Welcome Pastry Chef Belinda Leong

Manresa is pleased to welcome pastry chef Belinda Leong to Manresa. Leong is a native of San Francisco with more than ten years of international professional pastry experience at some of the world’s finest restaurants and patisseries. In 1998 she accepted an internship at Aqua Restaurant under the direction of Michael Mina, which inspired her to enroll in the culinary program at San Francisco City College. After graduating, she embarked on a culinary internship with the newly opened Restaurant Gary Danko. She soon discovered her passion for desserts and gravitated to the pastry department, and after a year was named Executive Pastry Chef, where she developed her skills during the following eight years. After nine years with Gary Danko, she embarked on a European tour of France, Spain, Denmark, and Belgium where she refined her skills at renowned patisseries and restaurants including a year at Pierre Hermé in Paris learning traditional French pastry, Restaurante Martín Berasategui in Spain (three Michelin stars), Noma in Copenhagen (two Michelin stars), In De Wulf in Belgium (one Michelin star) and Bubo in Barcelona. In 2007, Leong won the San Francisco Bay Area award for Rising Star Pastry Chef from StarChefs.com, and was a featured celebrity chef at the famed Pebble Beach Food and Wine Festival.
Photo courtesy StarChefs.com