Cha chaan teng

A cha chaan teng is a type of Chinese tea restaurant commonly found in Hong Kong, known for its eclectic and affordable menus which include many dishes from Hong Kong cuisine and Hong Kong-style Western cuisine. This type of restaurant is also popular in Macau. They can also be found in the Chinatown districts of many Western countries.

Name and description

Cha chaan teng establishments provide tea (usually weak tea) called "clear tea" (清茶 cing1 caa4), to customers as soon as they are seated. Some patrons use the hot tea to wash their utensils. The name, literally "tea restaurant", serves to distinguish itself from Western restaurants that provide water to customers instead of tea. The "tea" in the name refers to the inexpensive black tea, not the traditional Chinese tea served in traditional dim sum restaurants and teahouses (茶樓 caa4 lau4). Moreover, some cha chaan tengs prefer the use of the word "café" in their names.

The "tea" may also refer to those tea drinks, such as the Hong Kong-styled milk tea and cold lemon tea, which are very popular in cha chaan tengs. The older generations in Hong Kong use yum sai cha (飲西茶 lit. "drinking Western tea"), when dining in these restaurants in contrast with yum cha.

Some restaurants operate in chains such as Sun Chiu Kee (新釗記) and Tsui Wah (翠華).

Menus

Cha chaan teng serves a wide range of food, from steak to wonton noodles to curry to sandwiches. Both fast food and à-la-carte dishes are available. A big cha chaan teng often consists of three cooking places: a "water bar" (水吧) which makes drinks, toast/sandwiches and instant noodles, a "noodle stall" which prepares Chiuchow-style noodles (including wonton noodles), and a kitchen for producing rice plates and other more expensive dishes. The invention of drinks like yuanyang (鴛鴦), Iced coffee with Lemon (凍檸啡) and Coca-Cola with Lemon (檸樂) are often credited culturally to this style of restaurant.

(Pasta offered are often served with soup, though not being al dente very often; also the spaghetti might be offered stir-fried.)

Note 1: Common sauces available: tomato sauce (茄汁), black pepper sauce (黑椒汁), cream sauce (白汁), curry sauce (咖哩汁). However, the naming of sauce in a cha chaan teng can sometimes be misleading. Do not expect tomato sauce to be similar to that in tomato pasta. The predominating ingredient in the sauces is, not uncommonly, just starch.

Note 2: "Pineapple bun" does not contain pineapple or any of its derivatives. It acquires the name from the caramelised crispy topping, an outcome of baked syrup mingled with eggs. It is often served with a slice of butter. A "pineapple bun" served in this way is called Boh law yau (菠蘿油 lit. "Pineapple oil" where "oil" stands for the butter). Boh law yau often goes with drinks as a set meal and is popular among the male working class.

Note 3: Most cha chaan tengs charge an extra $1 or $2 for iced drinks, except soft drinks.

Note 4: Very rarely do any cha chaan teng offer espresso and its derivatives (e.g. latte, cappuccino). Instead, they boil coffee in stainless steel kettles. The taste can be intense (or bitter, if the beans used are of marginal quality) when drunk straight. One might consider it espresso-like but it does not offer much of an aftertaste. In addition, crema is not seen.

Note 5: Iced coffee is sweetened with syrup unless specified to the waiter.

Note 6: Most Cha chaan tengs use canned evaporated milk, but the customer can require condensed milk be used. Fresh milk is rarely used.

Note 7: When ordering a set, it usually accompanies a choice of tea or coffee on the menu. The actual choices offered are tea, coffee, Horlicks, Ovaltine, and Milo.

Table manners

Customers usually select their seats freely in a cha chaan teng, but in a crowded restaurant they have to share a table with strangers. During peak hours, waiters in a cha chaan teng will seat their customers, "packing" as many customers into the restaurant as possible. This practice of sharing table is called dap toi (搭檯 daap3 toi2 Pinyin: dā pèi) in Chinese. For example, they will seat two groups of three customers at a six-seat table, to avoid having a pair of customers sitting with a group of three people, leaving one seat vacant. Sometimes already-seated customers have to move to accommodate the business.

In most cha chaan tengs, customers call out their orders to a waiter, who will jot down the prices of the ordered food (sometimes also the names of the food in local short forms; for instance, lemon tea is recorded as "0T", see simplifications on written Chinese in Hong Kong for details) on a piece of card/paper provided to every group of customers. After the meal, customers present the card/paper at the cash register to pay the bill.

Set meals

A feature of cha chaan tengs are the set meals. There are various sets throughout the day for breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner. The lunch and dinner sets usually include a soup and a drink. Generally there is an additional HK$2 charge for cold drinks. Sometimes an additional HK$1 is charged for toasted bread.

Variations

Other kinds of local restaurant related to cha chaan teng in Hong Kong include chaan sut (餐室 lit. "meal chamber"), bing sut (冰室 lit. "ice chamber"), and bing teng (冰廳 lit. "ice dining room"), which a provide lighter and a limited selection of food than cha chaan teng.

In the old days, these eateries only sold different types of "ice", sandwiches and pasta but no rice plates. However, some of the restaurants bearing these titles today ignore the tradition, and provide all kinds of rice plates and even wonton noodles. Original chaan suts, bing suts and bing tengs, which can be regarded as the prototype of cha chaan tengs, are now scarce in Hong Kong.

Contents

Name and description

Menus

Table manners

Set meals

Variations

In media

See also

Notes

External links

Gallery