#Followthechef: The story behind Sarah Todd's Instagram pics

We stalk model-turned-chef Sarah Todd’s Instagram feed and ask her to take us behind-the-scenes. Turns out she is gearing up to launch a restaurant in Goa.

Model-turned-chef Sarah Todd has over 23.7k followers on Instagram. (Arijit Sen/HT photo)

We stalk model-turned-chef Sarah Todd's Instagram feed and ask her to take us behind-the-scenes. Turns out she is gearing up to launch a restaurant in Goa.

Over 23.7k people follow Sarah Todd on Instagram (@Sarahtodd ), and the MasterChef Australia contestant says she is quite mindful of what she puts "out there". While most of her posts document her passion for food, they also give us a peek into her love for all things Indian. When she was in town recently, we asked her to pick some memorable Instagram moments:

*A coffee tasting session at her upcoming property on Goa's Vagator beach. Slated to open on October 17, the 250-seater restaurant will feature modern Australian fare with an Asian twist. "Australians have this great tradition of hosting barbecues on Christmas or birthdays, so I plan to have a charcoal grill as well," she adds.

* Todd loves dumplings. "Chinese is the most popular cuisine in Australia after local fare. Four of us MasterChef contestants met up at Charlie Dumpling, a really nice Asian eatery in Melbourne, for lunch recently," she says.

* She was invited by Dilmah, the tea brand from Sri Lanka, to visit its tea gardens. "Dilmah is actually the combination of names of Fernando's (owner Merrill Fernando) sons, Dilhan and Malik. I had a great time with his family and I was dancing around with Dilhan's 10-year-old daughter at the estate. I did trails around the estate and observed the tedious tea-making process," recounts Todd.

* "My mother is the reason for my strength. She is a superwoman. She is a single parent and she raised the three of us (my brothers and me) all by herself. She is supportive of everything I do," says Todd, who is excited about spending a few weeks with her mother in Goa, when she visits the property next month. "We'll just relax. I plan to cook a lot of food for her.'

* "I love going for long walks in Melbourne. My girlfriends and I make it a point to meet up twice or thrice a week and walk for an hour at least," says Todd, who also practices yoga to stay fit.

* "Oh, that was my first-ever time fishing," says an excited Todd. She was shooting for a television show at Phillip Island near Melbourne. "There's a tradition that when you catch a fish, you have to kiss it. I was terrified but I had to do it because the camera was rolling. Also, I grew up with two brothers. It is hard for me to accept defeat," she adds.

* Phillip Island is known for its storied Grand Prix Circuit. Todd, who loves racing, can be seen goofing around with fellow MasterChef contestant Alice Zaslavsky. "I think, this too, is the brothers thing. I am very competitive. Needless to say, I won," she smiles.

* After several weeks of gruelling shoots for the show, Todd took a little vacation with her friend, and son Phoenix, at Hydeaway Bay in Australia. "I grew up very close to this place in Mackay, which is part of the Great Barrier Reef. So it was nice to go back," she adds.

* "I was asked to be the Australia Day Ambassador at an event in Townsville. I made a speech about my journey. Phoenix is turning out to be a globetrotter too. He accompanies me on trips," she says.

* "I missed out on meeting Heston (Blumenthal, chef) on the show, because I got eliminated before he was to come. I happened to meet him in Melbourne. I went up to him and told him that I had cooked scotch eggs that I had first tried at his restaurant," she says.

(The writer tweets as @CultureCola )