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Food and Drinks
Lifestyle100 Top Tables

Word on the StrEAT: 9 restaurants and bars that left their mark on Hong Kong’s dining scene

In keeping with the Easter theme of revival, some of the city’s top names in F&B recall erstwhile establishments that have left indelible memories

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Some of Hong Kong’s top names in F&B recall erstwhile establishments that left indelible memories – like the world-famous Jumbo Floating Restaurant. Photo: Dickson Lee
Tessa YauandDouglas Parkes
If you still haven’t recovered from the hectic flurry of activities that swept Hong Kong in March, the long Easter weekend is your chance. While traditional celebrations like painting eggs and eating hot cross buns are all well and good, Easter is also historically tied to a theme of revival.

On Hong Kong’s ever-changing dining scene, new names continually pop up, bringing novel flavours and bold concepts. Exciting as each new restaurant or bar is, it’s hard not to feel a sense of nostalgia for those restaurants and bars that have left a mark on this city – places that brought something truly special and left behind unforgettable memories – but that have since disappeared.

Because some stories are just too good to end, however, 100 Top Tables has tapped into the Easter spirit of revival and asked some of our city’s brightest F&B talents: “What restaurant or bar do you miss most and would love to see back in Hong Kong?”

1. ArChan Chan, executive chef of Ho Lee Fook

A dai pai dong on Temple Street, Yau Ma Tei, in 1988. Over the years, more and more of these Hong Kong institutions have disappeared. Photo: Wan Kam-yan
A dai pai dong on Temple Street, Yau Ma Tei, in 1988. Over the years, more and more of these Hong Kong institutions have disappeared. Photo: Wan Kam-yan

“What I truly miss are Hong Kong’s vanishing old-school dai pai dongs, those iconic street kitchens that used to be everywhere,” says chef ArChan Chan.

In particular, Hong Kee in Kowloon Bay held a special place in her heart until its closure last year. “It was fast, fiery and full of life,” she adds. “Every table was abuzz with stories, unpretentious and deeply local.”

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