
pressed), Bonacini’s not always
serious.
When the chef starts
laughing about an anecdote he
has yet to tell me, I know it’s
going to be good.
“Alvin was lighting his cigar
off a gas burner,” recounts
Bonacini as his sentence nearly
devolves into laugher. “And
bomph, up went his hair!”
Hopefully MasterChef
Canada, Season 2 will show off
more of Bonacini’s sense of
humour. Or at the very least
we would love to see some of
these Three Stooges–esque
outtakes!
Unlike more dramatic
celebrity chef judges, Bonacini is not
cut from histrionic cloth. You’d never
see him throwing a plate of not-up-to-
snuff food onto the ground to make a
point. But that doesn’t mean that
Bonacini isn’t demanding.
Like a Roman general,Bonacini is an
exacting strategist. He expects even the
lowest ranking employee to strive for
perfection: a wrinkled shirt, a spot on a
glass — that just won’t do. Bonacini
very clearly outlines his expectations;
there’s even a handbook given to O &
B employees.
“If your vision has flaws or holes in
it, it is like pushing string up a hill,”
explains Bonacini.
For Bonacini, everything must be
comme il faut down to the place settings.
“Back at my days at Centro, we used
to pull a string to line up the tables, the
chairs, the plates, the cutlery, the glass,
the salt and pepper,”says the unabashed
perfectionist.
The string technique was used to
ensure that everything was exactly
where it should be, not a millimetre too
far to the left. “And we still do that at
all of our restaurants today,” says
Bonacini proudly.
The Wales-born chef’s attention to
detail is even more impressive when
you consider the scope of his restaurant
empire. There are currently 12
restaurants in the Oliver & Bonacini
portfolio, and that’s not counting the
company’s strategic partnerships,which
include iQ Food Co. and Soma
Chocolate.
The Toronto-based company is even
putting its imprint on the cow-country
dining scene. O & B is in the throes of
opening a speakeasy, restaurant and
event space all within downtown
Calgary’s Hudson’s Bay.
Over the past five years, Oliver &
Bonacini will have nearly doubled their
sales. Next year, Bonacini projects that
the company will gross over $100
million.
When Bonacini moved to Toronto
three decades ago, he didn’t have
aspirations of celebrity chef stardom
(that wasn’t even a thing back then),
but he quickly established himself as an
exacting executive chef while working
at the Windsor Arms Hotel and then
Centro, which was one of the most
exclusive places to sup in Toronto in the
early ’90s.
Since he teamed up with local
philanthropist and small-time
restaurateur Peter Oliver to open
downtown power lunch destination
Jump in 1993, the pair have become
one of the biggest names in Toronto
dining. The duo, however, almost
missed out on opening one of their
most iconic restaurants: Canoe.
Cadillac Fairview approached
Bonacini and Oliver three times asking
them to take over a failing restaurant
on the 54th floor of the TD Bank
Tower.
The still-green restaurateurs were
rightfully nervous about the venue.The
view might’ve been phenomenal, but
the lack of street presence made the
young entrepreneurs hesitate. Luckily
for the Toronto dining scene, Cadillac
Fairview sweetened the deal just
enough to make the risk worthwhile.
Since then, their clutch of
restaurants has grown to include
Auberge du Pommier, Luma, Bannock
and Biff’s Bistro, among others.
These days Bonacini doesn’t spend
much time in the heat of the restaurant
kitchens. He has a very busy schedule.
A few years ago his family sold their
Etobicoke home and downsized to a
Yorkville condo.
Bonacini is an avid walker, who loves
the convenience of his new
neighbourhood. “We [the family] love
going to the movies, popping into
Indigo, cruising around Pusateri’s and
Whole Foods and window shopping,”
says Bonacini, who also owns a 172-
acre farm up in Caledon.
The farm boasts a small vineyard,but
Bonacini’s not interested in
winemaking. The grapes are for show,
not taste. He’s a honey fanatic, after
talking about it for years, Bonacini’s
finally about to get into beekeeping.
MasterChef Canada, Season 2
contestants should take note and keep
Bonacini’s honey mania in mind when
cooking for the judge.
The season two premiere will air on
Feb. 8, at 7 p.m., on CTV.
“Ifyourvisionhasflawsorholesinit,
itislikepushingstringupahill.
”
The entrepreneur on leading the O & B restaurant
empire, life as a MasterChef Canada judge
and why he loves living in Yorkville
by Caroline Aksich