the same without the same experience; there may be opportunities for restaurants to provide ready-to-cook options for customers to cook at home. Being a creative person, he sometimes finds that not giving people what they liked - but instead help them realize what they desired - is an interesting way to move forward. “If you give people what they want, nothing really progresses,” he says. “But you have to [deliver the new ideas] well enough to convince people that’s what they want, something that they didn’t know they that they needed.” “I think that there has to be a certain level of familiarity for the guests to be comfortable… you never want to alienate your guests,” he continues. “For example, we have a small pasta dish, which is basically tomato, basil and burrata pasta, but it’s presented in a way that maybe they didn’t expect… or a mille feuille… And it’s not so far out there that they don’t have a reference point to it. I think the important thing is you have to have a reference point to what you serve for it to be viable or craveable.” To him, the relationship between the diner, the restaurant and the chef is very important. “… if you eat at Belon, I think you’ll have a great meal but I believe your best meals will come after visits later where you’ve had certain dishes,” he says. “And now I understand what you like and I’m going to really find something special for you.”
Outside of the kitchen, Chef Clavert has a passion for all kinds of music. He used to attend concerts, shows and festivals all the time. When he hears bands that go in new directions and stop playing the old materials, that also inspire him. “That’s a good reminder for us as chefs, we don’t have to stick with the same stuff all the time,” he says. “We can reinvent ourselves gradually and those people that really support you, they will be there through the meals that maybe weren’t quite as good as the last one but they’ll come back again too.” Case in point, Belon stopped offering its iconic pigeon pithivier in 2018, but bigger and better things were in the works. A now-beloved drunken pigeon dish, along with a number of new dishes, burst out. “We replaced [the old favourites] with a lot of new dishes and we still remained popular. We climbed to number four on the San Pellegrino [Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants] list. And that was quite vindicating to see.” Moving forward, Chef Clavert has agreed to open a restaurant in Tokyo’s Four Seasons Hotel in June of 2021 to continue his career theme of learning from the best and challenging himself. “I could easily stay in Hong Kong and continue to be successful… but it’s time to get out of the comfort zone again.” He hopes to keep providing good food and wine and be influenced by the culture and the cuisine, like he has been everywhere else. “I think it can work very well… A lot of work to do but yeah,” he says.
68
Powered by FlippingBook