Good service: the Italian chef doing his bit for the local Hong Kong community
Having spent more than two decades in the city, and endured the Sars pandemic with his business intact, Michele Senigaglia is using his business to give back
It was a citywide tragedy which helped one Italian chef learn to love his local Hong Kong community.
In 2003, Hong Kong went through the deadliest pandemic in its history: severe acute respiratory syndrome, or Sars. The disease infected 1,755 people locally, killing 299.
While schools were cancelled and shops closed, Michele Senigaglia’s restaurant stayed open as the rest of the area battled the deadly virus.
While fear spurred people to stay at home and wear face masks and gloves to protect themselves from the disease while outside, Senigaglia – who has lived in the city since 1998 – wanted none of that from employees at his restaurant, DiVino Wine Bar & Restaurant in Central.
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“It was especially during this hard time that I thought people would need to feel at home. No gloves, no masks at the restaurant. Customers should feel welcome and not isolated,” Senigaglia, the restaurant’s Venice-born co-founder, recalls.
