Architect and Managing Director of CL3 William Lim, like so many of us, goes to a local tea restaurant regularly and says that our everyday life is so intertwined with Hong Kong-style food that our culture, lifestyle and identity are shown by how people choose to refuel during the day. Lim’s favourite cha chaan teng is the Mido Café, in a humble low-rise, walk-up building with the high ceilings and elongated upstairs balconies typical of the postwar period. It looks just the same as it did in the 1950s, with a neon sign outdoors, mosaic tiled floors and stairs, wooden booth seating and ceiling fans and, thanks to its retro decor, the Mido Café has served as a movie backdrop and become an Instagram hit.
Artist and architect William Lim graduated with Bachelor and Master Degrees in Architecture from Cornell University in the US. Having worked in Boston as an architect for five years before returning to Hong Kong in 1987, he founded architecture and interior design firm CL3 in 1992. His creative portfolio throughout Asia is as wide as it is varied, and includes H Queen’s and the East Hotel in Hong Kong, the Hard Rock Hotel in Shenzhen, the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, and the Millennium Mitsui Garden Hotel in Tokyo. He respects the changing urban fabric of modern Asian cities staying true to their core cultural heritage.