Choy Sau Ying

A former culture desk journalist and feature writer, Choy is a literature lover and urban explorer. She now is a mum and a freelance editor.

SYUT by tfvsjs: an example of self-reliance

10 2015 | Issue 10

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At the beginning of the year, the Hong Kong government announced the establishment of the HK$300 million Youth Development Fund with the stated aim of helping youth entrepreneurship. The plan was for the government to match any funding provided by non-governmental organisations, and the receivers of the money would not need to pay back the government. The government predicts it will fund some 1,000 projects. The scheme is quite different from a similar cultural funding project by the government in Macao last year; for example, the former has been criticised for being overly focused on IT at the expense of cultural and creative ideas.

 

But well before the Hong Kong government came up with this plan, young people here demonstrated their knack for self-reliance and came up with their own business ideas. I recently went to a very special restaurant in an industrial building in Kwun Tong that had very thoughtful decor and food, called SYUT by tfvsjs.

 

This 4,000 square feet restaurant in an old industrial building mixes minimalist decor with crude industrial aesthetics. In fact, it was renovated by the managers of the restaurant themselves. They used an old sign from another shop for decoration in the restaurant, for example. There are many other interesting stories about the space that you can personally ask them. The most important thing about a restaurant is of course the food. The lunch sets here, which include a delicious main course, bread and butter, and coffee or tea, comes to around $90 to $110 per head, with no service charge. It’s certainly not cheap, but when I see the butter comes sprinkled with tiny specks of sea salt or paprika, I know I am not just “paying for the ambience” here or subsidising someone’s rent. The main course that followed the bread, bacon and potato dumplings with 64 degree egg, and a coffee, were of very high quality.

 

SYUT is about more than just a group of young people who want to run their own restaurant. In fact, the restaurant is interesting because the food is extremely good but also because the people behind it actually belong to a local band called tfvsjs. Many independent bands and artists have set up shop in Kwun Tong, which is still filled with spacious and cheap spaces in industrial buildings, slowly changing the face of this old, industrial part of town. Sadly, many property developers also have their eye on the district and have tried to “revitalise” it in recent years, slowly pushing up rents. Eventually, the original space in Kwun Tong which tfvsjs rented as a band room became unaffordable.

 

They opened SYUT at the beginning of last year not to fulfil a dream of entrepreneurship or some lofty ideals, but because they wanted to work together to provide a space for local artistic groups to organise activities. They are closed every Monday morning, setting aside time for bands to rehearse, and also hold activities such as book launches there. They do it all without the help of government funding or crowdfunding as many people have done in recent years. This is the true demonstration of an independent spirit. To realise your goals, material factors like money are obviously important; it is a positive thing that society and the government feels responsible for funding the development of local arts. But at the end of the day, it is down to the strength and the will of the person to turn an ideal into reality.