{"id":91533,"date":"2026-10-09T14:02:59","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T06:02:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=91533"},"modified":"2026-10-09T14:02:59","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T06:02:59","slug":"why-hong-kongs-cantonese-restaurants-are-closing-and-who-is-saving-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=91533","title":{"rendered":"Why Hong Kong\u2019s Cantonese restaurants are closing \u2013 and who is saving them"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The last basket of dim sum is sold, the roller shutter comes down, and another Cantonese restaurant<\/span> in Hong Kong closes. Nine months into 2026, this scene has already played out at least 30 times. The causes are familiar \u2013 sky-high rents, thin margins, rising costs<\/span>, and dining habits reshaped by the pandemic years.<\/div>\n

Legislative Council figures show that between 2018 and 2025, the number of Cantonese restaurants and banquet halls in Hong Kong fell from 1,790 to 1,500, representing a 16 per cent drop, or nearly one fewer every week over seven years.<\/p>\n

Across generations, local restaurants have carried the everyday life of Hong Kong. But as spending habits and tastes change, what disappears may be more than places to eat.<\/p>\n

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\"Chef<\/div>
Chef ArChan Chan at Ho Lee Fok. Photo: Jocelyn Tam<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
For nearly 40 years, Hong Kong Chinese Chefs Association president Ricky Kong has carried on his family\u2019s three-generation culinary legacy. Today, as the trade faces mounting pressures, his focus has broadened to preserving the craft and ensuring there is a next generation to carry it forward<\/span>.<\/div>\n

\u201cWhen we entered the trade, the kitchen was run like a military boot camp. Every day, the master would scold us. Management is much more flexible now. The starting salary for a Chinese chef isn\u2019t low, about HK$22,000, but fewer and fewer young people are willing to join,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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The last basket of dim sum is sold, the roller shutter comes down, and another Cantonese restaurant in Hong Kong closes. Nine months into 2026,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":91534,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[6373,2211,3569,5010,3644,9436],"class_list":["post-91533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bored-interesting","tag-cantonese","tag-closing","tag-hong","tag-kongs","tag-restaurants","tag-saving","wpcat-33-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=91533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91533\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/91534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=91533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=91533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=91533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}