How an iconic Chinese restaurant in Hong Kong full of ‘childhood memories’ lives on: family have reinvented Diamond Restaurant as a gourmet food brand

Hong Kong’s Diamond Restaurant, which opened in 1947, was so popular that it had branches across the city, but all had closed by 2002 thanks to fierce competition

Thanks to the daughter and grandson of the founder, the name lives on – as a gourmet food brand that sells the restaurant’s signature abalone with braised sauce

Reading Time:3 minutes

The Dragon and Phoenix grand banquet hall in Diamond Restaurant in Sheung Wan is well-remembered by people in Hong Kong. Thanks to the founder’s offspring, the Diamond Restaurant name lives on even after its five outlets closed down in 2002. Photo: Diamond Restaurant

Published: 1:27pm, 19 Apr 2023Updated: 1:35pm, 19 Apr 2023

Andrew Leung Tze-wung vividly remembers his favourite childhood dishes from Diamond Restaurant: steamed mangosteen beef balls, sago soufflé with sweet lotus paste, and shark fin soup.

Opened in 1947, the popular dining spot was owned by his grandfather Kam Shui-fai, who was better known for his Michelin-starred Yung Kee Restaurant – famous for its roast goose – on Wellington Street in Central, on Hong Kong Island.

The original Diamond Restaurant, on 88 Queen’s Road Central, went on to open four more branches across the city, but all had closed by 2002 thanks to fierce competition.

Still, Leung’s memories of the restaurant – especially the food – live on.

The sign for Diamond Restaurant in Sheung Wan when it was in operation. Photo: Diamond Restaurant

“[The] shark fin soup more than just [brought] back the childhood memories of many Hongkongers who attended Chinese banquets,” he says.