Cha chaan teng: Difference between revisions
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The '''''cha chaan teng''''' (''lit.'' tea restaurant), sometimes called ''cha dong'' (茶檔 ''lit.'' tea stall), is a kind of [[fast-food restaurant]] commonly found in [[Hong Kong]]. Many people regard the ''cha chaan teng'' as a characteristic Hong Kong product: it provides something of everything - both Chinese and Western (modified) food - and offers efficient, though not perfect, services to the customers. |
The '''''cha chaan teng''''' (''lit.'' tea restaurant), sometimes called ''cha dong'' (茶檔 ''lit.'' tea stall), is a kind of [[fast-food restaurant]] commonly found in [[Hong Kong]]. Many people regard the ''cha chaan teng'' as a characteristic Hong Kong product: it provides something of everything - both Chinese and Western (modified) food - and offers efficient, though not perfect, services to the customers at very affordable prices. |
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The "tea" referred to in the name of ''cha chaan teng'' is not the traditional Chinese tea, as in the case of ''cha lao'' (茶樓 ''lit.'' tea tower, the traditional Chinese restaurants). The "tea" may refer to the inexpensive [[black tea]] in brown plastic cups provided to the customers, as soon as they are seated, by the restaurants (many customers use the tea, usually call ''tsing cha'' (清茶), to wash their eating tool, instead of drinking it). Or it may refer to those tea drinks, such as the [[Hong Kong-styled milk tea]] and lemon tea, which are very popular in ''cha chaan tengs''. Also note that the older generations in Hong Kong use ''yum sai cha'' (飲西茶 ''lit.'' drinking Western tea) to mean eating at a Western restaurant, in contrast with Chinese-style ''[[yum cha]]''. |
The "tea" referred to in the name of ''cha chaan teng'' is not the traditional Chinese tea, as in the case of ''cha lao'' (茶樓 ''lit.'' tea tower, the traditional Chinese restaurants). The "tea" may refer to the inexpensive [[black tea]] in brown plastic cups provided to the customers, as soon as they are seated, by the restaurants (many customers use the tea, usually call ''tsing cha'' (清茶), to wash their eating tool, instead of drinking it). Or it may refer to those tea drinks, such as the [[Hong Kong-styled milk tea]] and lemon tea, which are very popular in ''cha chaan tengs''. Also note that the older generations in Hong Kong use ''yum sai cha'' (飲西茶 ''lit.'' drinking Western tea) to mean eating at a Western restaurant, in contrast with Chinese-style ''[[yum cha]]''. |
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Revision as of 17:38, 18 October 2005
The cha chaan teng (lit. tea restaurant), sometimes called cha dong (茶檔 lit. tea stall), is a kind of fast-food restaurant commonly found in Hong Kong. Many people regard the cha chaan teng as a characteristic Hong Kong product: it provides something of everything - both Chinese and Western (modified) food - and offers efficient, though not perfect, services to the customers at very affordable prices.
The "tea" referred to in the name of cha chaan teng is not the traditional Chinese tea, as in the case of cha lao (茶樓 lit. tea tower, the traditional Chinese restaurants). The "tea" may refer to the inexpensive black tea in brown plastic cups provided to the customers, as soon as they are seated, by the restaurants (many customers use the tea, usually call tsing cha (清茶), to wash their eating tool, instead of drinking it). Or it may refer to those tea drinks, such as the Hong Kong-styled milk tea and lemon tea, which are very popular in cha chaan tengs. Also note that the older generations in Hong Kong use yum sai cha (飲西茶 lit. drinking Western tea) to mean eating at a Western restaurant, in contrast with Chinese-style yum cha.
Food
The cha chaan teng serves a wide range of food, from steak to wonton noodle to curry to sandwiches. A big cha chaan teng often consists of three cooking places: a "water bar" which makes drinks, toasts/sandwiches and instant noodle, a "noodle stall" which prepares Chiuchow-style noodle (including wonton noodle), and a kitchen for producing rice plates and other more expensive dishes. A few famous cha chaan tengs only comprises a water bar (水吧) and a cake display, though. The invention of drinks like yuanyang (鴛鴦) and Iced coffee with Lemon (凍檸啡) are often credited to the cha chaan teng.
A typical menu is shown as follows:
- Noodles
- Wonton noodle
- Instant noodles with canned or preserved foodstuff, e.g. ham, pork luncheon meat, preserved vegetables.
