How the Cantonese icon, Luk Yu Tea House, stands the test of time
In an ever-evolving city like Hong Kong, restaurants rarely capture the imagination for long. But after more than 90 years, this establishment‘s moreish dim sum remains as popular as ever. Plus: tech.
Hong Kong has fickle tastes, notoriously high rents and a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it food scene. That’s what makes the enduring appeal of Luk Yu Tea House – a stalwart of the city’s central business district that recently celebrated its 90th anniversary – so exceptional. This three-storey Cantonese restaurant on Stanley Street serves steamy parcels of dim sum in the mornings and sizzling stir-fries after the sun sets. So what’s the secret behind its longevity?
“Times change and sometimes we are forced to change with them,” says Luk Yu Tea House’s manager, Mr Ng, who, in keeping with a fairly common aversion to publicity among those who work in Hong Kong’s older restaurants and cafés, only tells Monocle his family name. “But we try our best to keep everything the same. And we always use the best ingredients.” Another improbable demonstration of the tea house’s commitment to consistency is the fact that the same head chef has presided over its kitchen for more than 50 years.
The restaurant’s extensive menu continues to swear by traditional dishes, such as pig-lung and almond soup (better than it sounds), prawn toast and crispy sticky rice. This adherence to heritage also extends to the decor, which is a combination of Chinese shan shui (landscape) paintings and calligraphy with heavy, seemingly bombproof teak furniture that has survived since colonial times. It’s this permanence and Luk Yu’s popularity across generations that has helped it to buck the trends.
Date founded: 1933
Signature dish: Pig-liver ‘siu mai’
Covers: 250
Employees: 85
Known for: Cantonese dim sum, colonial-era interiors and CBD location.
How it held out: Consistency. Luk Yu Tea House focuses on sourcing the best ingredients for the traditional recipes on its long-running menu.
Inventory – Tech Corner
We get up close and personal with the latest wearable and portable technology.
1
Smart Swim 2
Form
These goggles from Form have an illuminated display that shows you statistics such as pace, distance and heart rate. Meanwhile, its digital compass will keep you heading in the right direction when you’re open-water swimming.
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2
Watch 2
Oneplus
Smartwatches have long been plagued by charging issues: all those nifty features require a lot of juice. Oneplus’s Watch 2 makes clever use of a dual-OS set-up to extend its battery life to up to 100 hours. It also has plenty of fitness features and a handsomely unfussy design.
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3
Note
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This digital recorder is roughly the size of a credit card. It has its own mics but can attach magnetically to the back of a smartphone to record calls. It can also transcribe audio and summarise conversations.
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4
Ear (a)
Nothing
Nothing’s new earbuds, available in black, white and sunshine yellow, offer excellent noise-cancelling but are so keenly priced that you’d assume that they didn’t. Their small charging case makes them superbly pocketable.
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WRITER: David Phelan
Illustration: Yusuke Saitoh
