We've come to the third of four corners at Commonwealth Crescent. That's Block 118 (think of Brahms' Sechs Klavierstucke) or "hard luck corner". There has always been a restaurant / coffee shop here but the turnover is so rapid one can scarcely remember what restaurant occupies this spot.
The latest occupant is Chuan Ye Seafood Zichar, and before that was Yat Yat Fat (118) which had a short-lived Moo Moo Mookata, and before that was Seafood Village (or Seafood Palace I cannot remember), where we had dim sum meals under $10. D'Life vegetarian restaurant was here a couple of years, and before that it was a bunch of hawker stalls which had been a good place for breakfast. And that was more than ten years ago.
This corner also has the only caifan (economy rice) stall in the four corners of Commonwealth Crescent, which does brisk business before closing at dusk. Although Chuan Ye does decent meals, I think its days are numbered, judging by the low traffic. Its footfall comes from old people having caifan meals, beer drinkers and the occasional horse-racing punters. Even the bookie uncle does not visit often, and the tattooed loner is no longer employed to do cleaning up.
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| This restaurant has the neatest kitchen area, which means it doesn't do much cooking. |
Only memories, seafood white beehoon and har cheong kai (prawn paste fried chicken) bring us back, which may be paid with CDC vouchers. The F&B competition in these parts is awfully stiff, and to think its neighbours are the well-established Hong Kong Street Old Chun Kee and Two Chefs Eating Place. It's sad to see this one go, and its back to "here we go again", wondering what the next restaurant will be all about.
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| Empty chairs at empty tables, so says a Les Miserables song, are a worrying sign. |
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