CHINA MAX restaurant and bar is no more. The New China Max, with a 2.7-metre alien figure towering in the doorway to a smoky cave, has arisen in its place.
The Times Square eatery, which cost about $30 million to create, has been taken over by the Hong Kong Parkview Group Ltd, 14 months after its launch.
China Max closed on May 2 and Carnforth Enterprises Ltd, registered in the British Virgin Islands and trading in Hong Kong as China Max, was put into liquidation and all staff dismissed.
But on Friday, a new company called Multi Gain Management Limited opened the New China Max on the same premises.
'Staff were re-interviewed and most of us rehired,' says promotions head Frances Aguilaroro.
The demise followed months of desperate measures to stave off the end and the departure in February of free-spending founder Max Schnallinger.