As the former head chef of neo-Parisian restaurant Belon in Hong Kong, which placed at No. 4 at the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2020, 33-year-old Daniel Calvert was on top of his game. But instead of doing what any sensible chef would have done, which was to continue helming this popular establishment, he packed his bags instead and moved to Tokyo, Japan in search of culinary inspiration.
“I had been using Japanese ingredients in Hong Kong but would like to know more about their provenance,” explains Calvert, who arrived in Tokyo last November and has already explored many prefectures in Japan. He often visits Toyosu Fish Market, too, to discover “Sushi Saito” quality fish a well as meet and develop close relationships with seafood suppliers.
On Poultry and Seafood I ve always kind of been a Francophile by nature, but I have a particular penchant for seafood. That s kind of where my heart lies: Chesapeake Bay and blue crabs. I wouldn t say it s done with any great degree of sophistication, but really, really awesome food kind of rarely is anyways, right? It s the simplest stuff it s just the best. My deathbed meal is just a big bushel of blue crabs with Old Bay seasoning on them on a picnic bench. I find seafood to be endlessly interesting, cooking-wise. That being said, it s fun to be back into a decidedly French restaurant, particularly with birds. Actually, that s kind of my second love pigeons and chickens and ducks, and the kind of classical repertoire and the technique involved with that. When you re here in Hong Kong, the birds are just such an amazing quality here; the chickens are night and day better than what I m used to in the States.