Thai Dao, well-known restaurant in Sha Ha, Sai Kung, to close in May

^{Sunset over Sha Ha Photos: Thai Dao and social media}

Thai Dao in Sha Ha, Sai Kung, is a well-known Thai cuisine restaurant founded in 2017 by Hong Kong actor Marco Ngai, which recently announced its closure. In 2017, he invested a seven-figure sum to jointly open the 7,000-square-foot sea-view restaurant with his friends. At the opening, friends from the local and mainland film industry came to congratulate him, and he made media waves when he openly flirted with his, now, ex-wife Zhang Lihua.

The restaurant, which has been open for seven years as of April 2024, recently announced on social media that it will close at the end of next month. The restaurant wrote a long article explaining that it has experienced many challenges in the past seven years, including the super typhoon Mangkhut in 2018, the anti-extradition bill incident in 2019, and the subsequent epidemic.

^{The restaurant suffered badly during Typhoon Mangkhut in 2018}

When Ngai got divorced in 2020, he revealed to the media that the restaurant had changed hands, but the business rate of another barbecue restaurant jointly owned by a friend dropped by nearly 70% due to the epidemic. “Rising costs and more intense market competition have made it difficult for us to continue operating. Faced with this difficult decision, we feel so helpless and heartbroken. We have to Let go of seven years of hard work and effort, with the closure scheduled for 31 May 2024”.

^{Marco Ngai}