Cha chaan tengs have been around in Vancouver for decades, first taking root in Chinatown and then spreading around the city. With a recent further influx of Hongkongers, newer outlets have sprouted, welcoming immigrants with a taste of home.
Cha Kee
Located in a food court in Richmond, just south of Vancouver, Cha Kee always has a queue of devoted customers waiting patiently to get a taste of Hong Kong.
The all-day breakfast set meals are a good deal, such as Hong Kong-style satay beef with macaroni or vermicelli, with a fried egg, toast and a drink for CA$12. The creamy egg sandwich is very popular, featuring fluffy scrambled egg between two slices of toast, or there’s butter and condensed milk on toast, Swiss sauce chicken wings, and the more substantial scallion sauce chicken on rice.
While Hong Kong-style milk tea is a bestseller, there’s also Hong Kong-style hot coffee, and red bean milk tea.
Cha Kee is open Monday to Saturday, 9.30am to 4pm.
2/F, President Plaza, 8181 Cambie Road, Richmond, BC V6X 3X9
Ho Yuen Cafe
Opened more than a year ago, this cha chaan teng is in an industrial area in south Vancouver but has many regulars as it is near a park where people walk their dogs.
The bright yellow space is welcoming, and on the wall is a painting of Lion Rock between the skylines of Hong Kong and Vancouver. The cafe offers such signature items as satay beef in instant noodle soup, baked tomato sauce pork chop rice and the pineapple bun with a slice of butter, washed down with Hong Kong-style milk tea.
Customers can also eat homemade char siu, deep-fried chicken wings with salted egg yolk, as well as peanut-butter French toast and drinks like Ovaltine, Horlicks and soybean milk.
The cafe is usually open Monday to Saturday, from 9am to 4pm.
#113 – 1750 West 75th Avenue, Vancouver, BC V6P 6G2
hoyuencafe.cahoyuencafe.ca
@hoyuencafe
The Boss Bakery & Restaurant
Located in Vancouver’s Chinatown, The Boss has a large bakery in front where customers can grab items such as baked char siu buns, flaky pastry egg tarts, Swiss-roll cream cakes and curry beef puffs, while at the back are booths and tables that accommodate parties of two to 10.
The set lunch specials provide value for money, with a rotating menu that includes pork ribs with bitter melon in black bean sauce on rice, baked beef tongue on rice or a steamed pork patty with salted fish on top. With milk tea, coffee or lemon tea included, the price is less than CA$20.
Other items available are stir-fried beef with wide rice noodles, various congees and Singapore-style noodles.
Open 7am to 6pm daily and cash only.
532 Main Street, Vancouver, BC V6A 2T9
facebook.com/TheBossBakeryandRestaurantChinatown
New Town Bakery & Restaurant
Opened in 1980, this well-known Chinatown institution has a queue out of the door, particularly on weekends with people eager to buy baked goods. The large range of items makes it hard to choose, although the baked apple tarts are a must, along with the cocktail buns, BBQ pork buns and pineapple buns.
It can be difficult to get a seat at lunchtime, but if you’re willing to share a table you might be in luck. The menu is extensive, and includes BBQ duck noodle soup, beef brisket noodle soup, fish fillets congee, deep-fried spicy tofu and mains courses including prawns with spicy salt, steamed black cod fillets in black bean sauce and deep fried crispy chicken. There’s even an extensive list of vegetarian dishes, so no one comes out of this cha chaan teng hungry.
Open 6.30am to 7.30pm daily and cash only.
148 East Pender Street, Vancouver, BC V6A 1T3
www.newtownbakery.ca
Saan Saan Cafe
Last August Jamie Siu and his siblings opened Saan Saan Cafe in the same Chinatown space he and his parents and grandparents had lived for decades. They revamped the space and recreated a homey atmosphere with potted plants, wooden furniture and even a sewing kit in a cookie tin on the shelf.
The cafe only serves gluten-free baked goods. There’s the pineapple coconut, a cross between the pineapple bun and a cocktail bun in the form of a cookie, and the popular black sesame caramel cookie. There’re also mushrooms encased in triangular-shaped pastry and another filled with curry beef.
Items like prawn toast and homemade curry fish balls recently appeared on the menu and there are plans to serve lunch, brunch and even Cantonese-inspired cocktails.
Open Friday to Sunday, 10am to 4pm.
227 Main St. Vancouver BC
@saansaancafe
www.saansaan.ca
