After temporarily closing for more than six months, the highly anticipated re-opening of Belon finally took place in Q1 this year. Not only has the neo-Parisian bistro re-opened in a brand new Soho location, it has also revamped into more of a fine-dining French restaurant.
Taking over from former chef Daniel Calvert (who recently opened his own restaurant Sezanne in Tokyo) is new head chef Matthew Kirkley, a Baltimore native who has worked at some of the world's most renowned restaurants, including Le Gavroche (London), Le Meurice (Paris), L20 (Chicago) and Coi (San Francisco).
It is definitely one of the most sought-after dining experience in town right now. We have waited more than two months for this and honestly, I couldn't wait to get started.
Aged comté cheese Gruyère – I remembered having this when Chef Calvert was at the helm. The cheese puff was again very very tasty, with runny comté cheese Gruyère oozing from the centre. I won't mind having another one of these if my server elects to offer me one.
Sourdough bread with salted butter – It wasn't bad but we were caught at a bad time when this was served up. At the time, we were busy dealing with our trout roe tartlet and stroopwafel.
Trout roe tartlet – Very nice again. The buttery tartlet was very crisp working well with the explosive trout roes.
Carrot stroopwafel with dill pistou – The carrot-blended wafer shell sandwiched with dill pistou was aromatic and full of flavors thanks to the garlic, parmesan, butter and dill. Jelloman didn't like it but I love its clean and refreshing flavors.
Shima aji nicoise – We went with the 5-course omakase menu and the first course was shima aji, or Japanese striped horse mackerel served on a bed of baby gems, tomatoes, potatoes and soft-boiled egg. A pretty refreshing start.
Salade Gourmande – Next up was our second starter, a beautifully designed terrine dish featuring an impressive layering of ox tongue and foie gras combined with a mix of salad leaves and herbs. It was finished off with some lovely acidity from a light truffle vinaigrette dressing. I thought our server described it the best, some sort of "unhealthy" salad!
Crêpes Soufflée – Our final starter was spinach crepe sandwiched with turbot mousse in the middle. It was served with a creamy caviar-laced beurre blanc.
This was probably my favorite starter out of the three. The mousse-like, bouncy texture of turbot was an interesting (thanks to the eggs, heavy cream and butter) match with the light and airy crepe while the caviar-laced beurre blanc provided a powerful finish.
Lobster with artichoke – I was hoping to have the chef's signature pigeon pithivier as our main dish but this seasonal lobster dish was more than just a consolation prize.
The juicy Maine lobster was paired with a gentle sauce made with lobster head and coral. I like the supporting cast too, with poached artichokes and artichoke flavored pasta tubes.
Stuffed inside the pasta tubes was something like a lobster mousse of some sort.
Ile Flottante with almond and caramel – Our first dessert was another house specialty. In fact, we have seen it featured in different online magazines and social media reports. It was undoubtedly a visually stunning dessert featuring a pillow soft and super fluffy Swiss meringue with a molten caramel centre and beautifully decorated with different colors of almond tuile flowers, floating on top of a brandy-infused crème anglaise. It was delicate, light and well-balanced.
Easily the best dessert we had this year (Little nugget seems to agree LOL!).
Chocolate hazelnut cake - I was offered something much richer, a layered chocolate cake with milk chocolate, dark chocolate and hazelnut praline. Love the bitter notes from the occasional orange zest to cut through the richness of the chocolate and hazelnut praline.
A small petite four of almond cake to finish us off on a sweet note.
Well, not so fast. A finish sweet treat in the form of a choux cream pastry. This came with refreshing mint custard cream in the middle. Frankly speaking, I was stuffed at this point.
This was certainly worth the months-long wait. As a fan of both classic and modern French cuisine, I am far more impressed with the work Chef Kirkley has done with the menu. Comparing to the Parisian bistro food by his predecessor, Belon's new menu shows off more finesse and creativity with delightful and photogenic plating (and less heavy on seasoning!). Service was good but not great, which was perhaps the only blemish of an otherwise perfect evening.
Food Rating: 8/10
Price: $$$$
Address: 1/F, 1-5 Elgin Street, Central, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Central
Tel: +852 2152-2872
Website: https://belonsoho.com
S. Pellegrino Asia's 50 Best Restaurants: 25th (2021)
S. Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants: 88th (2021)
Opening Hours: 6:00pm - 12:00am (Wed - Sun)
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