Classic Hong Kong restaurants: Snow Garden, Causeway Bay

Daphne So might not be of Shanghainese heritage, but her restaurant, Snow Garden, is one of the most reputable names in the city for classic Shanghainese cuisine. So's father, like many people of his generation, illegally crossed the border from the mainland to Hong Kong at the age of nine. He apprenticed at a Shanghainese restaurant to make a living, and it became his vocation.

"I was born in Japan — my father was working there as a chef at the time. The Japanese were fascinated by Shanghainese food in the 1960s and it was in high demand," So says. "Around 1975, we moved back to Hong Kong when he was offered a job at the Shanghai Fraternity Association, and I think he missed home. He trained many other cooks during his time at the association, and he wanted to open a restaurant where they could all work together."

The first Snow Garden opened in North Point in 1986. At its height, the company had eight restaurants in the city but high rents and, eventually, So's father's health problems forced most of them to close.

After her father's death, a long-time business partner ran the restaurant while So was on the sidelines. "I used to be in banking, and I had no experience in the restaurant business," she says. She finally decided to take the reins late last year, when her partner retired. "It's not easy establishing a brand like my father did. It was his legacy and it would have been a real pity to let it go," she says.