Ali Oli, Sai Kung’s home-grown bakery, to close on Sunday but catering and commissary go on

^{Hazel Cheung, owner of Ali Oli patisserie, bakery and commissary}

Ali Oli Cafe & Bakery will close on 26 May after 38 years in Sai Kung, owner Hazel Cheung said, but she will keep her commissary and catering businesses going.

Hazel said business has been going downhill since she lost her husband, Philip Woolf, to cancer on 22 November. Philip is  well remembered by residents as a genial fellow who on weekends would act as doorman-host outside Ali Oli. The situation was also aggravated by the Covid pandemic.

Hazel made the same complaint as Ursula Huber of the now closed Kidnapped bookshop: too many of her clients have left town. Hazel also attributed the challenges of running a retail business to the strict regulations enforced by the white and grey-shirted burons* of the FEHD. They wouldn’t allow her to have outside seating and tables in front of the café despite the masses of space there. This is a perennial complaint by local retailers.

SAI KUNG BUZZ comment: We hear the slogan of the FEHD is, “Let’s see how many businesses we can kill before lunchtime, then we’ll go for yum cha.”

A slim lass of Indonesian Chinese ancestry, Hazel is highly qualified in the culinary arts. She has studied gelato in Italy, curry in Sri Lanka and breads and pastries in Europe.

Hazel has a 3500 sqft bakery and commissary with 12 staff at Wong Chuk Hang. This does wholesaling to restaurants, hotels, clubs and institutions as well as corporate and party catering. After Ali Oli closes, Hazel  wants to have a small retail outlet in Sai Kung and hopes to come to an arrangement with a complementary business.

Today there’s a sad sign on the front of Ali Oli in Man Yee Square: “Good-bye, thank you and best wishes. Ali Oli 38 years in Sai Kung. Online order: orders@alioli.com.hk. Tel 57038539 or 25528513″.

Sai Kung is suffering from a retail recession. This is obvious to everyone walking the streets who sees the shuttered shops and the real estate agent signs. Some recent closures: Jaspa’s, Piccolo’s, Chip In, Burger Deli, Coffee Academy, Cozy Coffee, Padstow and the Thai restaurant on the waterfront. Meanwhile, Marks & Spencer is about to open. Katherine Cheung, local housewife: “The big fish, eat the little fish.”

* A buron is a  cross between a bureaucrat and a moron.