Classic Hong Kong restaurants: Louis' Steak House, Wan Chai

William Yeung and his brothers David, Alexander, Michael and Terry started Louis' Steak House in 1974. Given their names, why Louis'? - it's from the secondary school that eldest brother David attended in Hong Kong after arriving from Ningbo in Zhejiang province, where he was born.

"He was very grateful to St Louis School … he did well there and [with his good education, he eventually] started an insurance firm," William Yeung says. "When we opened the restaurant, he decided to name it after the school."

Though the rest of the siblings were born in Hong Kong, he describes the family as "Ningbo people". Not as studious as David, Yeung quit school. "We Ningbo people had three career choices: tailor, hairdresser or cook. I chose the last one because it meant I would never go hungry," he says.

He apprenticed at the Diamond Horseshoe steakhouse on O'Brien Road in Wan Chai. "We served mostly troops from the US Navy coming off their ships on Fenwick Pier. They loved our food, as when they were out at sea, all they had to eat was powdered food," he says.

Fewer troops came after the Korean war, and the owners of Diamond Horseshoe decided to close. Yeung and his brothers bought the business in 1974. They moved the restaurant briefly to Connaught Road in Central, but rental increases forced them back to Wan Chai, where they have been since 1986.

The size of the restaurant is astounding by today's standards - the gross area is around 8,000 sq ft, seating 180. "We're hardly ever full these days, though. If we were, I'd be a millionaire," Yeung says.

Things were different in the 1970s and '80s. There were still British expats, as the restaurant is just across the road from the government offices, as well as celebrities and VIPs.