Hong Kong diners bid farewell to 80-year-old Honolulu Coffee Shop in Wan Chai
Dozens pack cha chaan teng known for its egg tarts and milk tea ahead of March 1 closure
Dozens of diners flocked to an 80-year-old cha chaan teng in Hong Kong’s Wan Chai to get a last taste of its famous egg tarts and milk tea before the restaurant shuts its doors next month.
Honolulu Coffee Shop was packed during lunch hour on Friday, with long, snaking queues of patrons waiting outside along Hennessy Road.
The Hong Kong-style restaurant announced on Thursday that it would close its long-standing Wan Chai branch on March 1 “after careful consideration”.
It is the latest in a spate of restaurant closures in the past couple of years amid a change in consumers’ spending behaviour, including heading over the border for leisure.
Customers who spoke to the South China Morning Post lamented the looming closure of the decades-old establishment, known for its grey-and-yellow exterior and the wafting aroma of freshly baked egg tarts.
A man surnamed Leung, in his sixties, said it was a pity that the restaurant would be gone, as he had been eating there ever since he was young.