There’s only been one official challenge of the season so far (catch up on what happened when delicious. contributor Billie McKay entered the kitchen here), but the 2016 contestants are shaping up to be a seriously impressive bunch. Here are the seven that really caught our eye.

Jimmy made it through to the top 24 with his sister Teresa, but came up on top of the Mystery Box challenge while she flailed at the bottom. He took a punt by serving up a retro stuffed mushroom (filled with duck-fat sauted cornflakes, no less) but it paid off. “You know I don’t like stuffed mushrooms, so this is going to be interesting,” Gary said before tasting…and then rolling his head back with happiness. George called his dish, which included pan-seared duck with a ginger wine dressing, “cool and tasty”. Anyone that plates up a stuffed mushroom with such swagger is super impressive.

After scoring dish of the day, as awarded by George, this Melbournian was always going to be a front-runner. Rather than pan-searing like pretty much all the others, Mimi tea-smoked her duck, confited her fennel rather than roasting, and toned down the ginger wine with tea, as a sauce. All clever moves. The sporty Melbournite has plans to open a produce-driven café with her brother, should she crush every challenge as well as she did the cornflake crumble that went with her duck.

If she doesn’t take away the grand prize, we’ll just bestow Nidhi with a ribbon for “most enthusiastic”. The bubbly chatterbox plated a milk tea parfait adorned with jelly-like sago and crunchy cornflakes, which Billie described as having “millions of texture, which is fun”. Matt Preston loved it, described it as inspiring a “sweet, childlike joy that makes you smile”. If we know anything for previous seasons, any dish that touches on the emotions is a winner with the judges. Nidhi’s pure joy for cooking may just be her best asset.

We really wish we got a better look at Chloe’s roasted fennel and beetroot tart, with fennel oil ice-cream, but there was only a glimpse and George’s comment that it was “something really, really special”. The Queenslander spent her honeymoon doing classes in Tuscany and wants to open a farm bistro, tying food and agriculture, so we’re expecting more vegetable-driven dishes.

Don’t be fooled by this electrician’s raised-on-an-apple-farm boyish charm; he’s a serious contender. His duck dish for the Mystery Box looked like something that Brent Savage would plate up, with delicate salad of pickled vegetables. According to the judges, his duck was perfectly seared, his made-from-scratch ricotta was yielding and delicious, with a ginger-duck jus to pull it together. In his bio, he talks of fishing for trout and catching rabbits, so if there’s a speed challenge for breaking down fish or whole carcasses, he’s probably got in the bag.

It’s been a long, patient road for this contestant, who followed her parents’ wishes and put off her food dreams in order to finish a Bachelor of Science in Mine and Engineering Surveying. Her dessert dish included three technical elements – a milk-tea crème brulee, a beetroot tuille and a ginger sorbet – which demonstrates a good understanding of classic techniques and calmness under pressure. Billie described it as reminiscent of a hot cup of tea. If she can translate those dessert techniques into savoury dishes, she’ll be one to watch.

We haven’t seen much of this quiet achiever, but for a flash of her ricotta and mushroom tart during the Mystery Box in episode three, which the judges labelled as a “seductive dish”. This means that she managed to make ricotta (as did Trent) and pastry, both from scratch, as well as bake the quiche-like filling within the 75 minute time frame. She cites David Loftus (food photographer to a number of celebrity chefs, including Jamie Oliver), so the lady knows her stuff, and we’re going to give her bonus points for helping short fellow contestant Teresa reach equipment.