Diner’s Diary | Now closed: American Restaurant, a Hong Kong fixture for 68 years that’s served its last Peking duck
It was a dining institution with a confusing name – its fare was northern Chinese; the waiters were as jaded as the decor; but the food, which never changed, was memorable, none more so than the sizzling Sichuan prawns
American Restaurant, a Hong Kong institution for more than half a century, has closed. Hoardings went up a few months ago for “renovations”, a telltale sign that it might not reopen, and now there is signage that another restaurant is replacing it.
It was a go-to place for big groups of diners, mostly expatriates keen to indulge in large plates of food washed down with bottles of Tsingtao beer. The waiters, who looked jaded and would have been in their sixties, were accustomed to inebriated and boisterous guests and to taking orders in English for the restaurant’s northern Chinese fare.
Among the American Restaurant’s most memorable dishes were the Peking duck – which arrived at your table already sliced and accompanied by the giant steamed pancakes in which to wrap the meat. The duck was on the oily side, but as the health-conscious didn’t walk into this place it didn’t matter. The minced duck meat was served in a stir-fry wrapped in large cabbage leaves.
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Another was the Mongolian beef pockets, in which dry, shredded (and oily) beef was stuffed into hollow sesame pockets. The beef had a simmering spiciness that slowly fired up the taste buds the more you ate. It was so spicy, and yet so addictive.
