Over the past week, one of Beijing's most famous gourmet streets, Lucky Street, has seen its worst hours in 2020.

The novel coronavirus was found on salmon cutting boards at Xinfadi wholesale market last week, and the city's restaurants have since been dealing with the most gloomy outlook.

"We went from a full house every night a week ago to just one table in an entire evening," Sogai Michiaki, head chef at Nishiki-Sogai Seafood Cuisine on Lucky Street, told CGTN. 

He said the restaurant was dealt the harshest blow he has ever known, and he was in China when the city was bracing for the SARS outbreak 17 years ago.

The restaurant that once featured sashimi, a Japanese dish of thinly sliced raw fish, has removed all raw seafood from its menu, and customers now ask for dishes thoroughly cooked.

"Grilled fish, roasted fish, stir-fried fish," Sogai Michiaki said.

He also said he is worried that it would be hard to win back Chinese customers. 

"Before, it was fifty-fifty for Chinese and Japanese guests," he said. "Now, it's almost exclusively Japanese guests."

He said if the grim situation continues beyond July, the restaurant might now survive through.

Sun Tao, owner of the more established Bodensee Kitchen on the street, is also worried about when customers will come back.

"The second or third wave of infections could prove even more lethal for restaurants; it would be even harder for the customers to recover their confidence in dining out," he said.

In a bid to adapt to the sudden change in circumstances, Sun has registered on several takeout platforms, hoping that food delivery will be a safe way to reach more customers.

"Every day you open up, you are bleeding money: the rent, the electricity bills, the salary of staff. We want to keep everyone on the payroll as long as we can," he told CGTN.

All restaurants in the city are now under even more stringent scrutiny in how they handle cleaning, disinfection and social distancing rules. Everyone in the catering industry must take nucleic acid tests, according to the municipal government.