Chef David Li Hon-keung is 80 years-old and still oversees his restaurant, Landmark Hotpot House, which marks its 35th anniversary this year.

While it is considered one of the first hot pot restaurants in Vancouver, Landmark is also famous for daa laang, or late-night eats, serving piping hot tureens of congee, plates of fried glutinous rice flavoured with chopped Chinese sausage, and deep-fried chicken wings seasoned with salted plum powder.

Li says in 1989 he first opened Landmark as a hot pot restaurant, but lost money after nine months.

“No one wanted to eat hot pot,” he recalls, “so we changed to serving daa laang, opening from 5pm to 2am, and that’s when people started coming in.”

He adds Landmark caught the immigration wave over the years, first with Hongkongers, then the Taiwanese, Vietnamese, Chinese, and now Americans, who cross the border for quality Chinese food.

The restaurant was also made famous in the 1990s thanks to Hong Kong celebrities like Alan Tam Wing-lun, Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing, and Lydia Shum Din-ha who dined there. 

Despite Landmark’s success, Li recalls starting out in the 1960s when he worked in hot kitchens for over 10 hours in Hong Kong.

“If you wanted a day off, you had to find someone to replace you and pay their salary,” he remembers. “Nowadays working in the kitchen is much easier with benefits, but you need to have the talent and hard work ethic; having the recipe isn’t enough, you need experience.”

Back then there were no refrigerators, but a cabinet with giant ice blocks covered with cloth, stoves used coal gas, and chickens were kept in a cage on the balcony that were slaughtered when an order came in. 

In 1979 Li immigrated to Vancouver and began working in Chinatown in places like Goldstone Bakery and Restaurant before opening Landmark.

“And just like that 35 years have flown by,” he says. 

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Landmark Hotpot House
♦ 4023 Cambie St, Vancouver