Cha Chan Teng茶餐廳
When Hong Kong was ruled by British, most restaurants were specially designed for British and the food was really expensive. So, Cha Chan Teng appeared. Cha Chan Teng is a small restaurant which provides fast and cheap food. It was actually transformed from Chinese Café—「冰室」. Sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, pepper, chili sauce and toothpicks are put on the tables in Cha Chan Tengs.
The food is often a mixture of Western and Eastern.
 |
In most Cha Chan Tang, macaroni, rice vermicelli, instant noodles and fried rice are served. Coffee and milk tea mixture, lemon water and soft drinks are also available. Bread is served too, such as pineapple bun, cocktail bun and butter on toast. |
|
A typical menu includes:
- Noodles
- Wonton noodle
- Instant noodles with canned or preserved foodstuff, e.g. ham, pork luncheon meat, and preserved vegetables.
- Vermicelli
- Udon
- Pasta
- Rice plates (usually referred as 碟頭飯 , as the varieties offered by different cha chan teng are more or less the same.)
- 豆腐火腩飯 - Rice with fried tofu and BBQ pork tenderloin (豬腩)
- 雜扒飯 - Rice with assorted meats (usually ham, sausage, tenderloin-like beef).
- 火腿雞扒飯 - Rice with ham and chicken fillet, usually served with tomato sauce.
- 粟米石班飯 - Rice with creamed corn and deep-fried filet of garoupa.
- Bread and cake
- "Freshly baked" (either provided by a supplier or baked on the premises)
- 蛋撻 Egg tart, a tasty baked egg custard.
- 菠蘿包 Pineapple bun or 菠蘿油 (bor law yau), a steaming hot sweet bun stuffed with a slice of butter.
- 忌簾椰絲包 Bread with cream filling, topped with shredded coconut.
- 西多士 French toast - The local version is typically stuffed with peanut butter and deep-fried until golden.
- 油占多 - Butter and jam on toast
- Sandwiches
- With preserved foodstuff
- With fresh meat and vegetable e.g. Sandwich with tomato slices and beef
- Drinks
- Tea with milk (milk tea 奶茶) or lemon (lemon tea 檸檬茶)
- Coffee (咖啡)
- Straight (black coffee)(also known as 飛沙走奶 lit. fly sand run milk, 飛沙 means sugar-free, 走奶 means milk-free)
- With milk
- With tea and milk (鴛鴦)
- With lemon slices (檸啡)
- "Lemonade" (檸水) (not really lemonade, but water mixed with sweet syrup and served with lemon slices
|
Customers usually select their seats freely in a cha chan teng, but in a crowded restaurant they have to share table with strangers. During peak hours, waiters in a cha chan teng do help seat their customers, "packing" as many eaters in the restaurant as possible. This practice of sharing table is called 搭檯in Cantonese.
