New restaurants start to set up shop

Construction halted

On May 30, the Crayfish King chain opened its Huanqiu Guoji branch in Wuhan. The brand, founded in Qianjiang, Hubei, a city known for its crayfish, in 2008, now has some 70 branches nationwide.

Yang Zhijun, 30, owner of the new branch, said it originally planned to open in March, but the lockdown in the city meant that construction work was halted and could not be restarted until April.

"The work was half-completed before Spring Festival. However, in April, there were still not that many workers in town, so preparations for the opening were not completed until the end of May," Yang said.

The best time to sell crayfish is from April to June, so there was only one month left when the outlet opened, and business has not been as good as expected, Yang added.

For the Shoku-tei Sushi restaurant in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, which opened on June 3, delayed construction was not the only difficulty.

The work started in October, and some artworks were commissioned from Spain for the restaurant, but the pandemic delayed their arrival.

The eatery is aiming to reach Michelin-star standard. Its executive chef, Masuda Rei, spent nine years training with acclaimed Japanese sushi chef Jiro Ono at the Sukiyabashi Jiro Honten restaurant in Tokyo, which has three Michelin stars.

Ma Yingda, the owner of Shoku-tei Sushi, said the business was planned in 2018, and in the past two years, high-end Japanese restaurants have become increasingly popular in Shenzhen, with new outlets continuing to open.