On Monday, Beijing announced that it would be phasing out an app that tracks a user’s movements. However, the country maintains mandatory quarantine for arrivals from Hong Kong and other countries.
“The government has said that the restrictions will be lifted very soon. We hope that business will return to normal by the Chinese New Year. [22 de janeiro]high season, especially for food,” said Lusa, marketing director of the Bairro à Portuguesa store.
Tony Cheng recalled the “hard days” of Hong Kong’s worst covid-19 outbreak in February: “The impact was huge for all food-related businesses. No one left the house, no one went to shopping centers, there were no tourists.”
To keep the door open, the store resorted to home delivery, “especially for specialty items like suckling pig,” or ran promotions to sell products, explained Cheung, Michael Franco’s nephew.
With the festive season approaching, Christmas baskets are becoming more popular, Chung said, where Bairro à Portuguesa brings together some of the most popular items such as port wine, ham and frozen sardines.
“People try grilled sardines in a restaurant and then want to try them at home,” the manager said.
Grilled sardines are one of the dishes that Michael Franco learned how to cook from his grandmother, the daughter of a Portuguese general who moved to Hong Kong after serving in Macau. Franco is also the great-grandson of Manuel de Arriaga, the first President of Portugal (1911-1915).
