Mouthing OffAs the coronavirus pandemic decimates the Hong Kong restaurant scene, history offers a silver lining

Hong Kong restaurants are hanging on by a thread, and many will be lost before the pandemic ends

In 2003, Sars almost killed the local dining scene, but some of the city’s best restaurants sprang up in the aftermath

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DiVino in Wyndham Street, Central, is another post-Sars success story.

Published: 4:30pm, 1 Apr 2020Updated: 12:57pm, 21 Apr 2020

A failed fine-dining restaurant might pale compared to the state of emergency most of the world finds itself in, but you have to feel for anyone who puts in hard work and dedication, only to be ruined by force majeure.

A friend of mine, however, suggested it would actually be a good thing for some of these places to go under. “Hong Kong has too many restaurants,” the friend argues. “They’re overpriced, mediocre, gimmicky places barely getting by in good times. These businesses should be shuttered.”

It’s an extremely Darwinian view of the dining scene – that survival of the fittest is good, and it’s nature that the weak and frail fall prey so the rest of the herd remains healthy and flourishing.

Even if I don’t like someone’s culinary effort, I certainly don’t wish ill on them or want to see them go bankrupt. But from a macro perspective, there might be something to the idea that a raze of the forest spurs a fresh growth. I take a cursory look back at history.

Sevva was opened by Bonnie (now Bonnae) Gokson. Photo: Sevva

The SARS crisis in 2003 had a similarly devastating effect on businesses. Tourists stopped arriving, property fell into negative value, and the economy stalled. But two months after the WHO removed Hong Kong from its warning list, hotel occupancy bounced back from a low of 18 per cent average to 75 per cent.

With rent at an all-time low, a lot of new blood rushed in. 2003 was when Wyndham Street turned into a nightlife hotbed. The Dining Concepts guys launched Bombay Dreams, which hit it big with its Bollywood Nights. In between those two, a couple of Italian guys started a wine bar/restaurant called DiVino. Amazingly, all these establishments are still there and now are practically institutions.