Hong Kong’s Lin Heung Tea House busier than ever as closure in prospect for Wellington Street institution 100 years old
Customers old and new are thronging Lin Heung, one of the city’s most popular Chinese dim sum restaurants, after speculation it will make way for redevelopment; a property developer has bought 90 per cent of building it’s in
One of the oldest and most popular Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong, Lin Heung Tea House, on Wellington Street, Central, is bustling on any given day.
The restaurant – which was once listed by Time magazine as the second place you must visit in Hong Kong after The Peak – has been even busier since it was reported recently that the century-old tea house may be facing closure.
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On a lunchtime visit last Saturday, diners clamour around trolleys loaded with bamboo baskets of dim sum as soon as they are wheeled out. Finding an empty seat is like playing musical chairs, with quarrels breaking out occasionally. Customers stand around the 20 or so tables waiting for them to be vacated, leaving hardly any room to move in the tightly packed space.
The first Lin Heung Tea House was opened in Guangdong in 1889. In 1918, the owners opened three branches in Hong Kong. The only surviving branch has been at its current location since 1996, having previously been on Queen’s Road Central.
However, CSI Properties, an ambitious developer headed by chairman Mico Chung Cho-yee, bought the ground floor – where Lin Heung is located – and first floor of the Tsang Chiu Ho Building in 2015. It spent HK$355 million (US$45.4 million) to acquire 36 additional units in July 2017 and now owns more than 90 per cent of the 47-year-old property.
Under the Hong Kong Land Ordinance, the purchase of 80 per cent of units in a property can trigger the compulsory sale of remaining units if it intends to redevelop the site, which has prompted speculation that CSI Properties intends to do just that.
