源記粉麵燒味茶餐廳

源記 is located just a little off of Nathan Road, a market boulevard in Hong Kong littered with restaurants. Under this ultra-​competitive landscape of businesses, Nathan Road is a modern model of Darwin’s Survival of the Fittest.
This modern model differs slightly from that of Darwin’s. Instead of natural selection, this model is based on the mechanism of ‘Landlord Selection’. Basically, landlords select individual businesses who are most ‘fit’, or those who are most well adapted to the current level of rent. As Nathan Road becomes populated with more and more tourists, landlords raises the rent relentlessly. Businesses who can sustain profits through the rent increase are the most ‘fit’, while those who cannot will go out of business.
Within this modern model of Survival of the Fittest, 源記 is fit. Because 源記 is a chain restaurant, they are large enough to benefit from economies of scales and thus, are able to weather through the rent increase. While smaller businesses are forced to close shop, 源記 is ‘fit’ enough to reproduce, opening even more restaurants as they eat up more and more of the market share.
The customers are happy to eat up 源記’s food too. Everything is solid, and their menu includes all the Hong Kong staples that tourists would read about in travel magazines. HK Milk Tea, Wonton Egg Noodle, Barbeque Pork over Rice, and the rest of the gang are all at their disposal. Every one of their dish resembled the classics, but none of them truly are. They all lack a flavor that can only be produced by a small business owner who is solely dedicated to perfecting his/​her craft. Compared to the congee made by the old business that closed down several years back, 源記’s would taste generic. But yet, 源記 is the one thriving on Nathan Road.
As this Landlord Selection phenomenon continues, Hong Kong will continue to see the growth of ‘fit’ restaurants like 源記. There was a time when the ‘fitness’ of a restaurant was determined by the quality of its dishes and not by its ability to pay rent. A quick look around Nathan Road confirms that those times have gone. As a mere visitor from San Francisco, what can I do but settle for a generic piece of Toast at 源記?