Big Island chef Rhoda Magbitang wins Top Chef with Filipino feast

Rhoda Magbitang’s Top Chef victory put a Kohala Coast kitchen and a Filipino immigrant story on national television, and it could soon send more attention to Mauna Lani’s CanoeHouse. The executive chef won Season 23 after serving judges a Filipino-inspired four-course finale that included lugaw, torta and kaldereta, a menu that reached back to the food heritage that shaped her before she became one of Hawaii Island’s most visible chefs.

The finale, which aired Monday, June 8, ended with Magbitang beating finalists Sherry Cardoso and Laurence Louie for the title and a reported $250,000 grand prize. Her win carries extra weight because multiple reports describe her as the first chef from Hawaii to win Top Chef, the first woman in six seasons to take the title, and only the fourth chef in the show’s history to prevail after returning through Last Chance Kitchen.

Magbitang’s path to that moment started far from the Big Island. Profiles describe her as originally from Antipolo, Philippines, the eldest of six children, and say she moved to California at 17 with plans to become a teacher before choosing cooking instead. She trained at Le Cordon Bleu in Pasadena and later built a career in high-profile kitchens including Mélisse, A.O.C., République and Bazaar by José Andrés. That long run through some of the country’s most recognizable restaurants now feeds into a victory that connects fine dining with a much more personal story of migration, family and work.

At Mauna Lani, where Magbitang serves as executive chef of CanoeHouse, the win also has immediate local meaning. Auberge Collection said it plans exclusive culinary experiences and a summer dinner series tied to her victory, a move that could draw even more attention to the resort’s dining program and to Hawaii Island’s broader food scene. For Filipino families across the island, the national spotlight on dishes like lugaw and kaldereta lands as a rare recognition of flavors that have long been part of everyday life in homes, gatherings and local restaurants.

Magbitang’s surprise at the attention after the finale aired only sharpened the impression of a chef who has stayed grounded even as her profile has risen. On the Big Island, that restraint may matter as much as the trophy itself, because her win now gives Hawaii Island a nationally recognized culinary name tied directly to local pride, immigrant history and the next wave of island dining.