The Parable of “Cui Hua Lou” Restaurant

Cui Hua Lou, was one of the famous local restaurant in Kuching in the early 70s to 90s where I had my wedding bauquet in this restaurant 25 years ago. They had their own unique and famous dishes which we missed very much.

In the early 2000, this restaurant was sold to a group of business people and the restructuring of new management began. As part of the restructuring program, the new management began to renovate the shop lots owned by the restaurant, followed by bringing in their own chefs and began to lay off the original chefs and employees. Their menu changed as they changed their chefs. They came up with a marketing team with so called modern marketing publicity by offering different packages and discount.

It was indeed a phenomenal for awhile in a little city like Kuching then. As people of Kuching had been familiarized with the dishes and the kind of food offered by the “original” Cui Hua Lou, and in just a short period, we Kuchingite started to miss those original dished offered by them.

It did not take long that the name Cui Hua Lou also vanished as the business is getting poorer and poorer and it was eventually closed down not long after that.

Whereas, the group of original chefs and employees of Cui Hua Lou, after being laid off by the new management, began to start their own restaurant called The Heritage, in a small setting and faithful with their own specialty, the “original Cui Hua Lou specialty”. For the past 15 years, this small restaurant had expended many times and now occupied a few shop lots as compared to the one they began. So, as for today, if you missed those dishes offered by Cui Hua Lou, go to The Heritage, the original chefs are there and the familiar services and smiles from their waiters and waitresses can help to bring back many fond memories….

This real life story also tells us that the core value of a restaurant is the chefs. When you change the chefs, you risk changing the menu. If this is not done in a better way, you risk loosing the customers who loves the food and even to the extent of losing the restaurant as well.

Thank you Jesus for He is still alive and He knows things that happened in Kuching. I was overwhelmed to see Him using “Cui Hua Lou” as a parable to reveal this truth to set me free.