Letters | Can Hong Kong cook up ways to preserve its dai pai dong?
- Readers discuss the need for the authorities to revamp rules related to dai pai dong, and praise a Cantonese-themed snack shop
In late August, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department ordered the 30-year-old restaurant, which has been recommended by the Hong Kong Tourism Board, to cease operations at the Java Road Municipal Services Building in North Point by September 2 because it had violated its tenancy agreement by subletting space.
The closure of the restaurant, which was popular with locals and tourists alike, sparked heated discussion. It is common for dai pai dong licence owners to sublease stalls. Given this, it would have been better for the authorities to warn restaurants and remind them that the rules will be enforced strictly in the future. It is worth considering whether the one week Tung Po Kitchen was given to move out was too harsh and whether a slightly longer grace period could be given.
Now that many dai pai dong have relocated to indoor premises, particularly cooked food markets in municipal buildings, the boundary between dai pai dong and other eateries has somewhat been blurred, which leaves more room for easing the licensing policy and other regulations.
While the dai pai dong licence conditions were relaxed to allow immediate family members of the original licence holder to inherit the licence, the policies are still quite inflexible, resulting in dai pai dong owners moving to commercial premises which lack the open-air feature and charge much higher rent, or simply shutting down.