Manal Ismail, successful restaurant owner and 'MasterChef' alumna, returns to the competition: 'No one intimidates me'
Manal Ismail was one of the standouts of 'MasterChef', and she managed to realize her talent in a successful pop-up that became a restaurant in central Tel Aviv. Now she returns to the kitchen where it all began, and in an interview with +12 she talks about the desire to close a circle, the path she has taken, and the approach that guides her: 'In any situation, I feel I have won'.
Manal Ismail became one of the prominent contestants in the ninth season of MasterChef, and later became a sensation with a restaurant in Sarona Market following a particularly successful pop-up project. The contestant who put Arab cuisine on the culinary map and brought it great respect returned last week to MasterChef: Dream Team with the goal of closing a circle, as she shared in an interview with +12 (new episode tonight, Tuesday after the news, Keshet 12).
"I felt that I owed it to myself, as the circle I left open remained incomplete, so I returned. It feels to me that I didn't fully close that chapter," she says. "Since the last time I was here, many things have changed. Something has shifted in my personality, and of course in my food and how I see the world. Today I see things more clearly than I did then. One needs to see life in proportion and be a person before anything else."
The full interview with Manal Ismail is available for viewing now on +12.
Is there pressure to return, perhaps thoughts of failure?
"I really hope I reach first place, but everything is in God's hands. Whatever God decides in the end is what will be. In any situation, I feel I have won. I have my restaurant, my audience, and my work with food, which fulfills me and makes me the happiest in the world. This only gives me tools for the future on how to cope and how to improve over time."
Are you competitive?
"I am very competitive, but I like to compete with who I was in my previous version. I always compete with myself in order to improve for the future."
Do you see yourself helping others in the middle of the competition?
"I would help in any case, even if it means I go home. I love to help."
Are there contestants you are afraid to compete against?
"No one intimidates me; I only get nervous about myself, and that's it. Everything is fine as far as I'm concerned. We came to enjoy ourselves in the end, and there will always be one winner."
Interviewer: Noa Barkai
