A mainstay Midland restaurant will be serving up its last order or chicken balls and egg rolls Sunday evening.
After more than 50 years of business, Uncle Roy’s Restaurant will be closing its doors on that day, which seems all the more impressive given Roy Tang’s humble beginnings working at his uncle’s restaurant after immigrating from China in the early 1970s.
“My Dad (Roy) passed away in January,” says his daughter Jessica Tang. “I’ve been helping my Mom (Pauline). She decided it’s just time. We would like to thank all the patrons over the years from the beginnings at the Dynasty Inn to Uncle Roy’s Restaurant.”
Roy Tang started working for the Dynasty in 1971. From there, he opened Uncle Roy’s across the street where Double Happiness now sits.
“It’s bittersweet because it was a labour of love for my Dad,” Tang says of her father’s unwavering commitment to the business.
“He was dedicated and passionate. He made it work for as long as he did.”
While Uncle Roy’s is closing, Tang doesn’t expect her Mom to close her sewing business Golden Seam Alterations anytime soon.
“She’s going to miss going to the restaurant,” Tang says. “For my Mom, it’s going to be an interesting transition. She only knows this.”
Hanabi Japanese Restaurant, which now has a location in Elmvale will be taking over the Uncle Roy's space in the coming months with Furusato Japanese Restaurant.
Roy and Pauline Tang met in China, but didn’t arrive in Canada together, according to their daughter, who notes her mother arrived about six years after her father so he could first get established.
“They kept correspondence via letter,” Tang says.
And Tang fondly recalls the good times she, her parents and siblings shared over the years, including eating family style at the Dynasty, which was located up a staircase from King Street in the block between Dominion Avenue and Bay Street.
As well, she, her brother Richard and sister Diane would literally get dropped off by their school bus right in front of the restaurant so the business played a major role in their upbringing.
“We were there working every Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and New Year’s Eve,” she says. “I have very fond memories.”
