Simon Yuen is the retail and merchandising manager for fashion brand Maison Margiela. It has been difficult to explore restaurants so much over the past year with Hong Kong’s anti-government protests and then the Covid-19 pandemic, however I still enjoy being adventurous in town and overseas with different cuisines and ingredients – but no exotic animals, please. Here are some of my current favourites. Thai Kitchen by Chanatcha (Shop 5D1B, Dragon View House, 16 Hoi Tai Street, Quarry Bay, tel: 2157 1195) is mainly a takeaway place that only features a handful of Thai dishes – such as green curry chicken, pad kra pao , grilled pig knuckle and my favourite, grilled pork neck rice – but it always has a long queue during lunch. Occasionally you can find Thai coconut pandan cake (khanom chan) there, too. In Tin Hau, Eight Treasures (124 Electric Road, Tin Hau, tel: 2889 8366) is a local beef noodle place that – as their menu says – serves noodles with heart. Their “Sam Bo” noodles with turnip, beef brisket, tripe and tendon is my favourite. Their soup base contains Chinese herbs, so the taste is different from other beef noodle shops. I recently discovered Yu Chuan Club (Shop B, 1/F, 7-17 Amoy Street, Wan Chai, tel: 2838 5233) as I was looking for authentic numbing and spicy Sichuan food . For HK$318 (US$40) per person, you can choose a number of dishes according to the number of people on the table (three people can order two appetisers and four mains, for example). Sang Kee (1-2/F, 107-115 Hennessy Road, Wan Chai, tel: 2575 2239) is my all-time number one for bringing visitors to for authentic Hong Kong Cantonese cuisine. They have many delicious dishes but the best are sweet and sour pork, choi sum with preserved vegetables, and steamed white sugar cake (bak tong gou), which is a traditional local pastry not easy to find any more. For a nicer location, the Mandarin Grill (1/F, Mandarin Oriental Hotel, 5 Connaught Road Central, tel: 2825 4004) is a top-notch bistro. I love their lobster bisque and steak, however it’s only a place for special occasions, as the price is quite high. But you can’t go wrong if you want great food with great service, which is hard to find nowadays. Outside Hong Kong, my favourite food city is definitely Paris because of the variety of food and Parisians’ passion for it. There are countless places to choose, but there are two restaurants I never miss on any visit. The African Lounge Paris (20 Bis Rue Jean Giraudoux, 75016 Paris. tel: +33 1 47 205814) is my favourite because they serve grilled roosters with spicy sauce (super spicy!) and oxtail over white rice, which surprisingly feels like a local Cantonese dish. I also like La Coupole (102 boulevard de Montparnasse, 75014 Paris, tel: +33 1 43 201420). The restaurant has been around since 1927. If you enjoy seafood you will not be disappointed. I usually go there with my colleagues so we can order a big seafood platter. Their profiteroles are also a favourite because they pour hot chocolate in front of you so you can see the chocolate begin to crust. Yummy!