- Vermicelli
- Udon
- Pasta
(Pasta offered are often served with soup, though not being al dente very often; also the spaghetti might be offered stir-fried.)
- Rice plates (usually referred as dip tou fan (碟頭飯), as the varieties offered by different cha chaan teng are more or less the same.)
- 豆腐火腩飯 (lit. Tofu and fire pork's tenderloin rice - Rice with fried tofu and BBQ pig's tenderloin (豬腩)
- 雜扒飯 lit. Assorted steak rice - 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. (See note 1)
- Bread and cake
- "Freshly baked" (either provided by a supplier or baked by the cha chaan teng itself)
- 蛋撻 Egg tart, a tasty baked egg custard.
- 菠蘿包 "Pineapple bun" (See note 2) or 菠蘿油(bor law yau) a steaming hot sweet bun stuffed with melted butter inside.
- 忌簾椰絲包 Bread with cream filling, topped with tiny slices of coconut
- 西多士 French toast
- Sandwiches
- With preserved foodstuff
- With fresh meat and vegetable e.g. Sandwich with tomato slices and beef
- "Freshly baked" (either provided by a supplier or baked by the cha chaan teng itself)
- Drinks (See notes 3-7)
- Tea with milk (milk tea 奶茶) or lemon (lemon tea 檸檬茶)
- Coffee (咖啡)
- Straight (black coffee)
- With milk
- With tea and milk (鴛鴦)
- With lemon slices (檸啡)
- "Lemonade" (檸水) (not really lemonade, but water mixed with sweet syrupwith pieces of sliced lemon added)
- With lemon (e.g lemon coke 檸樂, lemon 7-up 檸七, lemon Ribena 檸賓)
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 fabricative. Do not expect tomato sauce to be similar to that in tomato pasta. The predominated ingredient in the sauces are, not uncommonly, starch only.
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 dairy 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: Never do any cha chaan teng offer espresso or its derivates (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 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 or condensed milk(rarer). Fresh milk is rarely used.
Note 7: Unlike the original flavour, lemonade, or rather "lemon water", offered is actually water plus syrup with lemon. It is not carbonated.
Table manners
Customers usually select their seats freely in a cha chaan 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 dap toi in Cantonese. For example, they will make two groups of three customers seated at a six-seat table, to avoid having a pair of customers sitting with a group of three people and one seat left vacant. Sometimes already-seated customers have to move to aid the "packing".
In most cha chan tengs, customers shout their order 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") on a piece of card/paper provided to every group of customers. After their meal, customers will present the card/paper to and pay at the cashier.
Set meals
A feature of cha-chan-teng is that there are a lot of set meals. In the morning there are various breakfast sets, during lunch lunch sets, in the afternoon tea sets, and in the evening dinner sets. Each lunch or dinner set usually includes a soup and a drink (usually an additional HK$2 is charged for cold drinks, which some people regard as an unfair practice).
Other sets include "nutritious set" (which usually includes a bottle of milk), "light set", "constant set" (which is provided all day long and is not subjected to changes, thus "constant 常餐"), "fast set"(快餐) and "special set"(特餐).
However, these sets are very often similar in their contents - which My life as McDull, a McDull movie, once made fun of.
In popular culture
An important part of Hong Kong culture, the cha chaan teng has been the scene of many local movies and TV dramas, such as the popular sitcom Virtues of Harmony (《皆大歡喜》). The 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 also played a cha chaan teng waiter in the 1998-comedy Lucky Guy (《行運一條龍》).
Products
Some beverage producers use the words cha chaan teng to name their products, such as "cha chaan teng milk tea" and "cha chaan teng lemon tea".
Variations
Other kinds of local restaurant related to cha chaan tengs in Hong Kong include the chaan sud (餐室 lit. meal chamber), the bing sud (冰室 lit. ice chamber), and the bing teng (冰廳 lit. ice restuarant), which provide lighter types, and a less variety, of food than the cha chaan teng does.
For example, a bowl of wonton noodle cannot be tasted in genuine chaan suds or bing suds, or bing tengs. Moreover, most of them sell different types of "ice", sandwich and pasta but no rice plates. Original chaan suds, bing suds and bing tengs, which can be regarded as the prototype of cha chaan tengs, are scarce in Hong Kong today.