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Ricardo Chaneton, the award-winning Hong Kong chef behind Mono’s single-ingredient tasting menus, on how he nearly became a doctor

Mono’s kitchen team (from left): Gilbert Lee, Joaquin Elizondo Hourbeigt, Tony Mok Kwan-long, chef Ricardo Chaneton, Max Frobel, Chan Kie and Christine Leong. Photo: Chen Xiaomei

The first 100 Top Tables Rising Star award goes to chef and recent restaurateur Ricardo Chaneton. Although Chaneton is not new to the culinary scene in Hong Kong having spent four years as executive chef at Island Shangri-La’s French fine dining restaurant Petrus, Mono is the first restaurant where he can express who he really is – and the results are outstanding.

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“I came from France to Petrus,” says Venezuelan-born Chaneton, who worked for seven years at three-Michelin star Mirazur under visionary chef-owner Mauro Colagreco.

“Petrus was my first restaurant as executive chef, but it wasn’t mine. I didn’t build it or create it. Petrus for me was when you graduate and want to specialise in something, I learned so much there.”

Inside Mono, where Ricardo Chaneton has partnered with Yenn Wong’s JIA Group. Photo: JIA

Now, as chef and co-owner, he has partnered with Yenn Wong’s JIA Group. “Mono is my first restaurant where every day I work to be a better cook and chef, I can do the things I really want to do,” he says. “When I met Yenn I had so much respect for her. Every time I talked with her I learned something. It is interesting the way she works and she has a similar passion.”

“We discussed the restaurant and what we should do. I mentioned French technique with Japanese ingredients. Yenn didn’t even say what I expected – ‘Again, another one’ – referring to many fine dining restaurants doing the same. Instead she said, ‘What about being true to yourself? Where are you from?’ And that phrase alone, changed everything. She made me understand that she wanted something different. She sees things where no one else does.”

Mono: seasonal tasting French menus with a South American slant

Chaneton serves single (hence Mono) ingredient-driven seasonal tasting menus. He creates French dishes with South American twists such as Miéral pigeon with mole. “If you take out the mole, it would be so French, traditional and typical. Pigeon goes well with spices, but it also goes very well with chocolate and coffee,” he says.

Chaneton says he “never considered being a chef, I wanted to be a doctor. But it didn’t happen. I was too lazy to study but thank God, he led me another way because I do not know what kind of doctor I would have been.” He checked out the hospitality industry with a friend, but missed the deadline to enter. “I met another friend who was studying in culinary school and he said it was very good. I told my dad but he wasn’t too happy. My dad thought I was crazy.”

Mono’s Miéral pigeon mole by Ricardo Chaneton. Photo: Mono

However, his dad introduced him to a friend who owned a pizzeria. “I connected to the kitchen straight away and loved it.” He started working at the pizzeria, which paid his way through culinary school.

After finishing school, Chaneton worked for a while at Le Gourmet at InterContinental Tamanaco Hotel in Caracas before a year’s apprenticeship at three-Michelin star Quique Dacosta in Denia, Spain. He then trained and worked for seven years at one of the world’s best restaurants, Mirazur in Menton, France, before eventually helming a team of 30 chefs and leading day-to-day operations as head chef. He also travelled extensively with owner Mauro Colagreco, bringing Mirazur to the rest of the world.

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At Mono, he combines his heritage of South American flavours with inspiration from his travels in French fine dining techniques. Chaneton is delighted his cuisine has been so well received. He has gained many regulars since opening late last year. Chaneton attributes his success to the knowledge he has acquired as well as having a great team. “If you have a sound background knowledge, the results will be good. But we also have a good team, I am proud of them.”

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The Venezuelan-born chef creates French dishes with South American twists on seasonal tasting menus