The Jumbo: the end of an era?

With recent news of the closing of Hong Kong’s iconic Jumbo floating restaurant, there has been some much talk on social media about this famous restaurant that once upon a time was top on the tourist circuit. The Jumbo was always included in postcard packs in the 90s–and maybe even know–although it’s heyday had already passed.

A couple years ago I was in Hong Kong for a week and had yet to see the Jumbo, so I put it on the top of my list. I had a feeling it might not be there the next time I visited. And while that wasn’t correct, it may have come true now. Whether or not the Jumbo reopens at a future point, I think it’s important to record old sights because there will be a day when they are no longer around. With much of old Hong Kong disappearing, the Jumbo is another example of that.

Some might say it’s a throwback to the colonial days, and in a sense that’s true. But the Jumbo is owned by Stanley Ho, a Eurasian tycoon whose ancestors have been in the region for centuries. The Eurasian roots of Hong Kong are often minimized and understated.

I took these photos in 2018 and tried to capture as much of the restaurant as I could at night.

This is the pier where we picked up the water shuttle to the floating restaurant.

The Jumbo

Now on to the restaurant itself.

After a fire in the 1970s, the Jumbo is said to be haunted at night. So I’ve heard that the daytime is more crowded than the evenings. But it did fill up that evening we were there.

The focus of our dinner was Peking duck. I know we weren’t in Beijing, but I’ve been to few places in North America where the duck is carved at the table. It was a treat to see this in Hong Kong.

And back to shore. It was perfect for a mid-November evening, the nicest time of year in Hong Kong.