Lam’s Garden Turns 50: An Orlando Dining Institution Celebrates Five Decades of Cantonese Culture

Lam’s Garden, Orlando’s longest-standing Chinese restaurant still serving Cantonese and Chinese-American classics, is celebrating more than 50 years at 2505 E. Colonial Drive with a months-long anniversary series honoring food, family and Cantonese culture. The celebration begins September 26 with a dim sum gathering for Orlando’s elderly community tied to the Mid-Autumn Festival, reflecting the restaurant’s emphasis on yum cha, reunion and respect for elders. Anniversary events will continue through Lunar New Year 2027 with an archival 1970s-inspired menu, mahjong night, a Cantonese breakfast set and a traditional lion dance.

Press Release below:

The East Colonial restaurant will launch its anniversary celebration by bringing Orlando’s elderly community together for dim sum, tea and a taste of a tradition built around connection.

ORLANDO, FL —  Before Orlando became a destination dining city, before food halls and tasting menus, Lam’s Garden was already here.

Opened at 2505 E Colonial Drive in 1975, Lam’s Garden is celebrating over 50 years as Orlando’s longest-standing Chinese restaurant still serving Cantonese and Chinese-American classics. On Saturday, September 26, the restaurant begins its months-long 50th anniversary celebration not with a party, but with a meal—bringing members of Orlando’s elderly community together for traditional dim sum cart service just in time for Mid-Autumn Moon Festival.

In Cantonese culture, yum cha—literally “drinking tea”—has always been about more than what is on the table. Dim sum is meant to be shared, lingered over and passed around. It is a social ritual that brings generations together, creating a reason to sit down, and stay awhile.

For Lam’s Garden, that tradition has particular resonance.

“Dim sum was never meant to be eaten alone,” says Chef-Owner Kwong Mai. “It’s about sitting at a table with other people. You pour tea for your elders. That’s what makes the meal meaningful.”

The September 26 gathering is rooted in that idea of connection. By inviting Orlando’s elderly community to share a meal, Lam’s Garden hopes to create a space for conversation and companionship while honoring the Cantonese tradition of caring for and respecting elders.

It is also a timely celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival, one of the most important traditional Chinese holidays.

“The Mid-Autumn Festival is about reunion. Fifty years of Lam’s Garden is about reunion, too—people coming back to the same place, sometimes with their children and grandchildren,” says Mai. “That’s the kind of anniversary we wanted to have.”

Walking into Lam’s Garden today is, in many ways, a walk through Orlando’s culinary past.

The dining room has remained relatively untouched, offering a glimpse of an era when Chinese restaurants were neighborhood gathering places. Dim sum carts still make their way between tables. Live seafood remains a fixture. Cantonese classics and Chinese-American favorites continue to anchor the menu.

And Chef Kwong Mai has been there to see the restaurant evolve alongside the city.

“You can change the city around a restaurant, but if people keep coming back, the restaurant becomes part of the city’s history,” says Mai.

That history will become the focus of Lam’s Garden’s anniversary campaign, which will continue through Lunar New Year 2027.

Over the coming months, the restaurant will introduce a series of events and experiences designed to revisit its past and celebrate Cantonese culture. Highlights will include:

• a limited archival menu inspired by recipes and prices from the 1970s, giving diners a chance to experience Lam’s Garden as it might have looked during its earliest years

• a mahjong night honoring a longstanding part of Chinese social life

• introducing a special Cantonese breakfast set, featuring savory and sweet items

• a traditional lion dance performance to celebrate the lunar new year

Lam’s Garden’s 50th anniversary is ultimately less about looking backward than recognizing the people who have carried its traditions forward.

For an independent restaurant to remain in the same city, serving the same culinary tradition, for half a century is increasingly rare. For Lam’s Garden, the anniversary is an opportunity to celebrate culture that has sustained it—and the Orlando community that has made it possible.

And for a restaurant built around bringing people together, there may be no better way to turn 50.

About Lam’s Garden

Established in 1975, Lam’s Garden is Orlando’s longest-standing Chinese restaurant still serving Cantonese and Chinese-American classics. Located on East Colonial Drive, the restaurant is known for traditional Cantonese cuisine, live seafood, dim sum cart service and a dining room that has retained much of its original character. Now celebrating its 50th anniversary, Lam’s Garden continues to honor the traditions and community that have made it an Orlando institution for five decades.

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