The speakeasy restaurant is usually secluded, and the effort to get there is mostly rewarded with memorable food
The speakeasy restaurant trend in Hong Kong was started by the Sichuan restaurant Da Ping Huo in the late 1990s, at a time when diners, weary of mainstream offerings, were ready for something different.
The proprietor is Wong Siu-kin, a Chengdu native who was inspired by one of her friends to open the restaurant. A trained Chinese opera singer, Ms Wong still breaks into song in the middle of every meal she serves.
What is different about a speakeasy restaurant is that it is secretive, never on the ground floor but hidden away upstairs, serves only home-cooking, fixed menu.
When Da Ping Huo opened, diners had to first gather at a bar and someone would then lead them upstairs to the dining venue.
But it is different today. People with reservations can simply turn up. But the tradition of 'no walk-ins' remains.
The culture of the speakeasy restaurant is flourishing, and many are run by food critics, retired cake-shop owners, television personalities and housewives.
