Hong Kong's new Parisian restaurant Belon has reopened, designed by award-winning designer Joyce Wang and reimagined the iconic blue elements of the original location with a striking ocean-themed narrative. The new Belon is more dramatic, darker and sexier, an intimate neo-Parisian hideaway filled with hidden corners, sinuous curves and ambient lighting. As you cross the dimly lit threshold, a calm wave of meditation hits you. This is Zen, the sanctuary at the heart of the din.

Diners enter via a marble-framed doorway and ascend a flight of stairs to be greeted by a host behind a streamlined Irish pewter counter. A glass-walled kitchen stands to the right, and seductively lit dining rooms, separated by luxurious velvet curtains, unfold to the left. Wang describes the space as ‘a modernist design concept brought to life by a sculptural, serpentine aesthetic… and a serene marbled, metallic palette.’

Through the use of blues and deep indigo, Wang pays tribute to the colours of the original BELON, while transforming the new space into a slightly surreal fine-dining sanctuary that whispers of the sea. ‘The sculptural concave ceiling in high-gloss plaster accentuates the height in the low-ceilinged space we inherited,’ says Wang, adding that the reflection of diners beneath these floating dishes ‘emulates the surface of water, placing the guest underwater.’

Marbled timber salt panels and curvaceous banquettes in shark-grey hues impart a further aquatic spirit, as do floral arrangements that hint at fish scales, corals and sponges, a knowing nod to head chef Matthew Kirkley’s mastery of seafood.