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Meet the 20-something women who are shaking up Hong Kong’s bar and restaurant scene

Young, determined and passionate about food – this entrepreneurial trio have turned their dreams of business ownership into reality

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Vivien Shek is the owner of Lai Bun Fu and The Drunken Pot. Photo: Bruce Yan
Bernice Chanin Vancouver

Late last month, a new vegetarian restaurant called Home – Eat to Live opened in the space that, somewhat ironically, was previously occupied by Burger King in Central. Inside there is lots of wood, an open kitchen upstairs and communal dining tables, lending it an informal atmosphere.

Christian Gerard Mongendre, formerly chef and co-owner of Mana! Fast Slow Food, Mana! Raw and Mana! Cafe, gets kudos for the salad bowls, vegetarian burgers and raw cakes. Meanwhile, another person gets praise from friends and associates for getting the restaurant off the ground.

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Twenty-two year-old Elizabeth Chu Yuet-han is dressed in a black blazer decorated with a sparkly brooch with the initials “ZS”, which stand for ZS Hospitality Group of which she is the chairwoman.

Elizabeth Chu (centre, black jacket), Christian Gerard Mongendre (front) and staff at the opening of Home – Eat to Live in Central.
Elizabeth Chu (centre, black jacket), Christian Gerard Mongendre (front) and staff at the opening of Home – Eat to Live in Central.
During the Occupy protests, my friends were on the front lines, but I was planning to open a restaurant
Elizabeth Chu
Home is not her first restaurant – she opened Viet Kitchen about a year ago with Peter Cuong Franklin, and later this summer will add more dining establishments on Lyndhurst Terrace with Harlan Goldstein.
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