As a family-owned Cantonese restaurant, Lei Hong Kei Restaurant has witnessed the transformation of Macau from a quiet village to a global tourist city over a span of nearly seven-decades, creating many fond memories for generations of locals.
92-year-old Mrs. Wong is the owner of the restaurant, her sister the manager, and her eldest daughter the front counter lady of the restaurant.
“We first started off as a tofu store. Our grandfather used to make tofu and sell groceries in Singapore and my dad helped him out,” explains Mrs. Wong. “After my grandparents passed away, my parents took us to Hong Kong to start over our tofu business in Sheung Wan during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong. Our tofu always sold out in seconds, however, the shop was no longer earning enough to feed my uncle and our family, so we (seven sisters) moved to Macau during the occupation, then began our tofu business here. In the beginning it was very hard for us. We would wake up at 3am to make tofu every day, and open early in the morning in many local markets over the years.”
For many Macau locals, the name “Lei Hong Kei” may conjure up the image of one of the signature dessert shops in the city, that has been selling bean curd desserts here for 70 years. This famous dessert shop (which sadly closed down last year) was opened by Mrs. Wong's grandfather and inherited by her younger brother.
Lei Hong Kei Restaurant has operated for 68 years, along the way transforming from a tofu shop into a Chinese restaurant.
“In the old days, there were fishermen all over this area, and they used to come to our restaurant to try to sell us their daily catch. It was the golden age of the shipbuilding industry in the city,” recalls Mrs. Wong. “Even now, some of our customers tell us that their grandparents and parents used to come to the restaurant to eat, get married and celebrate the birth of their children at our restaurant. This kind of 'human warmth' really makes me happy. But now young people mostly go to the hotels as they prefer Portuguese, Thai, and French cuisine more than Chinese.”
Apart from its long history, Lei Hong Kei is also well-known for their delicious traditional dishes: Duck Stuffed with Eight Delicacies, Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, Braised shark's fin in chicken broth and Sautéed sea clams and scallops.
Besides their dishes,
their genuine sincerity in caring for their customers is the main reason for its long-standing popularity.“Many people tell me that I am a very low-key person. The last Portuguese governor and many renowned celebrities like Nicholas Tse have dined in our restaurant over the years. My staff would always ask me to take photos with them, but I never did,” laughs the 92-year-old restaurateur. “Unless they requested, but in fact, I mostly rejected, this is my principle. My customers are like my friends, we always have fun conversations,” she jokes.
Despite its many decades of success, the restaurant’s business has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic this year, burdening it with significant financial losses as it struggles to attract enough local customers.
“Since the start of the pandemic, these old districts have become very empty. Many locals prefer dining in hotels as they have been offering all kinds of promotions that are very popular, especially with families. In comparison, our location is not close to peoples’ offices, and most importantly, there is very little car parking near here,” notes Mrs. Wong, as her daughter nods in agreement. “I’ve been told by many that they wanted to come here, but did not because it is too difficult to find a parking space, not to mention taxi drivers also frequently reject customers who want to come here due to the small amount of “commission fee” we offer them.”
Regardless of all the hardships, both in the past and now, Mrs. Wong shows unwavering optimism. “Whether our business is in good or bad shape, happiness is always the most important thing to us,” she laughs.
Lei Hong Kei Restaurant
Address：33-37 Rua Da Caldeira, Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro
Tel: 2837 6670
Opening：11:00 – 15:00/17:00 – 23:00
Situated in Toi San in the north of the city, a cozy restaurant named Tsutori gives off a very authentic Japanese vibe. Its entrance is designed as a traditional Japanese torii which is a gate structure (literally 'bird perch') found in Japanese Shinto shrines. To enhance the mood further, sitting in the centre of the restaurant is an enormous Japanese-style wall painting of a fox, which is said to be the guardian of the ‘torii’.
Famously, local Macanese food is a fusion of gastronomic influences from all along the old Portuguese trading routes. And one of the stops along those routes was the city of Goa in India.
When choosing the name and designing the logo for their restaurant, the owners of Paper Moon included a paper plane to represent the fact that locals can enjoy authentic Thai food without actually travelling to Thailand. And given the situation we find ourselves in in 2020, that’s a very good thing!
Living in Macau, we are spoiled for choice, with so many great Portuguese restaurants offering a wide range of delicious, authentic flavours. So you might think that we really don’t need even more Portuguese restaurants because all the important dishes are already available, right? Well, according to the talented young chefs at Three Sardines, you would be wrong.
Local restaurants all seem to be quite full these days, but amidst the busyness of Macau’s dining scene, one Taipa restaurant offers its customers the chance to cleanse their bodies and find peace of mind with healthy food and a serene, natural environment – Sum Yuen Buddhist vegetarian restaurant nestled under the roof of Pou Tai Temple.
