Cha chaan teng

Cha chaan teng (), often called a Hong Kong-style cafe or diner in English, is a type of restaurant that originated in Hong Kong. Cha chaan tengs are commonly found in Hong Kong, Macau, and parts of Guangdong. Due to the waves of mass migrations from Hong Kong in the 1980s, they are now established in major Chinese communities in Western countries such as Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Likened to a greasy spoon cafe or an American diner, cha chaan tengs are known for eclectic and affordable menus, which include dishes from Hong Kong cuisine and Hong Kong-style Western cuisine.

Popular cha chaan teng dishes include fried eggs, pastry chicken pies, and baked pork chop rice with ketchup as an ingredient. Guests frequently order black coffee or black tea with canned milk. Therefore cha chaan teng has also been translated as "tea restaurant". The setting is casual; Hong Kong construction workers as well as sharp-suited bankers frequent cha chaan tengs.

After the Second World War, Hong Kong culture was influenced by British culture. The working-class Hongkongers became influenced by European customs, milk was occasionally added to black tea, and sometimes accompanied by cakes, sandwiches, or other kind of foreign confectionery. The set up of cha chaan tengs targeted a local audience. Providing different kinds of Canto-Western cuisine and drinks at low prices was regarded as "soy sauce Western food" (豉油西餐). causing "soy sauce western restaurants" and bing sutt (冰室, "ice rooms") to turn into cha chaan teng to satisfy the high demand of affordable Before 2007, most cha chaan tengs allowed people to smoke, and some waiters would even smoke when working. Since 1 January 2007, Hong Kong law prohibits smoking within the indoor premises of restaurants.

In April 2007, one of the Hong Kong political officers suggested that cha chaan teng be listed in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists, because of its important role in Hong Kong society. On 19 December 2007, lawmaker Choy So Yuk proposed, during a legislative council session, that Hong Kong's cha chaan teng be recognised and put up to UNESCO as an "intangible cultural heritage of humanity". The proposal came about after a Hong Kong poll found that seven out of ten people believed the cafes deserved a UNESCO cultural listing. However, despite these proposals, cha chaan teng was not added to UNESCO's lists.

Name and description

The name, literally "tea restaurant", serves to distinguish the restaurants from Western restaurants that provide water to customers instead of tea. 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 this hot tea to wash their utensils, a common custom in Hong Kong. The "tea" in the name refers to inexpensive black tea, which differs from the traditional Chinese tea served in traditional dim sum restaurants and teahouses (茶樓).

The "tea" may also refer to tea drinks, such as the Hong Kong-style milk tea and iced lemon tea, which are served in many cha chaan tengs. The older generations in Hong Kong refer to dining in these restaurants as yum sai cha (飲西茶; lit: "drinking Western tea"), in contrast to going yum cha.

Some cha chaan tengs adopt the word "café" in their names. This is especially the case when located in English-speaking countries where they are commonly known as "Hong Kong-style cafes" and are instead best known for their serving of yuenyeung and Hong Kong-style (condensed milk) coffee.

Culture

thumb|250px|Table-sharing etiquette sign at a cha chaan teng (Hong Kong)

Fast service and high efficiency

Usually, tea restaurants have high customer turnover, at 10–20 minutes for a sitting. Customers typically receive their dishes after five minutes. The waiters take the order with their left hand and pass the dishes with their right hand. This is said to embody Hong Kong's hectic lifestyle. During peak periods, long queues form outside many restaurants.

Long working hours

The staff in a cha chaan teng work long hours, sometimes also night shifts.

Trend

Because of the limited land and expensive rent, cha chaan tengs are gradually being replaced by chain restaurants, such as Café de Coral, Maxim's, and Fairwood. As chain restaurants dominate the market, Hong Kong's cha chaan teng culture is disappearing. They are, however, increasing in popularity overseas, with many opening up in Cantonese diaspora communities as a casual alternative to more traditional Chinese restaurants.

Common phrases and abbreviations

To speed up the ordering process, waiters use a range of shorthands when writing down orders (essentially, a Cantonese equivalent to the phenomenon of American diner lingo).

The character (spoken as ', meaning 'opposite') is used to represent (, meaning 'white rice').
"0T" stands for lemon tea (0 reads as , which is phonetically similar to the first word of lemon (, ) and phonetically identical to how most Hong Kong people now pronounce the word (') as a result of lazy sounds. "T" stands for "tea").

