A German Michelin chef shares his story of opening a restaurant in Hong Kong.
By Jette Kremer
Moving from a village of 800 citizens in central Germany to Hong Kong, a metropolis of 7.5 million citizens might sound unreal to some, but not to Peter Find.
Also known as “Chef Peter” on his socials, Find, 60, born and raised in Bersrod in the southwest of the state of Hesse in Germany, moved to Hong Kong over 30 years ago.
Having worked in numerous Michelin-starred Restaurants in Europe, Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, Find now runs restaurant HEIMAT, which was launched in 2022, in Central.
“Everything here is German from the glasses to the cutlery, even the potatoes. Those are very important to me. In my childhood I used to help my aunts during the potato harvest, and the best part was the breakfast. My aunts would always pack some fresh buns with homemade jam and bring it to the harvest,” he says.
A typical day starts at 10 a.m. for Find. “When my day ends a bit earlier, I am home around 10 in the evening, and sometimes when it gets late, I get home around 1am,” he says.
“Home is always cozy. A big hug. A place where you cook your favourite food, and I wanted my guests to feel exactly that, like coming home, having a feeling of belonging and being taken care of,” Find explains why the restaurant is called HEIMAT, or “home” in English.
To make sure his guests feel at ease and at home, Find greets and says goodbye to each guest.
“When you have a job that you like, you don’t look at the time or how tired you are. You just make sure you run a bit faster,” he says.
Most think German dishes are sausages or pretzels. By cooking dishes from all regions of Germany, Find wants to refute these stereotypes. The chef highlights, “It is a declaration of love to German cuisine. When I see my guests with finished plates or asking for more, that makes my day,” he says.
Being trained as a butcher when he was 14 for three years back in the 80s, followed by receiving training as a chef, Find found his passion in food. “I cooked for weddings in my village, for as many as 100 people. I was 17,” he recalls.
Find moved to Switzerland to work as a chef for two years in 1986 and 1987. During that time, he had to cook an eight course tasting menu on the weekends.
“It was nice, and it changed almost every week. It was stressful but I enjoyed it,” he says.
Eventually, Find made it to his first Michelin restaurant, the Altes Bauhaus in Eberbach in 1988. “Once you’re in, you don’t go back,” he says.
Having moved from Germany to Switzerland to London and back to Germany to work as a chef, Find found his way to Hong Kong in the 90s when the Asian wave hit German restaurants.
“Every fine dining kitchen started to experiment, and I realised I wanted to try more,” he says.
Find applied at different hotels varying from Macau to Thailand and Singapore where he eventually got accepted and from there referred to Hong Kong.
“Once I got the offer, I sold my car, hugged my mom and left, all within one year,” he says.
After working as a chef in Hong Kong for several years, Find made his way to Singapore and Macau and, in 2010, came back to Hong Kong.
“My wife is from here, and after working abroad for so many years, coming back to Hong Kong, and my wife, felt like coming home,” he says.
Chef Peter recently turned 60. “I was 29 when I moved to Hong Kong. I’ve been away longer than I was in Germany,” he says.
But there are also things he misses. From watching sports on Saturday evening or reading the sports section in the newspaper on Monday morning to the fresh baked buns from the bakery with homemade jam, or playing soccer with his friends.
“In a small village like mine, playing soccer was sacred. That was more important than going to church. These are things that are part of you, and of course, that is what you miss every now and then,” he says.
In Hong Kong one of Find’s favourite food spots is Chongqing Happy Valley. “I go there for the atmosphere and the pineapple buns, that one is really good there,” he recommends.
Another recommended food spot by Find is Feng Ming House Mong Kok. “They are open 24/7. It is incredible. I go there at least every two weeks to have dim sum,” he says.
What Find appreciates most about Hong Kong is the friendliness of Hongkongers. Be it a chat with the taxi driver about soccer or walking through a market and everyone greeting each other.
“It’s more about the human aspect of the city that I appreciate most, and less about the materialistic one. It’s these little moments with the people that make all the difference,” he says.
In the future, Find would like to open a restaurant in China.
“It is still a plan of mine but because Hong Kong is expensive we need to find a place a bit cheaper to rent than here. For now we will wait but it is still somewhere in our minds,” he says.
It can be seen with how much passion Find contributed to the diversity of Hong Kong and its melting pot of cultures. As Find put it very nicely during the interview, “If everyone had the same taste, everyone would eat the same thing. That wouldn’t be good either.”
Edited by Swara Sanket Kamble
