Hsin Kuang Restaurant

My father built the Hsin Kuang chain of restaurants in Toronto. It was a high-profile brand from Hong Kong, and when it was introduced to Toronto in the 1980s it made a splash in the local community. Its flagship location was on 346 Spadina Ave in Toronto’s downtown Chinatown. It was notable for its bright yellow and green Chinese architecture.

The brand is no longer around. The Hsin Kuang on Spadina later became the Bright Pearl in 1997. In 2018, 346 Spadina was demolished and replaced by a condominium/ office complex.

There are many intriguing stories about the old Hsin Kuang Restaurant building on Spadina, including tales of it being haunted. Prior to it being a restaurant, it served at one point as a funeral parlour. Stories abound of mysterious knocks on the bathroom stalls, or of sightings of a female floating around the restaurant. My dad once had an employee who was too scared to work there on night shifts when it was under construction. He had to threaten to fire him to get him back on task.

Some people assume that my family must have been doing well financially given that my father was the contractor that built this and other well-known Chinese restaurants. But that was hardly the case. In fact, when I got older, I learned in my economics classes about the “winner’s curse”. That is, when a bidder for a contract wins the tender because he most underestimated its true cost to deliver on.

My dad likely won the bid on these notable restaurants by offering to build them on the cheap. His margin (if any) must have been razor thin. The financial viability of his projects surely benefited from having me (and my brother) as cheap labour.

I spent a lot of time at Hsin Kuang, both dining there and as a helping hand for my father. (I never experienced any paranormal activities there, although I did hear many of the stories from within my social circle at the time.)

When I mention that I spent a fair share of time “working” on construction/ renovation projects, people often assume that I have a knack for handiwork. However, it is a stretch to say that I “worked” on these undertakings. I never developed skills or interest in trades work. I mostly did simple chores: Sweeping the debris; Knocking down old drywall; Holding the ladder steady; Handing tools and parts to others; Etc. Nevertheless, I did appreciate and enjoyed the times working on these jobs. It was the only occasion that I otherwise got to spend with my dad.

The best part of the work shift was meal time. All the workers, and myself included, would gather around sitting on toolboxes or milk crates, and we would get rice boxes with Cantonese barbecue meats (roast duck, soy chicken, crispy skin pork, etc.) with a can of pop and chew the proverbial fat. To this day, this is my comfort meal.

It is a shame that some in our society view these types of jobs as less noble than white collar ones. I wish that I had picked up more of these skills when I was young.