Where a Frenchman goes for croque-monsieur in Hong Kong, and his favourite places for hotpot, burrata and more

Nicolas Jeanjean, a French entrepreneur in Hong Kong, eats dinner out a few times a week and has wide-ranging tastes.

French businessman Nicolas Jeanjean is the founder of Hong Kong brand Debayn, which makes quick-dry men’s swim trunks that double as shorts.

My wife is from Shanghai. We met in France, so we like a mix of Chinese and French food. We usually have lunch outside and for dinner, half [the time it’s] at home, half [the time] we dine out. In terms of restaurants we like everything from cheap to expensive. I tend not to go to the three-Michelin-star restaurants. I think most of them are overpriced and not worth the money.

La Petite Maison (1/F, H Queen’s, 23-29 Stanley Street, Central, tel: 2887 1113) is a place we go for birthdays or something special. The food is good.

I also like Fofo By El Willy (20/F, M88, Wellington Place, 2-8 Wellington Street, Central, tel: 2900 2009). It’s a really complex menu and I like their gazpacho and foie gras, but the croque-monsieur is my favourite. Plus they have a terrace upstairs that we really enjoy. It’s a real pity there aren’t more outdoor terraces. French people love them.

The interior of La Petite Maison in Central. Photo: David Wong

Veal Parmigiana at DiVino in Central.

Other favourites include DiVino (73 Wyndham Street, Central, tel: 2167 8883) and Pastis (65 Wyndham Street, Central, tel: 2537 5702). For lunch, I would have the Pastis lunch buffet but at dinner they have a really nice sole – it’s not always available. I also like the cheese platter. At DiVino, I like the burrata. We also like Zuma (Shop 501-503, 5/F The Landmark, 15 Queen’s Road Central, Central, tel: 3657 6388) for Japanese.

We don’t go out much for Shanghainese, but we love Crystal Jade (various locations including Shop B221A, B2/F, Times Square, 1 Matheson Street, Causeway Bay, tel: 2506 0080) and Ye Shanghai (two locations including Shop 332, 3/F Pacific Place, 88 Queensway, Admiralty, tel: 2918 9833). We like the drunken chicken and the fact there are a lot of the vegetable choices. Of course, [we like] the dumplings and bao too.

Ye Shanghai’s braised prawns with onion in sweet chilli sauce.

Eight flavours of xiao long bao at Crystal Jade. Jeanjean and his Shanghai-born wife are frequent visitors.

For dim sum, Treasure Lake (1/F-3/F, Haleson Building, 1 Jubilee Street, Central, tel: 2850 6638) is a place I really like. It’s a typical local place, usually very crowded but you can always find a table.

Jo Jo Indian (2/F, David House, 37-39 Lockhart Road, Wan Chai, tel: 2527 3776) is not too expensive and it’s close to where we live. Another place we enjoy that’s close to us is Francis (4-6 St Francis Street, Wan Chai, tel: 3101 9521). It’s Middle Eastern, but the dishes are not so big and greasy, and not oversweet.

Often we do hotpot on weekends. For Korean hotpot, we go to JoonGo House (209 Jaffe Road, Wan Chai, tel: 2827 9287). Also, the Drunken Pot (27/F, V Point, 18 Tang Lung Street, Causeway Bay, tel: 2323 7098) has a very nice view and we like that you can mix your own dipping sauce from a lot of choices. It’s a good place to take visitors too.

(Clockwise from top left) Knafeh; lamb ribs; grilled octopus and hummus at Francis, one of Jeanjean’s favourite restaurants in their Wan Chai neighbourhood. Photos: Jonathan Wong

The Drunken Pot restaurant's seafood hotpot. Jeanjean and his Shanghainese wife like the wide choice of dipping sauces. Photo: Alex Chan

Lastly, we love Cococabana (Shek O Beach Building, Shek O Beach, tel: 2812 2226) because it’s close to the beach. Since I started this swimwear brand, a lot of times we end up on the beach and we can wear the swimwear in the restaurant.