Steven Lo recreates ’60s and ’70s nostalgia at Loyal Dining

Hong Kong-style diner Tsui Wah has long been a firm favourite with office workers during the day, and partiers at night, with its vast menu of ‘comfort food’ favourites, served hot, cheap and fast. But this granddaddy of diners is set to face new competition on Wellington Street in Central, with the recent launch of Loyal Dining.

Taking us back to Hong Kong’s golden eras of the 1960s and ’70s, retro restaurant Loyal is pronounced in Cantonese as loi lo, its name referring to the popularity of imported Western goods during the colonial era, marked by the increasing arrivals of Westerners wishing to live in Hong Kong.

The two cultures quickly began to mix, and the newcomers’ significant influence on society started to emerge when local Chinese began to love all things Western. Many Western-style restaurants evolved to their own distinctive Hong Kong style within this period. As such, the concept of Loyal Dining is derived from the idea of revisiting the era when East met West.

Serving Western-influenced favorites such as 66 Beef Wellington and Loyal pigeon simmered in homemade sweet soy sauce, the four-storey dining venue was realised by entrepreneur Steven Lo. Known for his involvement in Hong Kong’s entertainment industry and the chairman of Hong Kong’s China Football Club, Lo himself grew up when Western-style restaurants were on the rise.

“The 60s and 70s were so meaningful for me and full of unforgettable memories that I would like to share with everyone,” says Lo. “I wanted to create an environment for people my age to recall the sweet days of childhood, and to introduce this classic dining experience for the younger generation too.”

And Lo has done just that. Comfortably ensconced inside Loyal Dining, it’s easy to reminisce about Hong Kong’s early days of prosperity and colonisation through the warm tones of the décor, as well as the sepia and colour photos documenting Hong Kong’s not-so-distant past.

Check out http://loyaldining.com.hk for more info.