How Hong Kong dim sum restaurant Metropol kept Cantonese food tradition going for 35 years
Metropol boss Mamoru Hayashi talks about the journey of the Hong Kong restaurant famous for maintaining traditions like dim sum trolleys
For Mamoru Hayashi, the closure of Metropol – the Cantonese restaurant his family has run for the past 35 years in Hong Kong’s Admiralty area – on September 27 is not something he views with sadness.
Unlike many recent restaurant closures – often lacking notice or completely unannounced – the sunsetting of Metropol was sealed months prior, in July, with news of the venue being acquired by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) for HK$354.4 million (US$45 million).
It is the end of an era for the restaurant that, under the Heichinrou Group, has been serving traditional Cantonese food and offering the classic dim sum trolley experience since 1990. It also draws a chapter of life to a close for Hayashi, who joined the company in 2009 by working his way through the kitchen trenches and is now its managing director.
“As much as this announcement is saddening for many people, we do not want to have it that way,” Hayashi explains. “That is why we added the first two Chinese characters to our [closure] notice.”
He is referring to the words gwong wing preceding the usual git yip (to close a business), creating a poetic turn of phrase that roughly translates to “a glorious ending” – a noble one – in Cantonese. The words headline the Chinese version of the announcement, in which they thank guests and loyal fans of Metropol for their support over the years.
“We’re not trying to create sadness,” Hayashi says. “We’re trying to give some time to all the customers who have supported us for 35 years to come back, have a last taste, and leave with good memories. That is the idea.”
