Tourists trickled in during the summer months, grabbing Hang Ah’s popular barbecue pork buns and house-made chili oil. With Hang Ah’s unusual location in an alley - and next to a construction project that only just started wrapping up - the restaurant has never taken advantage of outdoor dining. His staff dropped from 25 employees to four. Some days, the restaurant sells only $200 worth of food. “We’re almost a forgotten past, a piece of history that’s no longer on top of people’s heads.”Ĭhui remembers Hang Ah, the country’s oldest dim sum restaurant, taking a 70% hit almost overnight about a year ago, as Chinatown emptied out far before the rest of the city. “I’m holding on with my dear life to stay afloat, to stay relevant,” he said. He is determined not to let his 100-year-old San Francisco Chinatown restaurant, Hang Ah Tea Room, fade away as well. ![]() He’s seen story after story of long-standing restaurants saying farewell, unable to withstand the crush of the pandemic - or the high costs that make operating in the Bay Area so difficult in general. This is part of The Chronicle’s Landmark Watch series, where reporters check in on the Bay Area’s longtime businesses during the pandemic. Special to The Chronicle Show More Show Less Photographs of Chinatown beauty queens hang on the walls of San Francisco’s Hang Ah Tea Room, the country’s oldest dim sum restaurant. Special to The Chronicle Show More Show Less 3 of3 The restaurant still uses the original 100-year-old recipe. Special to The Chronicle Show More Show Less 2 of3īarbecue pork buns are cooked in bamboo steamers at Hang Ah Tea Room in San Francisco. Love Gong, chef at Hang Ah Tea Room in S.F., works in the kitchen of the 100-year-old restaurant.
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