With a unique melding of Eastern and Western cultures, Hong Kong has long stood out as a culinary paradise.

But as business leaders and the special administrative region government ponder how the city could revive its fortunes in the post-pandemic tourism market, the city's catering business is facing a reality check.

Although the recent National Day Golden Week brought some respite with nearly 1.4 million visitors descending on the financial hub, including over 1.2 million from the Chinese mainland - a heartening 27 percent rise over the same period last year - eateries see an uncertain future in the face of perennial problems and a structural shift.

"In the good old days, Hong Kong's caterers and restaurants used to enjoy a roaring trade as many consumers would spend big on the back of the fast buck they had made in the red-hot stock market," recalls Winston Yeung Chun-nin, an executive director of Hong Kong-based Chinese restaurant chain, Fulum Group Holdings.

"Today is probably the toughest time we have experienced in two to three decades. But catering isn't the only business to have seen its heyday go by."

At the heart of the problem lies a structural and fundamental rollback in spending patterns as Hong Kong residents routinely flock to Shenzhen and neighboring cities for dining, shopping and entertainment.

The winds of change have been sweeping across a competitive landscape north of the Shenzhen River. It seems like only yesterday when deep-pocketed mainland spenders cleaned up the shelves of Hong Kong's drugstores and boutiques.

Just as Shenzhen's commercial skyline has become almost unrecognizable over the years, the country's new breed of "superconsumers" has now gone beyond mimicking the patterns of more sophisticated foreign shoppers to being trendsetters and innovators themselves.

The increasingly fickle and over-fastidious customers going after quality, fine services and experience have significantly contributed to the catering industry's rat race on the mainland.