Where a French chef in Hong Kong eats reminders of home, pizza and dim sum

Thomas Caro is the executive chef of Rex Wine & Grill, which is now rebranded as a French steakhouse. He spoke to Andrew Sun.

I tend to eat in a very polarised way: very regimented and healthy, or purely for pleasure and comfort.

Growing up in the French countryside, I remember walking to our village’s farm with my dad to buy eggs and milk, and picking cherries, Reine Claude plums – also known as greengages – and apricots at my grandparents’.

My grandmother, Geneviève, was an exceptional cook, making classic cuisine bourgeoise – middle-class home cooking – staples every Sunday for lunch. Grandpa Jean, who cultivated my love of food, made endless batches of jam, stored in his basement cellar to be given away during the year.

He would spoil me at brasseries, ordering a whole sole meunière, a classic French fish dish, for my nine-year-old self. Now the only cuisine that makes sense to me in the summer is southern French.