Belon

A French bistro with a serious pedigree

Belon is a small, cosy French bistro in Soho, and its simplicity is deliberate. Chef Daniel Calvert, from England, trained at Pied à Terre in London, Per Se in New York and Epicure at Le Bristol in Paris, and was brought to Hong Kong in 2015 by Black Sheep Restaurants to open it. In 2019 it rose 25 places to No. 15 on Asia’s Top 50 Restaurants.

The cooking is bistro French with high-grade ingredients: gougères, Momokomachi oysters with champagne mignonette, naturally leavened bread that takes four days to make, a salade niçoise using shima aji in place of cooked tuna, and a whole roasted chicken with a spinach layer under the skin. Desserts such as madeleines and a hazelnut mille-crêpe were light rather than sweet.

The room is small and busy, which is also the main practical drawback: tables are hard to book and a bar seat at a packed weekend lunch is part of the experience. Menus change, so check the current dishes.

Sources: Belon, Hong Kong (Tiny Urban Kitchen). Check the official websites for current information.