Cinta-J restaurant, Filipino favourite in Hong Kong, to close on September 30
Founders’ son Bryan Lee and family stunned by landlord’s decision to sell building, weighing options to reopen as tributes from public pour in
Hongkonger Bryan Lee and his wife Cris cried when they heard the lease for their restaurant, Cinta-J, would not be renewed after being in business for more than four decades.
Serving authentic Pinoy food and offering live karaoke, Lee’s family has run Cinta-J and its predecessor Cinta in Wan Chai for 42 years, making it a home away from home for the Filipino diaspora in Hong Kong.
The sole branch for over two decades, Cinta-J’s impending closure on September 30 came as a surprise to many long-time patrons, but not more so than to the owners themselves.
“The landlord decided not to renew the lease because they want to sell the building,” Lee said. “We had no time to prepare a new outlet, so it’s tough for us.”
The family business began in a small location off Hennessy Road. At the time, the live band was just one man with an acoustic guitar.
“My parents opened Cinta in 1983,” the 49-year-old Lee said. “We first opened as an Indonesian restaurant, because they’re both Indonesian Chinese.”
But his father, Alan, soon began noticing the sizeable Filipino community in Hong Kong and saw an opportunity to change the diner’s offerings.
“Cinta means love in Indonesian – same as in Filipino,” the elder Lee said.
Alan Lee went to the Philippines to scout for new chefs, musicians and managers. By 1986, Cinta offered Filipino food on its menu. It was not long before the restaurant became popular among the Pinoy community.
By the 1990s, another branch opened just a short walk from the original shop.
“Both places were called Cinta,” Alan Lee said. “So since the second shop was on Jaffe Road, we called it Cinta-J. J is also for junior, because it’s the second one.”
The original shop was shut in the early 2000s, while Cinta-J remains.
The Lees have served many high-profile Filipinos over the decades, from entertainment royalty such as Sharon Cuneta and Robin Padilla to former presidents Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Rodrigo Duterte.
But Cinta-J’s regulars run the gamut from architects and engineers to bankers and domestic helpers.
“In Hong Kong, they can’t hear Tagalog music on the radio, they can’t buy the CDs,” Bryan Lee said. “So they feel like home when they come here. They can enjoy their food and listen to their music.”
“Filipinos are number one in singing,” Cris Lee, 48, added. “They can join our live band and are happy to be alive.”
But for Mark Kenneth Reyes, who has spent a decade as a vocalist in the band at Cinta-J, the news of its closure gave him anxiety.
He said the musicians played songs to bring happiness and relief to overseas Filipino workers in Hong Kong.
“They’re far from family, they might have financial stress,” Reyes said. “Some are new and aren’t used to being [in the city]. They come to Cinta-J and return because they enjoy themselves here. They forget that they’re alone here.”
Canada-born Rowena Gonzales has been living in Hong Kong for 19 years and goes to Cinta-J on special occasions.
“Cinta-J really means so much to me and my family,” she said. “This was my way of connecting with my Filipino culture. It’s always like a warm hug coming here.”
“I’ve been to three or four weddings here, the after-parties were here,” New Zealand-born Brice Macdonald said. “For the time that it’s been around, [Cinta-J has been] important to Hong Kong’s culture. It’s not Chinese but it fits in.”
Jay Richard Maganis, who has lived in Hong Kong for 11 years, said Cinta-J was the prime spot for after-work drinks with friends.
“It’s like they brought the Philippines here to Hong Kong,” he said.
Others, like Spencer Cue Dee, simply love singing their hearts out on a stage during karaoke sessions.
“I try to sing at least one song every time I’m here,” Dee said. “I feel right at home. Most of the staff are Filipino, and I can speak freely with them. There are nuances they can understand that most people in Hong Kong aren’t able to.”
When they announced Cinta-J’s closure, the Lees were overwhelmed with messages of support from the public.
While they did not have any concrete plans to reopen yet, both were optimistic there was more Filipino food and karaoke on the horizon.
“We just have to find the right time and location, the right size,” Bryan Lee said. “It’s not easy to plan a restaurant or bar, but I can assure our guests that, soon, you will hear our name again.”
“Hoping and praying,” Cris Lee said. “Just believe it.”
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Royina Garma, an ex-police colonel who served Duterte while he was mayor of Davao City, was reportedly scheduled to meet ICC lawyers ahead of a planned trial against Duterte over charges of crimes against humanity.
On Monday, Philippine Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla told reporters that Garma had flown from Manila to Malaysia “to meet with the ICC”. He added that his department had given consent for Garma’s court appearance and “if she’s going to be a witness to the ICC, we have said that our working relationship with the ICC involves witness protection”.
Joel Butuyan, one of five Filipino lawyers accredited in an ICC list, told This Week in Asia on Tuesday that while “the ICC does not confirm or deny matters like this”, Garma’s involvement in the case appeared credible given that the remarks about the meeting came from Remulla.
Referring to a series of hearings last year before the House of Representatives’ Quad Committee that drew public attention to the so-called “Davao model”, Butuyan said that “for the ICC, Garma is a key witness, judging by what she had explosively disclosed during the Quadcomm hearings”.