Simon Yam Tat-wah has a reputation for being well-travelled, so seeing him at Cannes' Majestic Beach earlier this year seemed only fitting. Fiddling with a packet of cigarettes and surveying the azure sea before him, Yam looked to be relishing his role at world cinema's most prestigious gathering.
After all, in several hours he would be walking down the Palais des Festivals' red carpet as one
of the co-stars of Triangle, an out-of-competition entry at this year's festival.
He might have been getting ready to indulge in the champagne and caviar that was flowing freely all around him, as A-list celebrities and their entourages often do on the French Riveira.
However, what the affable actor repeatedly brings up, is something far less glamorous. He appears to be fixating on a pineapple bun, the kind you find in Hong Kong bakeries for HK$3 apiece.
He isn't exactly raving about the merits of the buns but the way he devours them in Eye in the Sky, one of the many films he's starred in during the past year. And one doubts whether Yam eats such confection normally, given the strict diet he follows to maintain the physique which he flaunts proudly.