Remembering the Kit Hong Restaurant in Kinnelon

Sadly, the Chinese restaurant that my family and I, and sometimes friends, used to go to has closed. It closed a while ago, and my ex and my son had informed me of that over the past weeks and years. Yet, it took for me to drive past it during a recent visit to the Kinnelon Mall to fully register that, yes, this Chinese place truly is well and gone forever.

Over the years, a lot of places have gone to that strip mall to die. There used to be a store called Consumers there, which sold a bit of everything. At the time, I was mostly interested in the few toys that they sold, and even got a Transformers toy there once. There also used to be a book store, the name of which eludes me. There was Leoscorp Variety, and as the name suggests, they sold a bit of everything. Mostly, I went there as a child to look at the toys. There was an ice cream shop when I got older. A music store, located where Leoscorp used to be. And of course, Kit Hong.

All of them are gone now. It does not appear that this mall has really been a profitable place for any business, other than the supermarket. It used to be a Pathmark, but is not a Stop 'n Shop. 

It saddened me to see this latest place, the Kit Hong restaurant, close shop. I enjoyed eating there. Again, sometimes with the family, or with my then wife, and sometimes I took my son there. On at least one memorable occasion, I went there with a friend. He noticed this picture on the glass instantly, and started cracking up. He said that it looked like the one panda had just slapped the other across the back of his head, with the third panda off to the side gasping in shock. I had never really looked too closely, but I had to admit that he had a point. And I never saw that thing the same way ever again, even after many years. Obviously, that is not what the person who designed this had in mind, but it sure looked like that was what was happening here. It came to me once, not all that long ago (probably during one of my last visits to the place) that I should take a picture. Now that the restaurant is gone, I am glad that I did so!

In any case, it seemed like a good idea to post this blog entry in honor of the late Kit Hong restaurant in Kinnelon. Loved their egg rolls!