Fu Lu Shou's Westernised Chinese dishes are a surprise hit
Fu Lu Shou's Westernised Chinese dishes have proved an unexpected hit, writes Vicki Williams
A Hollywood Road restaurant serving Westernised Chinese cuisine has become an unlikely success. Fu Lu Shou's menu highlights dishes that have remained classics for decades in Chinatown restaurants in countries such as Australia, the US and Britain.
A meal could start with prawn toast, move on to sweet and sour pork, honey prawns, kung pao chicken and chow mein, and finish with toffee apples and fortune cookies.
Cantonese cuisine is the origin, or inspiration, for many of the dishes that fall under this Westernised Chinese umbrella. But the dishes are defined by their source, as they have been adapted to suit non-Chinese palates by, for example, adding ketchup to a sweet and sour sauce. Some dishes are from the 1970s, the decade that revered sesame prawn toast.
Some diners come back three times a week … it must be food that they miss
In cases like chop suey, the dishes are not even found in China. This is food for people who can't find authentic Chinese cuisine, hardly a problem in Hong Kong.
Ping Lam was looking for a commercial property for her expanding nail spa business, when she came across a space that was formerly occupied by the private kitchen TBLS.
While it was not right for her original needs, she thought that the premises, with its rooftop terrace, was too much of a gem to resist.
She took the lease and decided to open a restaurant and bar, with the theme and cuisine concepts inspired by the building itself, with its 1970s and '80s interior design elements. On the surface this may sound like the whimsical thinking of someone with more money than sense. But delving deeper, Lam has the background of someone who knows something about success.
