{"id":544,"date":"2026-06-12T10:06:06","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T10:06:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/?p=544"},"modified":"2026-06-12T10:06:06","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T10:06:06","slug":"i-just-had-to-follow-my-heart-konas-rhoda-magbitang-on-winning-top-chef-after-cooking-filipino-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/?p=544","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I just had to follow my heart\u2019: Kona\u2019s Rhoda Magbitang on winning \u2018Top Chef\u2019 after cooking Filipino food"},"content":{"rendered":"
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At 17, Rhoda Magbitang arrived in California from her native Philippines. A quarter-century later after countless hours logged in some of the nation\u2019s finest commercial kitchens, she has truly arrived \u2014 as an embodiment of the American dream.<\/p>\n

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At 17, Rhoda Magbitang arrived in California from her native Philippines. A quarter-century later after countless hours logged in some of the nation\u2019s finest commercial kitchens, she has truly arrived \u2014 as an embodiment of the American dream.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, coming here with basically nothing, if you just apply yourself and just work really hard \u2014 I mean, that\u2019s such an oversimplification, it\u2019s almost criminal to say it like that. But it\u2019s true,\u201d Magbitang, 42, told the Tribune-Herald on Thursday.<\/p>\n

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Currently the executive chef at CanoeHouse at Mauna Lani resort, Magbitang claimed the title of \u201cTop Chef\u201d in the 23rd season of the popular Bravo TV cooking competition, which took place in the Carolinas. Despite her success, she remains grounded and seemed genuinely surprised at the interest garnered by her winning the show\u2019s finale, which aired Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was a big deal. I didn\u2019t know that everybody else would think so, as well,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Magbitang doesn\u2019t usually serve Filipino food at CanoeHouse, a posh oceanfront eatery on Kohala\u2019s Gold Coast. For the finale of \u201cTop Chef,\u201d however, she returned to her roots, serving a four-course meal featuring Filipino cuisine for a judges\u2019 table of culinary heavyweights.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, I knew what I wanted to do, and I just had to follow my heart \u2014 and everything else, I just had to trust would fall into place,\u201d she said. \u201cMaybe not everything was as perfect as I intended as far as the flavors, but I do believe it was the right menu to serve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cooking against the other two finalists, chefs Sherry Cardoso and Laurence Louie, Magbitang served lugaw, a Filipino rice porridge, torta, which is a fried eggplant omelet, and kaldereta, a stew with braised short rib she pressure-cooked to perfection. While her entire meal was well-received, it was her appetizer of roasted sweet potatoes with miso butter, topped with fresh uni and charred sweet potato leaves, that wowed the judges.<\/p>\n

Chef Tom Colicchio, the show\u2019s chief judge who\u2019s won eight James Beard awards, said during the finale he had never experienced anything like that dish \u2014 and the other diners agreed. Magbitang said the dish was an homage to her California culinary roots, a concept she developed while she was executive chef at The Inn at Mattei\u2019s Tavern in Los Olivos, Calif.<\/p>\n

\u201cI became really good friends with this sea urchin diver. Her name is Stephanie,\u201d Magbitang said. \u201cAnd she would bring me the most beautiful uni. And I created this experience for the guests; it\u2019s called \u2018the uni experience\u2019 \u2014 where I teach them how to open up an uni and clean it. And then, we\u2019d do a wine pairing with three different snacks with uni in them. And one of those snacks is a sweet potato with uni and black garlic and yuzu aioli. It\u2019s a very different combination than what I served in the \u2018Top Chef\u2019 finale, but the sweet potato and uni are both present.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know those flavors work, and I thoroughly enjoy it. So, I decided to honor California by serving uni with a little nod to North Carolina with the sweet potato.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than 300,000 Filipinos and Filipino-Americans call Hawaii home, and Magbitang said reaction among Filipinos \u2014 including the majority of her kitchen crew \u2014 has been \u201cheartwarming and cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey see you through a different lens, with so much admiration and respect \u2014 and just pride,\u201d she said. \u201cI mean, being able to be represented on such a huge stage and making the dishes that I made in the finale and led me to a win, and them knowing exactly what those flavors are that they grew up eating, now they have confirmation that it can compete on a national stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

The finalists were surprised by family members visiting for a last dinner and staying for host Kristen Kish\u2019s pronouncement of the winner. For Magbitang, the oldest of six siblings, it was her sister Katrina, who\u2019s a year-and-a-half younger.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe came to this country together, and it just seemed appropriate that she\u2019s right there in that moment with me,\u201d Magbitang said. \u201cI believe in kismet. I believe in just the whole destiny of it all. I felt like she was supposed to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Shooting wrapped about six months before the final episode aired, and cheftestants are contractually sworn to keep show results secret. Magbitang said it was \u201cnot that difficult, actually.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, my sister knew because she was there with me. And we have a group chat with all the other chefs in the season,\u201d she said. \u201cSo, anytime we want to talk about anything that has to do with \u2018Top Chef,\u2019 we just talk about it together.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, we\u2019ve gotten very close, and we all kind of just lean into each other. It\u2019s also very easy to just bury yourself in work and all the other fun stuff that you get to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

One \u2018Top Chef\u201d contestant Magbitang leans into is Duyen Ha, a Michelin-trained Vietnamese-American chef Magbitang referred to as \u201ca great friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m actually going to Chicago with her this weekend to go the James Beard Awards, and she\u2019s going to be doing a pop-up with me here at Mauna Lani in September,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Chefs who do well on \u201cTop Chef\u201d \u2014 winners or not \u2014 are usually presented a multitude of opportunities, many of which involve travel.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m thinking about just pitching a tent at the Kona airport and just sleeping in the parking lot,\u201d Magbitang quipped. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot coming up. But, you know, this is what I signed up for.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m completely and utterly grateful for what\u2019s coming. I know there\u2019s work attached to a lot of it, but I\u2019m looking forward to the fun things.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, having pocketed $250,000 as \u201cTop Chef\u201d and another $40,000 in \u201cquickfire cash,\u201d Magbitang can travel wherever she wants without a sponsor obligation awaiting her arrival.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mom\u2019s dream has always been to go to Switzerland, so I\u2019m probably going to take her there,\u201d she said. \u201cBut beyond that, eventually, at some point, I have maybe some more serious travel plans that involves a lot of restaurants and food and just a lot of discovery in general.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite her success on \u201cTop Chef\u201d and all the opportunities winning the show creates, Magbitang said she isn\u2019t planning to open her own restaurant.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Mauna Lani and Auberge have been extremely instrumental to my success at this point in my career,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I\u2019d like to give back, not just to the company, but the people I work with \u2014 my prep cooks, my line cooks, my dishwashers, my servers. I feel like my success is their success, and I\u2019d like to share it with them. And I want to keep honoring where I live, the Big Island.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe support has been just overwhelming. And I love it here. What\u2019s not to love?\u201d<\/p>\n

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Email John Burnett at john.burnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018I just had to follow my heart\u2019: Kona\u2019s Rhoda Magbitang on winning \u2018Top Chef\u2019 after cooking Filipino food – Hawaii News | Hawaii Tribune-Herald<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018I just had to follow my heart\u2019: Kona\u2019s Rhoda Magbitang on winning \u2018Top Chef\u2019 after cooking Filipino food - Moving to Hawaii Guide<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/?p=544\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018I just had to follow my heart\u2019: Kona\u2019s Rhoda Magbitang on winning \u2018Top Chef\u2019 after cooking Filipino food - 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