Mystery Box part of MasterChef's Dubai restaurant experience

The well-known 'Mystery Box' challenge that is part of the TV franchise MasterChef will be an integral addition at MasterChef, the TV Experience, which is the restaurant concept opening at the new Millennium Place Marina in Dubai this April.

Available to groups of guests numbering two or more, the main course Mystery Box menu option will allow diners to pick their choice of up to five ingredients from 10-plus proteins, vegetables and condiments. The in-house culinary team at MasterChef, the TV Experience will then be challenged to bring the selections to life within a strict 45-minute timespan.

The Mystery Box ingredients will be updated and rotated weekly, based on seasonal availability. Diners who select the menu item will also receive a hand-written recipe of the dish to take home.

Margarita Vaamonde-Beggs, head chef at MasterChef, the TV Experience, said in a statement: "Being able to take the Mystery Box recipe home is the final step in the process of enabling that emotional connection for fans of the MasterChef TV show. Guests can bring their passion for the programme to the restaurant, indulge in a meta experience of dining in a venue inspired by the show, live the Mystery Box process for themselves, and then take that recipe home to try in their own kitchens."

The menu at MasterChef, the TV Experience will also feature dishes curated from global workshops held with champions and finalists across various productions of the global series. The first phase of menu development is already underway, with Vaamonde-Beggs currently vetting more than 120 recipes from those champions and finalists who have worked very closely with the team in Dubai.

"We’ve finalised creations by two former MasterChef UK winners – 2008 champion James Nathan and 2014 winner Ping Coombes – as well as the 2016 MasterChef USA victor Shaun O’Neale,” said Vaamonde-Beggs.

She added: "James’ creations include a superb truffle and pea soup with parmesan galette, and a deconstructed Eton mess, while Ping’s include a deliciously delicate mushroom laksa with quail egg and a fruit tart of apples and berries with an activated charcoal crust. Shaun’s contributions are an extraordinary duck leg confit taco, as well as fried chicken waffles."