Customers similarly use special phrases when ordering:

(, ) or (, ) ― To order cold drinks without ice
(, ) To have the drink prepared without coarse sugar/powdered sugar (the "sand") and milk, when ordering coffee or tea
( ) ― Hong Kong-style milk tea without sugar; condensed milk is used to replace evaporated milk for sweetness instead
(, ) ― For extra rice or noodles in a dish, typically costs extra
(, ) ― For rice or noodles in a dish to be stir-fried

Menus

thumb|right|250px|Two menus, one on the board and another on glass, in a in [[Sheung Shui, Hong Kong. No rice plates can be seen on the menus.]]

thumb|right|250px|[[Hong Kong-style French toast]]

thumb|250px|right|A typical breakfast, eggs and a bun, including a cup of silk-sock milk tea

thumb|200px|[[Yuanyang (drink)|Yuanyang, mixture of coffee and Hong Kong-style milk tea]]

A cha chaan teng serves a wide range of food, from steak to wonton noodles to curry to sandwiches, e.g. Hong Kong-style French toast. Both fast food and à-la-carte dishes are available. A larger 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.

Food and drinks

thumb|Soup macaroni in Hong Kong

Drinks

The invention of drinks like yuenyeung (鴛鴦), iced tea with lemon (凍檸茶), and Coca-Cola with lemon (檸樂) is often credited culturally to cha chaan tengs.

Coffee: Two types exist, instant and in powder form, the latter being more common. Often served with condensed milk, especially overseas.
Black coffee: Hongkongers usually called this zaai fe (lit. "just coffee", emphasising its plain texture) or "fei saa zau naai" (lit. "get rid of sand and milk", i.e. coffee without sugar (the "sand") and milk)
Hong Kong-style milk tea:
Boiled water with egg (滾水蛋): A raw egg added into boiled water. It is usually drunk with white sugar.
Red bean ice: A drink with red bean, evaporated milk, and ice
Soft drinks: Coca-Cola, 7 Up, Fanta, and cream soda are some common selections.

Adding ice in a drink may cost an extra fee. Some people simply ask for a glass of ice.

thumb|Different variations of egg tarts

Snacks

Toast: This includes toast with condensed milk and butter/peanut butter, toast with jam and butter, toast with butter in a sliced form, and Hong Kong-style French toast
Sandwich: Sandwiches found in cha chaan tengs usually include egg, ham, corned beef, Spam (or other luncheon meat), or a mixture of any as a filling. Club sandwiches are also very common. A difference between the sandwiches found in cha chaan tengs and other eateries is that only white bread is used. The customer has the option of omitting the crust of the bread, and requesting that the bread be toasted before making their sandwich.

thumb|A menu posted outside a cha chaan teng in [[Tsuen Wan, advertising buffet service]]

Buffet

Some cha chaan tengs have moved to a buffet style of service. Fei Du Du Cha Chaan Teng, owned by Stephen Cheng in Tsuen Wan, was the first known cha chaan teng to move to a buffet style, on 1 March 2013. The idea originated when Cheng, facing high rent, decided to try a new method to run his business to compete with the high inflation rate. With reported success, several other restaurants also switched to buffet style.

Customer reception seemed generally positive, as prices decreased. One customer from Sham Shui Po said the meal was almost 70% cheaper than the food served in the industrial regions nearby.

In media and popular culture

The similarities between the different set meals were satirised by My life as McDull, a McDull movie.
As an important part of Hong Kong culture, cha chaan teng is featured in many Hong Kong movies and TV dramas:
Featured in popular sitcom Virtues of Harmony, a TVB-made soap opera tells the story of a family who runs a cha chaan teng, usually boasting the egg tart and "silk-stocking milk tea" produced by them.
Stephen Chow played a cha chaan teng waiter in the 1998 comedy The Lucky Guy (行運一條龍), and a cha chaan teng meal-delivery-boy in King of Comedy (喜劇之王) in 1999.
Some beverage companies put the term cha chaan teng on their products, such as "cha chaan teng milk tea" and "cha chaan teng lemon tea".
MC Cheung's 'Loser' music video was filmed in a real bing teng in Yau Ma Tei in 2021. He acted as a staff in it.
Keung To's role in the 2022 Hong Kong film Mama's Affair.

References

External links

A comprehensive gallery of the cha chaan tengs found in Hong Kong
Recommended List of Cha Chann Tengs in Hong Kong