The government propped up the supermarket giants, now what about helping out our vulnerable neighbourhood restaurants?
- Local restaurants offer cheap, simple heart-warming meals, perfect for winter and a good idea if your income is reduced
- So many are struggling to survive, and really need some help from the government
The pandemic-battered economy has affected everyone from multinational companies to low-wage workers.
Food writers and columnists are no exception. I’ve had projects and commissions delayed and postponed. The result is I’m living on a smaller budget and restraining myself from unnecessary consumption. Instead of lazily jumping into a taxi, I’ll walk the extra five minutes to the MTR station, or the extra 10 minutes to the Star Ferry.
When dining out, I’m less tempted to splurge at five-star hotel restaurants and am thoroughly appreciating the cheap and cheerful comforts of a neighbourhood hole in the wall. Especially with the cooler weather, there’s nothing like the high-carb, high-fat satisfaction of a big plate of greasy stir-fried beef noodles or a baked pork chop rice from a cha chaan teng.
Winter is also the time to indulge guilt-free in a hearty bowl of beef brisket noodle – or in my case, brisket with tripe and other offal. On particularly cool days, the challenge is to slurp up the meat and noodles before the fat congeals on the surface of the soup.
Small family-run eateries may not deliver refined gastronomic experiences, but they are the backbone of the Hong Kong dining community and satisfy with inexpensive nourishment. Upscale restaurants and fancy dessert cafes might draw the attention of Instagram buzz and hipster queues, but a reliable local diner is where you turn for a budget HK$49 lunch of the day, when the boss announces another round of salary cuts.
Not surprisingly, many of these small independent businesses are also the most vulnerable when the going gets tough. They have the least leverage to argue for rent breaks from landlords. Suppliers are also not likely to offer them leniency and will threaten to cut off deliveries at the faintest hint of a cash flow crunch.
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Small restaurateurs are like shoeless Dickensian orphans holding an empty soup plate. But the city’s corporations are at the front of the line asking, “Can I have some more, please?”
I don’t begrudge Ocean Park getting public subsidies. It’s an iconic venue trying to do responsible conservation work. But perhaps there could be more support for grass roots businesses, too.
I think we devalue and take for granted the honest merit of smaller restaurants and cha chaan tengs. Sure, there are certain historic brands romanticised and even mythologised for their history and retro facade, which aren’t lacking in business.
However, there are countless unheralded diners with bad fluorescent lighting, second-hand booths, and maybe even mediocre borscht, but they provide affordable sustenance and a living wage for its hard working owner who might also double as the chef or manager.
These are places where the waitress brings you the daily soup without asking, suggests you order steamed fish instead of the salt and pepper fried squid because the frozen squid is not as good tonight and you should cut down on greasy dishes anyway.
I know when I travel, it’s more authentic and interesting to eat in unheralded diners. You learn much more about the culture and the people. There aren’t so many tourists in Hong Kong right now but I believe when they return they won’t just be impressed by fancy glamorous palaces, but local joints with character.
Hopefully, a few of these small shops will survive – even the ones where the food is may not be so great.
