Kelvin Cheung did not choose to be in the kitchen; he was born into it. As Villa 88 reported in a feature piece, he started cooking at three or four years old, sitting in front of a 50-kilogram block of dough at his father’s Cantonese restaurant in Toronto while the rest of his family worked the floor. At first, he made fortune cookies, then almond cookies, but over time he progressed to making spring rolls, manning the cash register, washing dishes, and ultimately wielding the wok.
From the start, he was a man between worlds.
What Third Culture Actually Means
He is Chinese-Canadian, born in Canada, raised in Chicago, and trained in kitchens across North America, Belgium, Hong Kong, and India. He spent ten years in Mumbai and said in an interview with Villa 88 that it was his “Golden Age.” He moved to Dubai in 2021. In 2022, he opened Jun’s at Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Boulevard in the area of Burj Khalifa and offered the third culture cuisine to the city.
“It’s personal rather than culinary. ‘Third culture is caught between cultures,’ he explained to Emirates Woman in an on-record interview. ‘Grown up in North America with Cantonese-speaking parents who only recently settled in Toronto, I was living in two worlds.’ My son,’ he said to Villa 88, ‘is Chinese, Canadian, American, born in Mumbai, raised in Dubai.’ This biography is what Jun’s is about.”
In Cheung’s own words to the Michelin Guide: “I think what we’ve created at Jun’s is something very special. Jun’s has no tagline; it’s Kelvin on a plate, and I always say it’s third culture cooking. It is the perfect combination of my heritage with my North American upbringing.”
Jun’s is run by Cheung and founder Neha Anand, who brought the hospitality structure and Dubai expertise that allowed the concept to take root. The restaurant is as much hers as his.
The Food: Stories on Plates
The current tasting menu of Jun features thirteen dishes priced at AED 560, while a seven-dish Short Story Menu is offered at AED 295. Each and every dish on the menu, as mentioned in Business Traveler’s review of Jun, is a story told through food. The dim sum-inspired bamboo basket honors Cheung’s father, who ran more than a dozen restaurants. The burnt cheese dish brings back memories of the burnt crust of Chicago-style deep-dish pizza that Cheung used to love. The Patagonian toothfish congee is garnished with ghee and finished with kaya-based components that evoke Southeast Asia. The heirloom carrots are served hot with smoked labneh, and the hot and sour soup is prepared in tribute to a grandmother who used to request it before each meal.
This menu has no defined nationality and no doubt regarding its true identity. It is just one man’s life, narrated through dishes.
The Accolades
Jun’s was in the Michelin Guide Dubai each year from 2023 to 2026. It is listed in MENA’s 50 Best Restaurants each year from 2023 to 2026. Gault & Millau has given it one Toque each year from 2023 to 2025, and it received two Toques in 2026. Cheung became the judge of MasterChef Asia; he told Caterer Middle East, “I’m proud to represent the UAE because this is home for me. Dubai has had a huge influence on the way I cook and the way I see hospitality.”
