New York chef Daniel Humm's menu is inspired by jazz legend Miles Davis

Daniel Humm's round, smiling face looks remarkably rested for a man who's just endured a 16-hour flight from New York, touching down at 7pm the night before our interview. The 36-year-old chef is one of the hottest in New York; his restaurant, Eleven Madison Park, has three Michelin stars and four stars - the highest ranking - in The New York Times. In 2012, he was voted Best Chef in America by a jury of his peers for the James Beard Awards, and climbed 14 spots to rank at number 10 on the World's 50 Best Restaurants list.

He and Will Guidara, general manager and co-owner of Eleven Madison Park, are in town for a guest chef stint at the Mandarin Grill at the Mandarin Oriental in Central. Although the promotion ends on Sunday, the two have extended their visit for another week to sample some Hong Kong cuisine and attend next weekend's Rugby Sevens.

Eleven Madison Park didn't start off as a fine dining restaurant. It was opened in 1998 as a brasserie by top restaurateur Danny Meyer, whose many projects include Union Square Café, Gramercy Tavern and Shake Shack. In 2005, he brought in Humm, a young Swiss chef who had apprenticed at the age of 14 at the Kurhotel Schinznach-Bad before working at the then Michelin three-star Le Pont de Brent. At 24, Humm became executive chef of the Gasthaus zum Gupf, which received a star within a year. He moved to the United States, working first at the Campton Place Hotel in San Francisco, then going across the country to Eleven Madison Park in New York.

"Danny Meyer wasn't happy with the restaurant and wanted to change directions," says Humm. "He wanted to bring me in to make the food more refined; he thought the dining room had so much potential. Will came a couple months [later] to run the dining room because it was difficult for me to do my work without someone [in the front of house] who had the same vision. It was a two-star New York Times restaurant when I started. It took a year to get three stars, and four years to get four stars. After that, we got the Michelin stars - we went from one to three, and then the World's 50 Best - we were 50, 24 and now we're number 10."

Humm and Guidara - who'd worked with Meyer for 10 years, including opening all the restaurants at the Museum of Modern Art - weren't content to rest on their laurels, although it would have been easy - and logical - to stick with the formula that had won them so many stars. They changed the menu from à la carte to a grid with just 16 words that listed the main ingredients. Last September, they changed again, and the only option - for lunch or dinner - is a US$195 tasting menu tailored to the tastes of diners.

"We're still going, it's still evolving," says Humm, who in his spare time is a competitive cyclist at one level below professional. "Now we just cook for you, but there are choices you can make - dry-aged beef or duck, hot foie gras or cold. If they say 'We've had such a big meal already and want to eat a little lighter,' we can accommodate that. We cater towards the guest. They don't need to tell us in advance; we can improvise." Diners during the promotion at the Mandarin Grill will taste dishes such as foie gras terrine with green asparagus and black truffle; and oyster with wood sorrel and mignonette.

The inspiration for the chameleon-like nature of the restaurant comes from Miles Davis, says Humm.