The son of Hong Kong’s ‘king of melon seeds’ keeps the family name alive while sticking to his roots

In 1949, Luk Kam-lee migrated from China’s Zhejiang province to Hong Kong in search of a better life. In the years after his arrival, he sold roasted melon seeds and five-spiced beans from a hawker cart parked outside Tsuen Wan’s Grand Theatre, later establishing Shanghai Luk Kam Kee grocery shop, which opened in two locations before settling on Chuen Lung Street, in about 1980.

Luk continued to sell seeds and beans, as well as pastries and dried fruit. Custom­ers at the shop were allowed to taste before buying, the floor was frequently littered with broken shells and the store was regu­lar­ly packed, especially in the run-up to Lunar New Year, when queues to enter would form in the street.

So fragrant was Shanghai Luk Kam Kee’s main attraction that Luk was dubbed the “king of melon seeds”.

In 2009, however, to the neighbour­hood’s surprise, the shop abruptly closed. The founder had died in 2007 and the business was rumoured to be in debt.

It wasn’t long, though, before Luk Choi-lung, the eldest of the founder’s eight children, reopened the shop in the same location, with the help of investors. Meanwhile, Sunny Luk Choi-chong – the youngest son – struck out on his own, opening Shanghai Luk’s Dynasty of Melon Seeds, just blocks away.

“The new boss didn’t have the Luk surname,” Sunny Luk says, of his elder brother’s shop, which retains the original name. “My brother has shares, I think, but the boss didn’t know how things were done, so I left to do this on my own.”