Here's What The Names Of Popular Chinese Restaurants Mean When Translated To English

Named after Mongkok, one of the busiest districts in Hong Kong, the name "旺角" (pronounced wong kok in Cantonese) means "prosperous corner" or "busy/crowded corner".

Together, the name "Din Tai Fung" doesn't actually mean anything, as it was a combination of the founder Yang Bingyi's previous employer "Heng Tai Fung" and his new supplier "Din Mei Oils".

However, separately, the characters mean - 鼎 (din): an ancient cooking vessel with two loop handles and three or four legs, 泰 (tai): peaceful, and 豐 (fung): abundant.

Dragon-i's Chinese name is pretty epic. Although the 籠 (long) here is used to represent the restaurant's signature xiaolongbao, the phrase is pronounced like 龍的傳人 (long de chuan ren), meaning "descendants of the dragon".

FUN FACT: The name might be inspired by the 1980 song of the same name, written by Taiwanese songwriter Hou Dejian and performed by Lee Chien-fu. The song uses the Chinese dragon as a symbol of China, with the term Descendants of the Dragon referring to Chinese people. The song has also been covered by Wang Leehom, who also happens to be Lee's nephew.

Pronounced "hiong gong chuk min ga" in Cantonese, Canton-i's Chinese name simply means "Hong Kong porridge and noodle house".

"有間麵館" simply means "there is a noodle house".

Translated to English, 錦選 (jin xuan) means "(exquisite) collection".

When put together with the rest of the restaurant's name, 錦選香港特極點心 (jin xuan xiang gang te ji dian xin) can be taken to represent "collection of premium Hong Kong dim sum".

While 大人 (da ren) is commonly taken to mean "adults", it was also used in ancient China to refer to government officials or nobles.

Meanwhile, 餐廳 (can ting) simply means "restaurant".

With 汤 (tang) meaning "soup" and 师父 (shi fu) referring to "master", Souper Tang's Chinese name 汤师父 actually means "master of soup" when translated to English.

The direct translation of 老油鬼鬼 (pronounced "lou yao kwai kwai" in Cantonese) is "old oil ghosts"... which doesn't really mean anything, really. A more likely explanation would be that I Love Yoo!'s Chinese name is just a fun wordplay on their signature yao char kwai (Chinese: 油炸鬼).

Though not a commonly used term, 麗苑 (pinyin: li yuan) means "beautiful garden".

Separately, the three characters that make up Lai Po Heen (the Cantonese pronunciation of 丽宝轩) mean - 丽 (li): beautiful, 宝 (bao): treasure, and 轩 (xuan): pavilion. Hence, we can surmise that put together, the name literally means "pavilion of beautiful treasures".

Tim Ho Wan means "add good luck".

Ironically, the Hong Kong dim sum chain recently shuttered its venture in Malaysia due to challenging business prospects.