Toronto's first location of the fried chicken chain Hot-Star has shuttered permanently.
After five years of serving massive pieces of fried chicken at the corner of Yonge and Gerrard, the Taiwanese-based brand closed up shop at 374A Yonge Street, its inaugural location in North America.
The downtown store first opened in 2015, marking Hot-Star's first foray outside of Asia and its seventh franchise ever.
Its first week of opening (back when life was normal) saw the hungry crowds form massive lineups at the 16-seater.
There were massive lineups at Hot-Star's downtown location when it opened in 2015. Photo by Hector Vasquez.
It gained popularity in Toronto for its outrageous 30-cm-long fried chicken cutlets, which were invented in Taipei in 1992 and took the Shi-Lin Night Market by storm in 1999.
By 2017, Hot-Star launched a second location in North York. That location, along with a stall in Pacific Mall, reopened during lockdown last summer for delivery.
But Hot-Star downtown has remained close, and the 1,300-square-foot unit on Yonge has been up for sale since at $162,500.
0 comments:
Post a Comment