A famous Hong Kong snake meat restaurant, She Wong Yee, is to shut its doors this month after more than three decades in business, as the COVID-19 pandemic keeps customers away.
Located in the usually bustling Causeway Bay shopping district, the restaurant is best known for its long-simmered snake soup, which has been praised by the Michelin Guide and is listed in its Bib Gourmand category for affordable dining.
Restaurant manager Lo Cheong-hei said that business started to drop after the Lunar New Year holiday in late January, as the number of coronavirus cases crept higher and more locals stopped going out.
Photo: Reuters
“After the Lunar New Year, our business plunged over 70 percent,” Lo said.
The restaurant is now losing up to HK$200,000 (US$25,793) per month after paying rent and salaries, and buying ingredients.
Hong Kong’s economy, already facing its first recession in a decade due to a US-China trade dispute and months of violent pro-democracy protests, has been dealt a huge blow by the coronavirus.
Nearly 1,000 people in Hong Kong have tested positive for the virus and four of them have died.
Many shops, bars and restaurants have been forced to close, at least temporarily, including the Jumbo Floating Restaurant featured in a James Bond movie and indie club Hidden Agenda: This Town Needs.
She Wong Yee customer Dino Wong lamented its imminent closure.
“The food the restaurant served is delicious,” Wong said. “There will be one less place we can eat this delicacy and that’s a real pity.”
Lo, who has worked in the restaurant for 20 years, said that he hoped it might open again one day.
“Apart from my home, this is the place I am most attached to,” Lo said.
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