FAMOUSLY, there is no such thing as bad publicity.
The exception to this rule is perhaps if your restaurant is at the centre of an international scandal because it allegedly houses secret police working for the Chinese Communist Party.
@scotnational Inside Loon Fung - the Chinese restaurant accused of being a base for China's 'secret police' #Glasgow ♬ original sound - The National
But Glasgow’s Loon Fung has not yet suffered a loss in business because of the furore, a member of staff told me as I left on Friday afternoon, after one of the best Chinese meals I've ever had.
The restaurant – which claims it is Glasgow’s oldest traditional Cantonese eatery – is no stranger to scandal.
In 2015, police forced it to close its doors for two months after a fight broke out between diners broke out which resulted in a man being slashed across the stomach, according to the Glasgow Times.
It was only reopened when Glasgow licencing chiefs demanded staff were taught how to call the police in emergencies.
And in 1988, the restaurant’s then-manager Chen Pik Wai was slashed by Chinese Triad gangsters, reported the South China Morning Post. He reportedly only survived because he was able to stem the blood from his injuries before medical help arrived after fighting off his attacker.
On Friday, things were quiet. I sat under a sculpture of a bird mounted on a red fabric wall. A dragon with glowing red eyes was mounted opposite.
An employee sat behind me steadily guillotining dim sum menus while the couple opposite worked through an enormous spread of dumplings while she took a Zoom call and he watched television.
I took too long pouring over the menu, which is a tome and features everything from duck feet, to tripe, the restaurant’s speciality ho fan noodles, and Chon fan – rice noodle rolls.
I ordered chicken feet in a black bean sauce, a little flustered by the amount of choice and because I had a hankering to try something new.
The feet came covered in a rich, sticky sauce which was slightly spiced. They’re best described as sort of savoury sweets – the jellied tissue and tendon in the feet function act more as a vehicle for the black bean sauce than as food in-and-of themselves. They were delicious and incredibly moreish.
Next was the Fu Jian rice – an undefeatable mountain of food. Pieces of chopped scallops, prawns, duck, mushrooms, carrots and mangetout are served in a MSG-heavy gravy on top of a bed of sticky rice.
Fu Jian rice – from the coastal south-eastern Chinese region of the same name – is described by some as comfort food but I think that hot water bottle and blanket food might be more apt because the richness and sheer volume of grub involved here nearly put me to sleep. In a good way. I had the rest boxed to eat later.
As I left, I asked to speak with the manager. He wasn’t in, said an employee, he is at the market right now.
Another told me the manager had said nothing to the team about the recent controversy, laughing that as long as he kept his job he didn’t really care about whatever was being said.
He said the restaurant’s busy days were Saturday through to Tuesday, so it was too early to say for definite whether the story – which has resulted in Police Scotland carrying out an assessment of the accusations against the restaurant – had dampened trade.
The possibility an authoritarian state was running a secret cop shop in Glasgow was raised at First Minister’s Questions on Thursday, with Nicola Sturgeon describing the allegations as “deeply concerning”, adding she had discussed them with Police Scotland’s Chief Constable.
The restaurant’s manager has previously denied housing Chinese state police.
As I left, I encountered a BBC world service photographer, who was sniffing about the place, working on a story. He asked me if I’d enjoyed my meal and I told him truthfully that it was excellent.
But controversy will continue to plague the restaurant unless it can clear its name.
