Huge rent increase forces Hong Kong steakhouse to close after 48 years in business

Sammy’s Kitchen, one of the oldest Hong Kong-style steakhouses in the city, will pull down the shutters for the last time on September 15 – the latest victim of soaring rent.

Sammy Yip, founder of the 48-year-old restaurant in Sai Ying Pun, and his daughter Ivy Yip Fung-yee, the steakhouse’s manager, thought the eatery was given a new lease of life when a new landlord came on board in June and did not expect it to close.

According to the younger Yip, the new landlord was a fan of Sammy’s Kitchen, located on Queen’s Road West. “He said he wanted to take over the space because he loved Sammy’s Kitchen. It was where he and his wife first met,” she said.

“But now we are closing down because [he is more than doubling the rent]. This is very confusing.”

Sammy’s Kitchen was started by Sammy Yip, a former hotel chef known as Uncle Sammy, and three other friends in 1969. Yip, now 86, began cooking at the age of 12.

The restaurant is well-known for its “Sammy sauce”, which is made using mainly soy sauce mixed with bacon, tomatoes, garlic, onion, black pepper and other secret ingredients.