JustAGuyinHK

My partner and I weren't sure what to do for lunch. I didn't want something 'western' but felt like something local. There was a large article in the NY Times about the Metropol Restaurant at the United Centre near Admiralty. It has been around for 35 years and is closing. It is one of the last remaining dim sum restaurants where they are served from metal carts in the city. A local university will take over the space to use as classrooms. The number of customers visiting there has been declining for the past few years due to COVID-19 and the shift of people heading to Mainland China, as it is cheaper and easier. It is more known as a tourist place, but don't mind that feeling.

We went up to the fourth floor of the United Centre. It felt like a typical Cantonese-style restaurant with a red-themed entrance, and we were ushered into one of the two doors. There were no differences in which door we went through since they both led to a massive room, which was the restaurant. It is a Hong Kong-style wedding banquet room with partitions that can split the space into smaller areas for private functions, rooms, or for a single wedding reception. The steamers and service were in the middle of the room around the supporting beam. On the outside, furthest from the doors were some private rooms with walls and not partitions. The last time I was here, we sat near them.

The NY Times piece mainly talked about the 'cart ladies' who used to push them around with steamed dim sum and other foods. Some of them had been working in the restaurant since it had opened, but we didn't see any. All the food was at the central station, and we needed to go there to pick it up. They would 'chop' the paper, which we would pay for later. The only carts were those of older men who would deliver the food from the kitchen to the centre, where it would be placed on the steamers to be kept warm and taken off when we ordered. I always find Dim Sum the same. To me, there is no such thing as incredible dim sum since it is steamed with a universal taste. There is bad dim sum – frozen, which hasn't been fully prepared. I have only had this once in Toronto.

We had Iron Buddha Tea, which was good. When we wanted more, we would go up and take whatever was fresh and whatever we wanted. There was a steamed area and a 'fried' area. The fried area featured mostly fried dumplings, fried wontons, and spring rolls, which were all good, but being fried gave them a filling feeling.

The crowd was busy since it was closing soon. It was primarily local, with a few older Chinese ladies and such. I saw a few older men without the typical horse racing forms, since it was too early and not a Sunday or Wednesday, which are race days. There were more 'white' people, but they felt like they were European based on how they dressed. There was an older Western gentleman who chatted up the staff in full-on Cantonese. My partner would poke me and say, 'You should learn.' Yes, I should learn, but I am lazy.

We drank a lot of tea, ate a lot, but there is only so much Dim Sum someone can eat. It is very filling, especially with everything steamed or fried. The man in the suit came and took our paper with numerous signatures, and we paid. The place was filling up as it approached 11:30, prime time. I felt a bit guilty about going here on this day. It is closing, and with most places in their dying days in HK, the busiest tend to be the last days, when, if people had come earlier, maybe it wouldn't need to close.