Chef Roland Schuller cannot think of anywhere he would rather than be than Hong Kong when there’s a global health crisis. Four years ago, when we last met at the Kee Club in Hong Kong, where he was head chef, he told us he had plans to go to Peru. The Zika virus outbreak in South America put paid to that. Instead the Austrian lay low in Hong Kong for several months, before taking a job in Bangkok three years ago. And now he’s back in Hong Kong because of the coronavirus outbreak – at Umberto Bombana ’s Octavium in Central, where he is group executive chef. “I was spending money fast. I worked in an Italian restaurant similar to Octavium, and then the coronavirus hit,” he says, explaining his return to Hong Kong. “With the virus in Bangkok, it was not safe. Hong Kong is the safest place in the world – and I miss my friends.” The 56-year-old quips: “I’m thinking about my retirement. Everything is expensive now. I need to make some money.” He has lost 10kg since we last saw him. He attributes this to eating lots of vegetables, such as a salad of fennel, avocado, kale, broccolini, nuts and canned sardines. Once in a while he eats beef, and some chicken. And he’s been walking on the treadmill too, and doing qi gong breathing exercises at 4am. When he was in quarantine, he asked someone to buy him a bulb of fennel at a supermarket. It cost HK$250 (US$32). He called Bombana to order a case of fennel instead, and happily ate fennel daily. Schuller says he’s happy to be back in Hong Kong (after two weeks of home quarantine) and keen to cook his usual dishes for customers he hasn’t seen for a few years. We suggested he could prepare healthy dishes for customers inspired by his new look, but he shook his head. “They don’t want to eat that!” he says, dismissively. The chef has worked on and off in Hong Kong for 20 years at such restaurants as Alfred’s Deli, Chez Roland, Roland’s Terrace and Toscana at the former Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong hotel in Central. Will he be staying in Hong Kong for a while this time? Without missing a beat, Schuller says: “I’m too old for trouble.” Octavium, 8/F, 22 Des Voeux Road, Central, tel: 2111 9395