The younger of two brothers who run the high-end Fook Lam Moon restaurant chain, opened a new eatery on Thursday - just blocks away from the original establishment - stirring rumours of a new restaurant rivalry.
Chui Wai-kwan’s new Tonnochy Road restaurant, aptly named “Seventh Son”, and separate from the Fook Lam Moon chain, opened to a high-profile guest list which included his brother-in-law, Education Secretary Eddie Ng Hak-kim, and former executive councillor Edward Leong Che-hung.
Chui Wai-kwan and his older brother Chui Pui-kun, the seventh and fifth sons of the gourmet house’s founder Chui Fook-chuen respectively, only managed to settle a three-year legal feud outside of court late last year.
The legal battle began when elder brother Chui Pui-kun filed a defamation lawsuit against the younger brother in 2009. Both then filed petitions to take over each others shares in the company.
The feud was settled outside of court last December with the older brother taking charge of the flagship Johnston Road shop in Wan Chai, which opened in 1972, and the branch on Kimberley Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, which opened five years later. Younger brother Chui Wai-kwan took control of the chain’s seven newer branches in China and Japan.
Dr Mok Hing-hung, who has been a Fook Lam Moon patron for decades, said he would “not favour one restaurant over the other” but praised the barbequed pork, suckling pig and dim sum at Chui Wai-kwan’s new three-storey, 13,000 square-foot restaurant.
“The abalone at Fook Lam Moon is still one of the best,” Mok added.