Mouthing Off | Why are Hong Kong people eating dinner so early now? Restaurants are dead by 9pm
Working from home, health trends like intermittent fasting, and a Covid hangover all seem to have pushed people’s dinnertimes forwards
Hongkongers seem to be eating dinner a lot earlier than they used to.
There was a time when 8pm was the prime business hour at restaurants. That was when typical office working hours were 9am to 6pm, followed by an hour or so of overtime because there was that much work to do.
After that, white-collar staffers would want to decompress with a happy hour drink with colleagues or associates. When everyone finished their 2-for-1 cocktails, it was time for dinner at the latest trendy eatery.
Back then, even if you had a reservation, it took another 10 minutes to sit down because the place would be packed and staff needed to gently nudge the overstayers to pay their bill and clear the table.
Oh, those were the days.
Now, you can waltz into any fine-dining cavern, have your pick of empty tables and eat to the sound of crickets chirping.
It is not just that people are eating out less. Hongkongers’ dining habits seem to have dramatically changed.
