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On the Menu | Hong Kong’s best loved local restaurants that deserve more attention – go now in case they meet the same fate as Tung Po Kitchen, Happy Cake Shop
- The worrying trend of beloved dining institutions closing down has seen the likes of Hoover Bakery, Mido Cafe and Tung Po Kitchen disappear in recent months
- We asked food lovers to share the local spots they love that are still operating today, from Luk Yu Tea House to Yee Shun Milk Company to Kwan Kee Claypot Rice
Reading Time:4 minutes
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Another week, another loss of a long-time institution – and I’m not talking about the late Queen Elizabeth.
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It was Saturday night when friends texted me the news of Hoover Bakery in Kowloon City announcing its closure at the end of this month – and, quite honestly, I felt an overwhelming surge of despair.
It had only been two weeks since we lost the likes of Tung Po Kitchen and just a month since Lin Heung Tea House and Happy Cake Shop shut their doors. Mido Cafe quietly slipped away back in July. All join a throng of beloved local spots that have disappeared in recent years.
Even before the beginning of the pandemic, we’ve known how precarious Hong Kong’s food and beverage industry was. So when Covid-19 hit, we bought the gift cards to help our favourites stay afloat, we bigged them up on social media and bought our takeaways directly from the restaurants – but nearly three years on, it’s becoming clear that the chances of survival for many are becoming slimmer and slimmer.
Employees of Lin Heung Tea House were allegedly owed months of pay before the restaurant’s sudden closure in August. Huge bakery chain Crostini, which folded just last week, has also been accused of withholding employee salaries, and is in hot water for having sold thousands of dollars worth of gift vouchers to unwitting customers in the months preceding their closure.
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