Daniel Calvert’s culinary story neither started nor ended in Hong Kong; but, like a good sandwich, it’s what’s in the middle that counts.
“Hong Kong is such a fast-paced and dense city, you can do anything. Asim [Syed Asim Hussain, co-founder of Hong Kong hospitality group Black Sheep Restaurants] gave me my first shot. Hong Kong definitely put me on the map,” says the executive chef of Tokyo’s two-Michelin-star Sézanne.
“I was James’ sous chef and we moved over from Paris together,” Calvert says. “The original agreement was for James to come over for six months to start the restaurant and then to return periodically to check on things.
“It was only supposed to be temporary. I still kept my apartment in Paris at the time.”
Fine dining or casual, French restaurants in Hong Kong are alive and well
Fine dining or casual, French restaurants in Hong Kong are alive and well
If you’re not doing the right things at the right time, then you’re going to miss opportunities
“I think most nights we were doing less than 10 covers,” Calvert says. “Our menu was not cheap, but Elgin Street [in Hong Kong’s SoHo neighbourhood, where the restaurant is located] was quite a casual street and I was an unknown chef. So why would people spend that much money?”
It was a problem to be solved, and Calvert decided to take the hard route.
“I was there at seven o’clock in the morning all the way through to midnight,” Calvert says. “We were baking bread every single day even if we weren’t busy. We were still doing the same things every day, making sure the fundamentals were done correctly because you never know who’s going to walk in the door.
“We may have had four covers, but then you might have someone come in who knows about food, they’ll enjoy it and then they’ll write something about you. If you’re not doing the right things at the right time, then you’re going to miss those opportunities.”
This perseverance paid off, as Calvert collected the restaurant’s first Michelin star in 2017, and not long after was offered an opportunity to open his own restaurant inside the Four Seasons Tokyo Marunouchi in the Japanese capital.
‘I fell in love’: how Hong Kong’s XO sauce inspired a Michelin restaurant
‘I fell in love’: how Hong Kong’s XO sauce inspired a Michelin restaurant
Calvert collected the first Michelin star for his restaurant just shy of six months after its opening, and a second the year after.
“I spent a lot of time in Kanazawa [a city on the Sea of Japan coast] to explore the seafood there,” Calvert says. “[Nearby] Toyama for the white shrimp, and I went to other prefectures like Wakayama and Hokkaido as well. It was amazing.”
I’m not the greatest chef in the world. But I do think I work harder than most people
The menu features ingredients such as corn from Yamanashi, saffron from Oita and mangoes from Miyazaki.
Calvert’s precision with the knife is also on show in the dessert course of Miyazaki mango with shortbread creme Chantilly, for which the top layer of half a mango is sliced off, the filling placed in the fruit cavity, and then the top layer placed back on.
The finished item is seamless, looking as if the slice of fruit had never been disturbed.
It also takes a humble chef to show restraint when faced with extraordinary ingredients that require one to put one’s ego to one side and let the ingredient take centre stage.
Calvert brought large, plump Murasaki sea urchins from Japan. Instead of working them into a complex dish, the chef simply served them on a house-made rice cracker.
Despite such a notable string of achievements by the age of 34, Calvert stays grounded. Asked if he has a secret to success, he answers: “I’m not the greatest chef in the world – I can’t attest to that. But I do think I work harder than most people. I think that was the key.”