Hong Kong planners must cater to noodle shops amid unsavoury rent rises

My friends know I am a noodle foodie. Everywhere I go throughout Asia, I try the noodles, from laksa in Penang, pad thai in Bangkok, beef pho in Hanoi, mohinga in Yangon; each bowl showcases the culture and flavour of the place, through the texture, spices and taste. Somehow, I remember a place by the quality of its noodles.

There is nothing quite like the great wonton and noodle shops in Hong Kong. They are not fancy places, but have been in the same location for ages - beloved local institutions with lifetime customers.

But, in the past few months, several historic noodle shops and cafes have closed due to rising rents. In the days before the closure of the 42-year-old Lei Yuen Congee Noodles in Causeway Bay, in January, hundreds of tourists and residents flocked to the shop, waiting in hour-long queues at lunch time for a last chance to eat there.

Rising rent is nothing new in Hong Kong, which competes with Tokyo as one of the world's most expensive real estate markets. Yet Tokyo is full of small ramen and sushi shops that have been around for decades - brought to international attention recently by the film Jiro Dreams of Sushi, about a dedicated Michelin-star sushi shop in the Tokyo subway.

Tokyo sushi shops also have to pay the high rents, but perhaps their landlords realise Japanese culture would be poorer without them.

It is part of the economic cycle that rent will increase in line with inflation and supply and demand. But property prices in Hong Kong are both a function of location as well as interest rates, which are now at their lowest for decades. Thus, low interest rates and the US dollar peg means real estate prices and rents will rise faster in a faster-growing Hong Kong than in the US.