Hong Kong's once-largest restaurant group went from 18 branches to a silent goodbye

漢寶酒樓 was founded in 1986 in 土瓜灣 by 張錫鵬, known as the '龍蝦大王', together with 張道生, founder of the 龍寶酒家 group. From the 1990s the restaurant was best remembered for its lobster dishes, and at its peak it ran 18 branches across Hong Kong, making it the largest restaurant group in the city.

By the 2020s the group had shrunk to a single surviving store, the 土瓜灣 head outlet. In July 2025 news of a closure spread, but the operator denied it, saying the store was only undergoing 'internal renovation' and installing a lift to ease access for older diners. It said the work would take three months or more but gave no firm reopening date.

About a year later, in July 2026, the scaffolding around the site came down and the store's sign was gone, with the upper floor emptied out and no notice posted explaining what had happened. The restaurant had quietly closed without a formal announcement.

No clear business reason was given. Coverage framed the closure inside Hong Kong's wider wave of restaurant shutdowns, and a local KOL who had bet the landmark family restaurant would survive admitted he had been overly optimistic about a place so many regulars depended on.