A lion dance was planned for King Kitchen's grand opening at its new Oakland Chinatown storefront, the neighborhood's first restaurant opening in two years. The restaurant is at 366 8th St.
A Toishanese Menu Rooted in Local History
The grand-opening listing announced a ribbon-cutting ceremony and a performance by the San Francisco-based troupe LionDanceME, according to the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce. King Kitchen specializes in authentic Toishanese, or Taishanese, cuisine and traditional Chinese pastries, as The Oaklandside reports.
Before the formal celebration, King Kitchen held a soft opening on July 29 in collaboration with the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, according to Berkeleyside. As KTVU notes, the opening of King Kitchen is the first new restaurant to arrive in Oakland Chinatown in two years, ending an extended pause in new dining additions to the neighborhood.
Filling a Storefront With a Complicated Past
The 8th Street address previously housed Lounge Chinatown, a Taiwanese street-food restaurant, per the same account from The Oaklandside. Lounge Chinatown's closure made way for King Kitchen at the storefront.
During the early pandemic, the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce estimated that more than 30% of neighborhood businesses shut down either temporarily or permanently, according to KQED.
New Arrival Follows a String of Legacy Closures
King Kitchen's debut preceded the closure of Ben's Chinese Restaurant in the nearby Jack London District, which shut its doors after 40 years of operation without providing an explanation for the closure, as Hoodline previously reported. That closure followed the loss of other multi-decade culinary institutions in the area, including the 50-year-old Golden Peacock restaurant, which shut down in late 2022 amid rising operating costs and its owner's retirement.
Against that backdrop of restaurant closures, King Kitchen's opening stands out as a new addition to the neighborhood. The opening gave Oakland Chinatown something it hadn't seen in two years: a new restaurant betting on the neighborhood's future rather than closing the book on its past. A lion dance and ribbon-cutting were planned for the celebration.
