Hong Kong’s notoriously expensive rents, paired with a faltering economy and locals preferring to head across the border to Shenzhen for cheaper leisure activities, have meant a slew of closures in our restaurants, shops, and businesses this year. Unfortunately, here’s another one to add to the list: the Metropol Restaurant.
Sitting on the fourth floor of United Centre, right across from exit D of Admiralty MTR station, Metropol Restaurant has fed Hong Kong’s diners for 35 years since opening in 1990. It is one of the few remaining restaurants in the city that serve dim sum out of traditional trolleys. Metropol also features a semi-buffet-style group of counters in the middle of the dining room, where customers can choose their own dishes to bring back to their tables. Having to take your table’s card out to get stamped for each dish is a nostalgic dining experience that’s almost extinct by now, especially in today’s age of ordering via QR codes.
Metropol’s final day of operations will be on September 27. It is currently run by catering group Heichinrou, which opened a Chinese restaurant in Yokohama, Japan, back in 1884. During the pandemic years, the company closed the 138-year-old restaurant in Japan and also filed for bankruptcy in Tokyo’s court in May this year. Currently, Heichinrou also operates two other eponymous restaurants, in Diamond Hill and Kwun Tong, though it is not certain if these will also face closure.
Citing unnamed sources, TVB reported earlier this week that the property occupied by Metropol Restaurant will be put up for sale. Go and visit for dim sum with a side of nostalgia before yet another beloved Chinese restaurant shutters for good!
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