Jo Jo Mess served up a host of colonial memories
Late on November 10 or early the next day, staff at Jo Jo Mess Club in Wan Chai will lock the doors for the last time on another little part of Hong Kong that is quickly fading into memory.
The restaurant, once a favourite of expatriate judges and police officers, is about to become a victim of urban redevelopment.
The judges used to play a game of tennis on Wednesdays and then head to Jo Jo's for a North Indian curry, but that stopped about a year ago. Expat police officers had a similar tradition - for Friday lunch. Their numbers have dwindled, and those left rarely make the journey, while the civil servants stopped coming years ago.
Most have retired and have returned to Britain, probably enjoying a curry elsewhere, but perhaps longing for the homely decor and rattle of the trams outside.
The restaurant, which celebrated its 20th year in August, is to be pulled down, along with the rest of 86 Johnston Road. Built in its place will be another anonymous 'air-conditioned greenhouse', says owner Kuldip Singh Uppal.
Mr Uppal's father, Tarsem Singh, an ex-army police officer who started the restaurant for his two sons, is returning from India to mark its closure.