DANIEL CALVERT, BELON

Can the Brits beat the French at their own game? The cooking at Belon will tell you all you need to know. Since taking over the helm at the Soho restaurant, 30-year-old chef Daniel Calvert has steadily built up a reputation for surprising even the most regular of diners with his inspired evolution of modern French cuisine. Don’t be fooled by his boyish looks—with more than 13 years of culinary experience under his belt, from the early days as a line cook at The Ivy in London to working under Thomas Keller at Per Se in New York, Calvert’s impressive foundations shine through on his concise menu. Whether it’s perfecting his signature sourdough loaf or crafting the architectural beauty that is the pigeon pithivier with figs and amaretto, the young chef ensures that each meal at Belon is impeccably crafted from start to finish—and we can’t wait to see how he

continues to shape the restaurant’s culinary offerings in the future.

Belon, G/F, 41 Elgin Street, Central, Hong Kong

RUNNER-UP John Javier swapped Darling Harbour for Victoria Harbour in early 2017, and since then has been slinging highly original takes on classic dishes in his newly adopted city—a style he coins “neoCantonese”—at Happy Paradise.