On the second floor of a building near Dundas and Elizabeth streets in the heart of Toronto, nestled between modern high-rises and busy storefronts, sits a piece of Toronto’s culinary history — one that might soon be lost.
Opened nearly 40 years ago by two immigrants from India, Yueh Tung restaurant introduced the now-iconic dishes like chili chicken and manchurian chicken to Canada long before they became Hakka staples.
Hakka cuisine originates from the Hakka people, a Han Chinese subgroup with distinct culinary traditions. In South Asia, Hakka often refers to a fusion of Chinese and Indian flavours, a style popularized by immigrants and now widely served in Indian-Chinese restaurants.
Today, Yueh Tung restaurant is fighting to survive and keep its legacy going.
“Lineups would build outside the door,” Jeanette Liu, the daughter of the founders and now one of its owners, told Now Toronto.
“At the height of it, my parents even wanted to build upwards on top of the roof, another level, but structurally it couldn’t support that, so we never did it. But that’s just kind of how crazy the demand was.”
Liu’s parents arrived in Toronto in the late ‘70s, fleeing civil unrest in India in search of a better life for their family.
They worked long hours in factories and hospitals until fate, and a gut feeling, brought them to a closing Cantonese restaurant for sale in Chinatown.
Despite having the lowest bid to buy the restaurant, the owners insisted on selling it to Liu’s mother, moved by something they saw in her.
“When they started, my dad would stand on the corner of Elizabeth Street, giving people pieces of his chili chicken, and that’s how we started to get crowds in,” Liu explained.
Yueh Tung became the first Hakka Chinese restaurant in Toronto, and possibly all of Canada. But out of fear that the cuisine would be too unfamiliar, the family didn’t label it as Hakka at first.
“They actually never marketed it as Hakka because it was such a foreign thing. People weren’t familiar with the food. The cultural landscape downtown was so different… Chinese food to them was primarily like chicken fried rice and meatballs, sweet and sour chicken,” Liu said.
Now, as Liu and her sister take the reins, the legacy their parents built hangs in the air.
The pandemic gutted their customer base. Office workers haven’t fully returned downtown, which was their main customer demographic. Loyal regulars have aged or moved away. And unlike trendy restaurants backed by influencers and social media, Yueh Tung – a no-frills, humble family-run spot – has entirely relied on word of mouth for four decades.
“We’ve never paid to advertise for 40 years,” Liu said. “But, things are getting really expensive. Things have tripled in amount, wages have gone up, rent has gone up. Yet, you’re expected, especially in Chinese food, to keep your prices low.”
Earlier this year, they came close to shutting their doors for good. But instead, Liu and her sister made a promise: sign a new lease, give it one last push to bring Yueh Tung back to life.
“This place is everything that I know. It’s everything my parents have created. And if we were to close down, it would be saying bye to everything that they’ve created,” Liu explained.
The final attempt to save the restaurant wasn’t just for the sisters, the new owners, but for their parents and for them to see what they built from the ground up.
“I promised my parents that in six months to a year, we would have the business back at its height, close to where they had it, and that’s where I want them to see it. So when they come back as not people that work here anymore, but as guests, I want them to see what they created, and to see all of the customers back here again to support them,” Liu said.
In a last effort to reconnect with the community that once packed the mom-and-pop restaurant, the new owners created an eight-part video series on Instagram and TikTok, documenting the reality of running their restaurant.
And slowly, something incredible began.
Customers who hadn’t visited in 20 years returned. Most were recognized by name, and some still remembered the dishes they ordered.
All were welcomed back like family.
Liu says that Yueh Tung is not just a restaurant, but a second home. A place where generations have gathered, celebrated milestones, and tasted the warmth of incredible food.
During Asian Heritage Month, as communities across the country reflect on the stories that have shaped Canada’s history and future, Yueh Tung’s story stands as a powerful reminder of resilience, of immigrant dreams, and of the restaurants that have defined the city of Toronto long before food trends did.
