25+ restaurants: Cantonese restaurant Yixin brings old brand to the future

Sal To Wing-nin, director of 50-year-old Yixin, believes the name of the restaurant, which is pronounced "yik sun" in Cantonese, comes from an old colloquial saying, "tui chan yik sun", which means that to forge a way forward, one must leave the old behind.

Yixin opened on Lockhart Road, Wan Chai, in 1963, but the owners and staff had in fact already been operating a restaurant out of a hotel in North Point called Winner House. "When the restaurant opened as an independent entity, I suppose they were looking to start afresh, hence the name," says To, whose father-in-law Wong Jim-wan founded the original restaurant and Yixin. Wong had worked at The Peninsula hotel before venturing out on his own.

Between 1963 and 2000, there were several Yixin outlets dotted around Hong Kong Island, but in 2000, they were closed due to management issues. A year later, they reopened in Happy Valley, and then Jardine's Lookout, only to close in 2008.

The owners decided to focus their efforts where it all started: Wan Chai.

While Yixin is rooted in Cantonese cuisine, it is defined by innovation, as the name suggests. One signature dish is the smoked pomfret.

"We have taken some Western techniques and applied them to our style of cooking," says To. "Smoking is a popular method in the West to prepare fish, such as salmon. Our pomfret is hot-smoked with wood chips and a special sauce. The colour comes from carrot juice. A long time ago, we used food colouring, as that was the norm. It's very possible that we invented this dish, or at least no one makes it as well as we do." It is so popular that the restaurant serves 500 catties of pomfret a month.

Other signatures are the roast duck and lemon chicken, which To offers as an example of why Yixin's food is "Hong Kong Cantonese", as the dishes they are most proud of have an East-meets-West flavour.

In recent years, Yixin has focused on preserving its traditions while attracting a new, younger set as Yixin's clientele are in their 40s to 60s. "We want to tell people that we're not a dying brand. We're a Hong Kong classic that grows with the city," To says.

With that goal, To's twenty-something son, Derek To Chik-lun, was named the manager and the restaurant's basement level was recently redesigned to give the atmosphere of a chic private club (it includes a small wine cellar).

"We will keep working on improving on what we can offer," To says. "Not only do we want to be recognised as a good Chinese restaurant, we want to be recognised as a good restaurant in general."

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Yixin, Shanghai Industrial Investment Building, 48-62 Hennessy Road, Wan Chai, tel: 2834 9963. Open: 11.30am-11.30pm