Meet Top Chef's Buddha Lo! His Bio, Ethnicity, Real Name, Married, Age

Publish date: 2024-07-28

Buddha Lo is the new winner of Top Chef season 19. Fans watched him work his magic in the kitchen but were interested to learn other things about his life. Such as ethnicity, father, mother, real name, and wife.

To learn more about his family and ethnicity, along with other details, keep scrolling down this article.

Meet Top Chef Season 19 Winner, Buddha Lo

Buddha Lo is the winner of Top Chef season 19. He performed well throughout the show and made it to the finale with two finalists Evelyn Garcia and Sarah Welch after Chicago-based chef Damar Brown was eliminated on the 26th May 2022 episode. In the last episode of the show titled The Final Plate, all three finalists gave their best. They cooked to impress the judges Padma Lakshmi, Tom Colicchio, and Gail Simmons, once and for all.

Viewers and contestants were also graced by the presence of guest judge Eric Ripert and Top Chef alum and winner Stephanie Izard. At last, Padma Laxmi crowned Buddha as the winner after rigorous cooking which was presented to the judges. He pocketed $250K.

In one of his recent Instagram posts, Buddha shared that he used to watch Top Chef after finishing school with his brother in their living room 15 years before. And now, his name went down in the history of Top Chef as a season 19 winner.

Learn more about the season 19 winner below in this article.

Buddha Lo Ethnicity

Starting with ethnicity, Buddha Lo is of Australian-Chinese heritage.

His father is Tze Kwong Lo/Tony Lo and his mother is Sau Lin. His father was born as the fifth child in Hong Kong on 16 December 1957. Tony grew up with seven brothers and three sisters. They lived in a 3 bedroom wooden hut which was situated at a train stop at the end of the line, in Hong Kong.

While Tony was growing up, his nickname was “spare rib” Kwong, a humorous observation in relation to how skinny he was but the reality was he and his family couldn’t afford to eat. Dropping out of school when he was 13 he found a job in the kitchen, he loved the kitchen because it was an opportunity to have easy access to food.

In 1982, Buddha’s father emigrated to Australia with his eldest brother and then met and fell in love with his future Buddha’s mother. They were married in Cairns. His parents then opened a small takeaway shop in Port Douglas, followed by a restaurant called the Jade Inn which has been an institution for tourists and locals for the last 30 years, all the while raising him and his elder brother.

Tony inspired Buddha to become a cook in the first place. His passion for cooking sparked Buddha’s obsession with food. Learning next to him in the kitchen from the age of 12 has taught him all the important fundamentals of cooking as well as show him how hard work and diligence pay off.

Sadly, Buddha lost his dad to stage 4 liver cancer. It deeply affected him because his father was his role model.

Buddha Lo Real Name

The real name of “Buddha Lo” is Ka Wai Lo. Before Buddha Lo, he was featured in magazine articles as Buddha Black.

Is Buddha Lo Married?

Yes, Buddha Lo is a married man. His wife is Rebekah Pedler. They have known each other before 2013. He often gushed about Rebekah’s supportive nature on his Instagram.

On 27 June 2018, Buddha announced on his Instagram that he proposed to his girlfriend. He shared a series of three pictures and captioned the post, “I asked @rebekahp87 to marry me. 💍#wouldyoucaptureitorjustletitslip  #howheasked #donttellthebride #luckylad”.

They tied the knots on 7 November 2018.

When he was moving to New York, Buddha posted on Instagram about his wife. He explained, “As I embark on my journey to New York soon I just want to take a moment to appreciate the love and support that I get from this woman @rebekahp87. I was given the opportunity of a lifetime on the other side of the world and for the second time, I will be going solo to pursue my dreams and career with nothing but support from her. Truly blessed”.

According to Bravo, Buddha and his wife Rebekah met in the kitchen in Melbourne and have been together for 10 years, she is currently the pastry sous chef at Eleven Madison Park. She had also worked at Dinner by Heston.

Rebekah moved to the States in 2018. Other than Eleven Madison, she also founded Bushwick Hot Bread as a side business after COVID-19. Back in 2016, she had moved to Russia to work in White Rabbit, the no.18 best restaurant in the world.

Rebekah celebrates her birthday on 17 February.

Buddha Lo Age

In August 2021, Buddha Lo turned 30 years old.

Buddha Lo Net Worth

Buddha Lo has a net worth above $1 million.

He is currently the executive chef at Huso, a Michelin-starred restaurant within Marky’s Caviar (in New York City). There he serves an eight-course tasting menu. On the weekends, Buddha began his career by working at a 5-star resort. Buddha traveled to London after culinary school to work at Gordon Ramsay’s three Michelin-starred restaurants, where he met his mentor, Clare Smyth.

He then relocated to New York City. There he spent a year at Eleven Madison Park, a three-Michelin-star restaurant. While working there he learned to push himself in the realm of fine dining. Learn more about his career here.

Related FAQs

Buddha Lo celebrates his birthday on 19 August.

Fans of the show haven’t made any comments on Buddha Lo’s accent.

Yes, Buddha Lo is on Instagram (@buddha__lo).

Buddha Lo doesn’t have his own restaurant but his family restaurant is located in Port Douglas, Australia. But, Huso is located in New York City.

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