His most famous guests included Queen Elizabeth II, actor Tom Cruise and former US President Jimmy Carter.
The restaurant ship Jumbo Kingdom was once a popular tourist attraction in Hong Kong - until last Sunday, when the 46-year-old ship sank in the South China Sea, according to the operating company.
It was dragged there after the restaurant ceased operations in Hong Kong in 2020 and after two years no successor use and no other operator could be found.
The company Aberdeen Restaurant Enterprises announced on Monday evening that the ship had become lopsided off the Paracel Islands under "adverse circumstances".
All rescue attempts failed and no one was injured.
The sea was 1,000 meters deep where the ship sank, making it "extremely difficult" to lift the wreck from the seabed.
The company is "deeply saddened by this accident," the statement said.
Engineers had previously made the ship seaworthy and all the necessary permits for transport had been obtained.
When asked by the FAZ, the operator did not say where the ship should have been taken.
The restaurant ship, which is based on the imperial Chinese architectural style, was opened in 1976 by the prominent casino entrepreneur Stanley Ho.
It has been the setting for several films, including Steven Soderbergh's plague film Contagion.
After the mass protests of 2019, which paralyzed tourism in Hong Kong, the operator reported a loss of around twelve million euros.
The restaurant was closed in early 2020 and may not have been open again due to the pandemic.
Hong Kong Prime Minister Carrie Lam ruled out this month that state funds would be used to maintain the ship.