Diner’s Diary | Hong Kong restaurant where it’s not about the money: Sammy’s Kitchen survives, sucks up 48pc rent rise – and cuts lunch prices
Many people, even some regulars, will have assumed Sai Ying Pun stalwart Sammy’s Kitchen went ahead and closed as planned – but no, it’s still open, having negotiated down a 100 per cent rent rise, and lowered lunch prices
Sammy’s Kitchen was supposed to bring down the curtain on 49 years of serving diners in Sai Ying Pun last September, but it turns out it’s still open.
Ivy Yip Fung-yee, daughter of Sammy Yip, told the Post that some regular customers know the Hong Kong-style restaurant is still open, but others still assume it closed last year.
“We have some customers who call to ask where we’ve moved, and I tell them we’re still in the same location,” she says.
Originally the restaurant was supposed to close because a new landlord jacked up the rent by 100 per cent. That forced Yip to look at her options back in August.
“I was going to move the restaurant to North Point, where an existing restaurant was, but it turned out that business wasn’t moving until December, so the timing didn’t work for me.
“So I asked my friend, who knew the landlord of my existing location, to ask if he could give a better deal on the rent, and he lowered [the increase] to 48 per cent. So I accepted,” Yip says. Not that she had much choice, she adds. The rent is now around HK$100,000 (US$12,750) per month.
She freshened up the interior by fixing up the walls and buying new chairs, and outside is a new sign featuring the iconic cow that marked the place for decades until the Hong Kong government had the old sign removed.