Genson was apprenticed in a small restaurant in his native Nice of French Riviera. He then worked in hotels and restaurants in Paris and also with the famous Hotel Negresco in Nice. He later worked for a year at a resort hotel in Mexico.

Off-duty, though, he does profess a liking for Chinesse food and, after his stint in Cancun, for some Mexican dishes ---“authentic though, not the Tex-Mex that most prevalent outside the country.”

His favourite restaurant is Alain Ducasse in Monaco because of its brilliant but light Mediterranean food. (Ducasse, of course, is accepted as one of the masters of modern French cooking all around the world). For bouillabaisse, he goes to several favourite haunts along the waterfront at the port in Marseilles.

And a special place is L'Univers in Nice, presided over by another renowned chef by the name of Christian Plumaël ---Genson likes the way the fantastic fresh produce are cleverly mixed and matched. The young Frenchman is a keen skier, so another gem he loves is called Chabichou, a two-star gastro temple in the alpine resort of Courcheval.