The Hong Kong restaurant trade has had a fortunate escape. Late last year, our unimaginative Provisional Urban Councillors were about to order that every eating house have two huge, unattractive signs slapped near their entrances. Only last-minute intervention from on high (by Chief Secretary Anson Chan, I am told) diverted this madness.
Instead of ugly black and white plastic placards, restaurants will now have more tasteful, much smaller notices, says Dick Kaufman, a 25-year veteran of the restaurant and entertainment industry who sits on bodies such as the Restaurant and Liquor Licensing Review Panel.
The large licensing notices, almost a metre square and with ugly black writing on a white background, would have been visual blots on our culinary landscape.
The near-disaster is typical of the way in which Urban Councillors act on ridiculous whims.
Much more intelligent was the scheme put forward by the Urban Services Department. This would have classified all eating houses on the basis of hygiene. To my mind, in this dangerous era when bacteria stride the alleyways like supermen, we need to take every sensible precaution when we eat.
That's why people who like to dine out will welcome an initiative sparked by the department's senior officials.
