CHEF DANIEL CALVERT
Chef Calvert started in the industry at an incredibly young age of 16 with The Ivy in London and has not looked back since. “You could leave school [in UK] when you were 16. And yeah, I left school at 16,” he says. “I immediately started working like a month later in a restaurant called The Ivy… It was… quite a shock.” He continued working up the ranks in acclaimed restaurants like London’s Pied a Terre, New York’s Per Se (becoming the youngest sous chef at 23) and Epicure at Le Bristol in Paris. Though it was not the fame of these places that attracted him. “I always chose these restaurants based upon not because they had three stars or two stars or whatever. It was actually what I believe to be the best restaurant in the city at the time, through a lot of extensive research and how I like to look at the food.” And that trail eventually led him to Hong Kong, where he became the head chef at Belon, a classically rooted modern French bistro where they keep a tremendously high standard. “I don’t keep anything from the day before… everything is done every single day,” Chef Calvert says. “And it’s an
extremely repetitive environment, but it tastes better. It’s a difficult [standard]… but it’s actually quite straightforward. If it’s good, it’s good. If it’s bad, it’s bad. Nothing in between.” During the recent health crisis, he has enjoyed a tremendous amount of support from customers. “We have more regular guests than I’ve ever have experience in my life that comes to Belon once a week, twice a month, three times a month,” he says. “They just want to support and give as much as they can, and it’s remarkable… Hong Kong was doing such a great job in containing this pandemic, and [despite a recent third-wave] I believe in a week or two, we’ll be back on track again.” From an overall food trend perspective, Chef Calvert thinks that people will keep cooking and entertaining more in their own homes. “I’ve probably had people over at my house or been invited to people’s houses for dinner more than I have done the last four years,” he says. “So, I’ve actually rediscovered the joy of being at home, cooking at home and entertaining at home.” While he does not see sustained success in high-end take outs that cost
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