Worried about Hong Kong’s unpredictable future, Chow Sum-tin booked a one-way ticket in 2019 to leave her home town at last.
“I was crying every day [before my flight]. When I was feeding the cats and when I was walking my dogs, I kept thinking: when can I ever see them again?” remembered the 44-year-old, who has actually been tending to wander off cats and dogs considering that 2014.
“I had been wanting to leave. But at last, I decided that if I could help them, I’d stay.”
Now, the tender-hearted previous football coach is the happy owner of a little takeaway shop concealed away in Tai Kok Tsui. Most of the benefit from her little business are funnelled towards her objective of assisting roaming animals.
So far, she has actually rescued more than 100 cats.
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The unnoticeable restaurant, called Spicy Fishballs Please, doesn’t promote itself with an expensive exterior or loud banners. But it is filled with stacks of tinned cat food, strings of cat toys and – obviously – a clowder of felines.
“From the start, my neighbours had no clue what I was doing. I didn’t put my name at the door. There are no menus. Many thought this was a pet shop,” Chow chuckled.
During the day, she cooks up a storm while satisfying shipment orders. The self-taught chef is especially pleased with her mouth-numbing spicy chicken pots. By night, she searches the area for roaming cats, feeding them and, if she can, saving and safeguarding them prior to they can be put in irreversible houses.
“This is my childhood dream: I have always wanted to open my own shop so I could cook for others. And now, I can even help stray cats – it feels even better,” she shared.
Chow Sum-tin offers her spicy chicken pot so that she can utilize to money to look after her animals. Photo: Instagram/@spicy_fishballs_pls
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The restaurateur’s love for animals was supported by her family. Chow jokingly explained her youth home as a zoo: a rooster, a hen and a dog resided on the terrace while the living-room was for the turtles and cats.
One memory that has actually constantly stuck to her is of her grandpa saving a roaming cat.
“I used to go down to the back alley and play with this cat owned by [someone living there] … but one day, the Social Welfare Department and police brought him away and left the cat there,” Chow said of the feline her grandpa later on brought home, stating this was the minute that motivated what she does now.
In 2014, while living near Mong Kok’s market, she began feeding the cats hiding in the backstreets. Slowly, her area broadened to Yau Ma Tei and Tai Kok Tsui. Eventually, she started taking in these strays due to how hard it was asking other groups to help the animals.
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“The most difficult part was to bring them to the doctor. I didn’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars to visit the vet whenever, so I’d sometimes host charity sales of fish balls to raise funds for the cats,” Chow shared.
One day, while roaming Tai Kok Tsui for food, she stumbled upon a Japanese restaurant, where her shop is now, and bonded with the one in charge over food. But throughout the pandemic, he fell ill and stopped running for half a year.
“I sent him a message to check in on him. He knew I had been saving stray cats with my cooking, so he asked me if I was interested in taking over his shop,” remembered Chow, including that he offered her 2 days to think of it.
Spicy Fishballs Please lies in Tai Kok Tsui. Photo: Instagram/@spicy_fishballs_pls
“And at that time, it was a bit hopeless. I was originally a full-time football coach, but suddenly, I was out of a job,” she said, explaining that her work as a football coach had actually come to a stop in the middle of the Covid-19 social-distancing guidelines.
“Actually, at the moment, I was already 80 per cent sure I wanted to do this,” she revealed.
In December 2021, she opened the shop, pursuing her food dreams by day and taking care of her strays during the night.
“This shop is quite a comfort to me. When I was signing the contract, I was tearing up,” Chow shared.
“Spread the love when you still can”
Despite Chow’s commitment to animals in requirement, operating at the shop by herself while likewise saving cats is difficult. Every night, she just sleeps for about 4 to 5 hours.
“Usually, I only sleep when the sun rises. Those times when I need to rescue the cats during the night have kind of shaped my daily routine now,” she laughed.
The family pet fan can call all of the cats neighboring and understands their hideouts and preferred deals with by heart.
“There are days when I can’t go, such as when I’m suffering from a high fever, but it’s rare,” she said.
Restaurateur Chow Sum-tin has a huge heart for assisting roaming cats. Photo: K.Y. Cheng
Even when she might not feed the strays, Chow said that she still considered them, questioning: “Did they get fed properly? How are they doing?”
For this devoted cat mum, her love for strays has actually surpassed simply assisting animals in requirement: they have likewise become her family.
“Spread the love when you still can. One time, when I was preparing to save a cat, buying cages and everything, I saw it get run over by a car. That feeling is … heart-wrenching,” she remembered of that agonising minute.
“So if you can do it, why not help?”
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And discovering them brand-new houses felt “unreal”, she shared, explaining that possible adopters would call her on social networks and pertain to the shop to fulfill the felines.
Receiving videos of the rescued cats having the time of their lives with their brand-new households provides her excellent convenience.
“I miss them, but it’s OK because there will always be new ones needing me,” she said, smiling.
Looking ahead, she still has a larger dream to attain.
“My ultimate goal is to open an actual chicken pot restaurant, not just a takeaway shop. And next to the restaurant, I would rent a space … so people can come to look at the cats and play with them.”
Inconspicuous Inconspicuous
not visible
Facade Shop indication
the front of a building, particularly an enforcing or ornamental one
Clowder group
a group or cluster of cats
Scours search around
to vary over, as in a search
Restaurateur restaurateur
the owner or supervisor of a restaurant
Heart-wrenching heart-wrenching
triggering or including excellent unhappiness or distress
Agonising extremely uncomfortable
to distress with severe discomfort
