Michelin and Black Pearl young chef awardee Justin Yang opens restaurant in Hong Kong
The Divine Dish star Justin Yang blends his Fujianese heritage with modern flair at Quan, a contemporary Chinese restaurant in Central
By the time chef Justin Yang Yanbin took part in the reality cooking show The Divine Dish (also known as Chef of China) in 2025, he was already a culinary star, having received the Michelin Guide Chengdu’s young chef award the previous year – despite having nearly two decades of training under his belt.
Trained under legendary Min cuisine master Luo Bingfu, the now 32-year-old Yang has held executive chef positions at several acclaimed restaurants, including Chic 1699 in Xiamen, Hokklo at Waldorf Astoria Xiamen and Hokkien Cuisine in Chengdu, where he led the team to its first Michelin star as its youngest-ever executive Chinese chef.
For him, joining The Divine Dish was never about winning.
“Taking part in the show was more about showing my own personality and expressing the image and creative process of a modern head chef,” he explains. “I wanted the audience to know that fine food is not easy to create – that there is much more to it.
“Only knowing how to cook is not enough. That can only be called a ‘talent’ – someone with skill. But if you also know how to think, how to express yourself on top of that – that is called ‘genius’.