Remember the iconic Hee’s Garden in Mt Eden?
There was heartbreak and much media talk when the popular restaurant, famous for its classical Chinese architecture, closed for good in 2022 after 42 years of serving old-school Cantonese cuisine.
Well, we have good news for all you loyal fans - Tim Tong, the original owner of Hee’s Garden is back!
Tim has taken over the Imperial Palace Restaurant and Events Centre in Mt Wellington and is bringing back all your favourite dishes from the old Hee’s Garden and more.
“Everything that you used to find in Hee’s Garden from yum cha, Peking duck and seafood is on the menu, plus many new items like specialty crab dishes,” Tong said.
Tong was one of the founders of Hee’s Garden in 1981 after migrating from Hong Kong. A few years later, his parents moved to Ontario in Canada to also start a Hee’s Garden Restaurant there.
“My father fell ill, and I had to move to Canada in 1990 to help in the restaurant there. I ended up staying 28 years,” he said.
His marriage also broke up and Hee’s Garden in Auckland was left to Wynsome Wong, his ex-wife and mother of their three children, to run.
Tong returned to New Zealand just as New Zealand was coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2022 and saw an opportunity when his friend, who was the ex-owner of Imperial Garden, told him that he wanted to sell the business.
“There is still so much love for the old-school type Southern Chinese cuisine and yum cha, but at the same time we now have access to so many new ingredients and products that we didn’t have when we were running Hee’s Garden,” he said.
“ I saw so much potential with this venue. With the extra event space, this restaurant is a place where people can come together not just for food, but also to dance, sing and socialise.”
Tong comes with extensive hospitality experience as his family owned seven restaurants in Hong Kong plus others overseas, including the one in Canada.
Their signature old-style sweet and sour pork remains one of the favourites at the restaurant, along with Peking duck, sizzling lamb chops with black pepper sauce and Hong Kong-style wonton noodles.
New chefs have been recruited from northern China and other provinces to introduce special regional dishes to the menu, like Szechuan chicken and spicy chilli fish pot.
Seafood is still one of the key offerings at Imperial Palace, where diners can choose fish, crayfish, abalone, geoduck and clams from the live tanks and have them prepared the way they like.
“Over the years, many New Zealanders have created great memories at the old Hee’s Garden. Now I hope many more will make even better ones at Imperial Palace,” Tong added.
BOOK NOW!!!
Imperial Palace Restaurant and Events Centre 519 Ellerslie Panmure Highway, Mount Wellington.
Make your reservation: 09 527 0519
