Minoli - Darwin’s Masterchef
Chemical engineer. Reality TV star. Cancer survivor. Creator of a mean Kiwi fruit curry.
Minoli De Silva has many strings to her bow.
Since opening the doors to her highly popular Darwin restaurant Ella by Minoli last year, the 36-year-old can also add entrepreneur to her list.
Minoli, or Minnie as she is known to her friends, is a star on the rise.
Gaining our attention as a lovable Masterchef Australia contestant a few years ago, Minoli is one of the few reality TV stars to have a career transcend the typical reality-star-turn-Instagram-influencer cliché.
Minoli has a certain depth not often seen in young people. She is as engaging as she is whip smart. As charismatic as she is talented.
Born in Sri Lanka, Minoli moved to Melbourne with her family when she was six years old. By this stage she already had her mum’s traditional cooking deeply embedded in her soul.
Ironically, it was the sudden change in diet that saw her love of cuisine intensify.
“All I knew growing up was Sri Lankan food for breakfast, lunch and dinner," Minoli tells Her Territory.
“When we came to Australia curiosity surfaced because of things like hot dogs, would you believe, at the school canteen. I remember mum making curried egg sandwiches and other delicious things for lunch, and I’d throw it on top of my closet and put in a lunch order so I could get hot dogs and Samboy chips.
“I couldn’t get enough of the flavours – the flavours were different to what I’d tasted in Sri Lanka.
“It was that curiosity as a 6 year old that led me into cooking a lot of western food. It was an introduction into learning about something other than Sri Lankan food.
“Because of that drastic change in what I was eating every day from such a young age, that curiosity then grew throughout the rest of my life … without realising that it would impact me as an adult.”
Food was an outlet for wild abandon for Minoli.
It afforded her a level of creativity and spontaneity that was in deep contrast to how she was being raised.
“Having migrant parents, their understanding of bringing their kids up in another country involved fear - because they wanted their kids to succeed in life. There was a lot of focus on school, academics. Do well in school and then you will be safe and secure.
“We studied a lot; I had a tutor at home which I didn’t want ... and this naturally led me to study engineering. It was something I was good at - not something I had an intense passion for.”
And for most of her professional life that is exactly what Minoli did.
Until she was diagnosed with stage 3A breast cancer just before her 31st birthday.
Two pivotal things happened around this time.
Minoli lost her sense of taste during her 12 months of chemotherapy, and then, she moved to Darwin to take up a job as an engineering consultant after she was cancer free.
“Darwin just seemed right … I loved nature and the outdoors, and it seemed like a place my then partner and I would fall in love with ... so we moved here without really knowing too much about the Territory.
“And I certainly did fall in love with it.”
The impact of losing her sense of taste was just as profound for Minoli. It made her realise just how important food was as the social and cultural fabric that connected people in her life.
“When I started to taste flavours I hadn’t been able to taste in so long, I had a new appreciation for the food I was eating.
“Now I see it as my superpower. For me Sri Lankan food is about sharing with family and highlighting multiple produce. It connects people and creates a joy that you just want to share with others.”
Such was her love of cuisine that when the opportunity to showcase her passion for cooking Sri Lankan cuisine on Masterchef presented itself, Minoli threw in her application – albeit at the 11th hour.
And of course, as most people now know, she scored herself a coveted apron. Although .. no one was more shocked than Minoli herself.
“I sent it in and thought ‘ahh nothing is going to happen’. Cooking is never something that I had to try to do. I never tried to work on it as a skill. I just did it because I loved eating and loved recreating fancy dishes. It was just something that happened in the background - I assumed everyone else felt the same.
“When I competed in the show I still had a lot of doubt in myself, but I thought, I am going to go in and create this array of curries during the audition and if they like it they like it. If they don’t they don’t.”
While Minoli was knocked out of the competition in the fourth episode, she was lucky enough to earn back her spot in a second-chance pressure test, finishing 10th overall.
It was an experience that had a considerable impact on her career trajectory, cementing a belief in herself that saw her launch into her next project – bringing Ella by Minoli to life with the help of her good friends, Seth Chin and Shir Kelly.
“It’s a funny story really. Seth had caught a barramundi and brought it around for a bit of cook-up. I ended up cooking a yellow Sri Lankan fish curry.
“And he goes ‘Minnie – we should open a restaurant. I know the Magic Wok is for sale – let’s do it.
“And I went “f*ck it lets do it”.
Ella by Minoli opened its doors at the old Magic Wok in the Westlane Arcade in June 2022.
It has since gone on to become one of the most popular restaurants in Darwin with its inimitable range of seasonal local produce, modern cooking techniques, and the deep flavours of Minoli’s Sri Lankan heritage.
All the recipes are Minoli’s creation, with her most popular dish – the exquisite Kiwi Fruit Curry – being one of the recipes she used to impress the judges during the audition stage.
"Ella is modern Sri Lankan, or I like to say cosmopolitan Sri Lankan," she chuckles, adding with graciousness that she still cannot believe people she doesn’t know choose to come and eat at her restaurant.
“It’s crazy right? I just watch from the window sometimes and am blown away strangers come and eat at my restaurant”
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Minoli’s star continues to soar.
Later this year she plans to completely overhaul Ella’s menu, with whispers of new ethnic influences such as Mexican and Italian being introduced to her Sri Lankan staple (you heard it first at Her Territory).
She says she also wants to get more active in the NT and educate people about food.
“There’s no boundaries in Australia for how you cook, and I want to explore other techniques, other flavours, and try and incorporate that with my authentic cooking style to create a fresh menu for Ella this year,” Minoli says.
“I also want to travel around Darwin and show people how I experience food; talk to Rapid Creek growers and farmers; teach Darwinites how to use the produce around them and create delicious food because we have exceptional stuff here.
“Cooking brings a lot of confidence. I want to remove the fear from cooking.”
On a final note, Minoli leaves Her Territory readers with a small piece of advice that she says helps her to keep pushing through any doubts that might occasionally surface.
“I wasn’t taught how to take risks without fear, or how to just push past that fear and accept failure as a normal part of life. I was a perfectionist for so long, and still am.
“It still is a conscious battle of “just do it – just make this cake- it doesn’t matter if it burns’. I am still learning how to do that.
“Opening this restaurant taught me that I had transferrable skills that equipped me to do something like this and to have a go at business – even when I thought I had no idea how to do it.
“Back yourself. Surround yourself with people who will lift you and support your vision. Find yourself a wonderful team – like I have here at Ella.
“I certainly had a lot of comments about the risks associated with opening a restaurant in Darwin.
“But I blocked that out and did it anyway.”
And isn’t the Territory better for it.
To read Her Territory’s very first food blog - kicking off with Ella by Minoli - go to Biggest Mobs Yummy - Territory Food Blog — Her Territory.
