Hong Shing tackles the Chinatown challenge - most popular chinese restaurant dishes

Colin Lee is the second typical of many.
A generation of ChineseCanadians.
His parents immigrated to Toronto for a better life.
They opened a Chinese restaurant, worked tirelessly, and urged their son to study hard so that he did not have to throw plates and fried rice at 2 in the morning. m.
That's what Li did. he graduated from Waterloo two years ago.
Instead of living financially, however, that month-year-
Old has returned to Hong Shing, a family restaurant in Dundas St. W.
Right outside Chinatown.
He has a plan to revive nearly 20-year-old late-
A night restaurant serving fashionable food-
Obsessed with millennials
"I really want to continue my parents' legacy," said Li, the only child . ".
"We have customers who have told me that they have been here for 16, 17 years, or that the couple was married when they first started dating, and now bring the kids here, he said.
"These stories really inspired me to stick to it.
This is a difficult task.
Most second parents expect
A generation of Chinese
Coupled with changes in immigration requirements, language barriers and Chinatown's reputation as a "cheap food" destination have made it difficult for Lee to find the next generation of chefs to pick up the pot.
"Not many children are willing to take over the restaurant," Li said, realizing he was an abnormal person.
Lily Joe, associate professor of English at York University and author of Eating China: culture on the Canadian town menu, said he had a point.
Zhao's father, who opened a Chinese restaurant in Whitehorse in his 70 s, studied the history of Chinese workers who landed in Canada to build railways.
Many of them moved to open restaurants across the country.
"These restaurants should not be passed on," said Cho, 41 . ".
"The dream is that their children can become accountants.
"Restaurants are usually moving from one new immigrant to another," Cho said.
"These places should be the foothold of Canadian life.
But changes in immigration policies over the past few decades mean that different categories of Chinese immigrants are settling in North America: The economy is in good shape --
Well educated and fluent in English.
"I will position them as more middle class than people who come to cook," Cho said . ".
This creates a problem for Lee when looking for new employees, especially new chefs.
Li's parents, 56-year-old Ron and 58-year-old Ann, were restaurant workers in Guangzhou before immigrating to Canada in the post-80 s.
They worked in restaurants in Chinatown until they started Hong Sheng in 1997.
Ron is still the chef, working the night shift from 10 in the evening. m. to 5 a. m.
When Ann started working in front of the restaurant from 11m. to 8 p. m.
Li hopes that in the next four or five years, he will find someone to take over his father, who can still teach his skills and recipes, these skills and recipes have been running the restaurant for twenty years.
But the search is complicated.
Most of Hongsheng's waiters and chefs are in their 40 s and 50 s.
The service staff, some of them Uncle Li, effectively manipulated the restaurant while the chef was throwing crispy skin at the back, loudly ordered, with beef in a hot iron pan, with just a flick of his wrist.
But all communication is Cantonese.
No matter how eager the chef is to learn how to make the most delicious BBQ pork or the Chicken of the most delicious Tso general, if they don't speak Chinese, in a Chinese proverb, "It's like a chicken trying to talk to a duck ".
Ling Zhe passed first-
Experience in this area.
Joe's unofficial spokesman in the month-year-
Tasting the ancient taste of China in Chinatown for 14 years, he said that while young chefs asked to work in the kitchen, they were unable to talk to other employees and vice versa to make it a problem.
In the process of looking for a chef, Li asked the students of the culinary profession about the job prospects they wanted and was disappointed that most of them had a higher desire to work than late at night, but did not
Chinese restaurant in the evening.
They look for the stage in fine French and Italian restaurants or modern Asian restaurants like Dailo.
"We use it more naturally in Dailo-
I 've learned from my parents and grandparents the inspiration for making dishes, or the dishes you'll see at Chinatown restaurants like chili beef with Sichuan pepper corn, says chef and boss Nick Liu.
"The only way to keep Chinatown low is to use cheap products," says a Scarborough native . ".
"Unfortunately, this is necessary.
Li is not trying to turn Hong into a daily newspaper, but he is making some changes.
Smooth Blackand-
The white exterior logo has replaced the old red and green logo.
He said he created a social media and gradually reduced the menu from 180 to 130, making diners overwhelmed by the choice less scared.
In the development of the revitalization plan, Li Yanhong saw Tang Weixin's post on Instagram.
Tang, 38, studied business and later worked in the financial field, and then started a similar venture at the New York dim sum restaurant, Nom Wah, in 2010 (
Opened since 1920)
His uncle was ready to retire when Tang stepped in.
Li asked Tang.
The soup maintains the retro style of the restaurant (
Tile does not match, Red Booth)
Updated kitchen and extended refreshmentssum to all-
Attract new destination diners with social media.
His revival was successful, and Tang opened his second Nom Wah in Philadelphia.
Wah Tea Nolita, a leisure outpost in New York City, plans to expand further.
Tang is also able to attract young chefs to the outpost through creative acceptance of Chinese cuisine.
Li noticed.
He is using social media to reach the young downtown crowd and encourages his staff to have more conversations with customers.
He posts drool-
Valuable pictures of dishes and occasional photos of local hip hop artists or NBA players enjoying being late
Eat at night at the restaurant's new Instagram account @ HongShingTO.
After knowing that the restaurant is a hot one
In the basketball game, Li reached out to the sports community and sponsored a local basketball team in the Super City League (
Also sponsored a team to avoid).
The restaurant name has become a hit for Instagram with a black team dress splashed in gold to the chest, and these shirts can now be purchased on the restaurant website.
Next is the countdown to the 20 th anniversary of the restaurant on March 10.
Starting from February, there will be different discounted dishes every day for 20 days. 19.
"My dad has never taken a day off for 19 years and never complained," Li said . ".
"I saw his enthusiasm, which prompted me to come here as much as I could.
If I were here, I knew I could take it somewhere.
"Karonliu @ the star.