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The dining area of Mott 32 can seat more than 150 people.[Photo by Dong Fangyu/China Daily]
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And tell me what street Compares with Mott Street in July? Sweet pushcarts gently gliding by those lyrics from the Rodgers and Hart song Manhattan, written 90 years ago, refer to the throbbing artery that runs through Chinatown in New York. One of the central features of the street used to be a general store at No 32 opened in 1891 and that would remain open for
another 112 years.
The shop was forced to close in the wake of the Sep 11 attacks in 2001, but these days, half a world away in Hong Kong, Mott 32, a restaurant, is as busy as its New York namesake probably ever was.
The owners of the restaurant, which opened about 15 months ago, say its name is a tribute to people like those who left Hong Kong to set up the New York shop, thus making Hong Kong culture and food "a global phenomenon".
The word phenomenon can certainly be applied to Mott 32, too. Before you get anywhere near a dinner plate, your eyes will feast on the award-winning handiwork of the Hong Kong architect Joyce Wang.
The setting is unusual, in the basement of a building in which Standard Chartered bank used to have its vaults, which means there is no natural light.
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