Retro Chinese Restaurant/Tiki Den King Yum to Close This Month

Chinese restaurant King Yum is closing for good after over 60 years in Fresh Meadows, Queens. QNS reports that the family-owned restaurant at 181-08 Union Turnpike will close after service on Monday August 29. The Eng family opened King Yum in 1953 serving a menu that included Cantonese, Szechuan, and Hunanese dishes.  Part of the space had Polynesian/tiki-themed decor. Second-generation owner Robin Eng tells QNS: "Most people are very upset about it. And they’re shocked also." "We’re old style Cantonese-style cooking," he adds. "We’re probably the last one around."

Became a favorite for food bloggers, with many crediting the restaurant for pioneering Chinese-American cuisine. In 2010, in an edition of Eater’s Who Goes There?, Brooks of Sheffield wrote:

Much of King Yum's appeal for many years—apart from the waterfall, the seashell-encrusted light fixtures, the wonderful, thatch-roofed bar, and other priceless decor accents—was Jimmy Eng, who founded the restaurant and cheerfully presided over it until 2008, when he died at 87. There are some priceless black-and-white photos of him, back in the 1960s, playing host to happy groups of revelers.

Following Jimmy Eng’s death, King Yum was featured on Cooking Channel’s Restaurant Redemption. According to Eng, the new tenant at 181-08 Union Turnpike will not be a restaurant. Stay tuned for more details as they become available.

Cantonese restaurant King Yum in Fresh Meadows is closing for good [QNS.com]

Tiki and 1950's Nostalgia at Fresh Meadow's King Yum [ENY]