How Buddha Lo Turned Precision into a Michelin-starred Success at NYC’s Huso

Chef Buddha Lo has built a career on skillful technique and precision. Like the beginning of going back The top chef winner—Season 19 in Houston and Season 20 in London and Paris, the latter of which was the franchise’s first World All-Stars—Lo has proven as adept under the pressure of television as he is in his kitchen. In October 2025, just eight months later Huso opened in New York, the flagship restaurant earned a Michelin star. Lo was surprised at the time, but not the result.

Because the Michelin guide doesn’t work in his native Australia, Lo understood early on that pursuing that level of cuisine would require traveling from home.

Born to a Hong Kong father and a Malaysian mother, Lo’s passion for culinary precision began long before television cameras or Michelin watchers entered the picture. He was 12 years old when his father, Tze Kwong Lo, asked him to come into the kitchen to cook The Jade Inna family restaurant in Port Douglas, Australia. One memory remains ingrained: watching his father flip a Chinese omelette in one fluid motion. It is memorable that he plays again and again in slow motion. That was the time he decided to become a chef.

At the age of 17, he won a stage scholarship to a two-star restaurant in Pauillac, a small wine region near Bordeaux in France. “I turned 18 while I was there,” Lo tells the Observer. “I was already working [there] two months, in the fish section. On my birthday, they invited me to eat at a restaurant. It was an unforgettable experience.

“Being from Australia, where Michelin doesn’t work, it was my first exposure to a Michelin-starred restaurant as a guest,” explained Lo. “It was everything I thought it would be. Precision. Discipline. Great service. Done on the plate. Everything felt intentional and deeply respectful of the craft.”

He returned home after his spell at Pauillac, and at just 19, became head chef at the now-defunct Hare & Grace in Australia. He continued to work under Clare Smyththen chef at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in London; then played all over Europe before joining Eleven Madison Park in New York. Each kitchen emphasized the same lesson: Precision isn’t just an aesthetic flourish—it’s essential to practical training.

Now 34 years old, most of his professional career is in Michelin-starred and famous places, which explains his passion and high expectations. The Michelin star plan has become part of his culinary DNA. It’s the level he internalized.

That discipline found its most personal expression in 2019, when Lo joined i a luxury food retailer Marky’s Caviarwhere he was given the freedom to create Huso, a 12-seat tasting room inside Marky’s Madison Avenue location. Named “Huso huso,” a scientific breed of Beluga sturgeon that produces precious caviar, Lo’s new concept focuses on refined, seasonal offerings—truffles, caviar and champagne—all made without a full kitchen. As if a whisper of good things to come, Huso received a Michelin Plate in 2020-2021.

In 2025, Marky’s Caviar and Huso moved to Tribeca, and the team’s sense of luxury in all its forms—location, food and decor—clearly changed the game. Less than a year after the move, Huso received his coveted Michelin star. “The restaurant as it is now is what I’ve been looking for,” said Lo.

Entering the Tribeca space, guests glide past the deep blue of Marky’s Caviar and into the bright, airy space of Huso. Vaulted ceilings, creamy white walls, tablecloths and modern art reflect the beauty embedded in the play. Chef Lo says that although it was difficult to find them, he was happy when the team found two Keith Haring pieces of walls. He always admired the Keith Haring mural that covers the outside of a school wall in Melbourne, which still stands today.

One wall at Huso is taken up by a custom installation, “Explosion,” by a London-based artist Valeria Nascimentofeaturing 200 soft porcelain pieces that create a textured, monochromatic statement. At once dramatic and elegant, the scene captures Lo’s precision and craftsmanship on display in every plate.

The winter tasting menu reads like moderation rather than indulgence. The opening course—bluefin tuna layered with smoked sturgeon and caviar—establishes salt as texture, rather than garnish. Throughout this progression, Lo’s classical approach highlights luxury ingredients. For example, the egg with lobster and Hollandaise points directly to the French canon, but the sauce is poured with restraint, and the richness of the dish is reduced rather than overused.

Even difficult subjects choose to control the spectacle. Squab with squash and fermented black beans shows depth without being overwhelming; beef paired with Périgord truffle relies on moderation and timing, not abundance. The pass line is accurate. Lo cooks like a chef trained to eliminate mistakes. Before appearing The top chef first, Lo spent a lot of time not only rewatching past seasons, but studying the mistakes that got rid of the chefs. In addition to keeping Huso running at the highest level and enjoying the restaurant’s recent Michelin recognition, Lo continues to show more recognition, more victories, more stars. “We want to do more than that,” he said.

On March 4, Lo will return to television after a three-year suspension from the competition. American Culinary Cup is an invitation-only challenge for the country’s most decorated chefs for $1 million, hosted by Padma Lakshmi. Lo is among 16 chefs selected, including Kim Alter of Nightbird in San Francisco; Beverly Kim of Parachute in Chicago; and fellow New York chef Sol Han of LittleMad. Chefs will face a series of culinary challenges, from feats of tact and patience in presenting and leading.

While expanding her professional portfolio, Lo’s personal life has also changed. He and his wife, former Eleven Madison Park pastry chef Rebekah Pedler, welcomed twins in 2023, two years before opening Huso’s Tribeca iteration.

Two days before Lo received the first call from Top Chef in 2022, her father passed away. It was his father who first opened Lo’s eyes to the world of food and the desire to do well with food. When Lo finally won that season, he dedicated the victory to himself. The loss of his father reset the stakes of competition and honor for him, but not the pursuit itself.

The lessons instilled in him—from his father’s kitchen in Australia to Michelin-starred dining rooms around the world—remain part of his daily pursuit of distinction: For Lo, pursuit is a mission. “It’s been my game my whole life,” he says, “and it’s a philosophy he’ll no doubt apply to any next benchmark.”