Hong Kong style cafe

[Ian_Lee]

Have you ever tried Hong Kong style cafe? It is now getting popular after dim sum restaurant in Shenzhen, Guangzhou and even Shanghai and overseas Chinatowns.

Some of the specialities are:

(1) Panty Hose English tea:

The English milk tea is made with pantyhose as filter.

(2) 鴛鴦:

A mix of coffee and milk tea.

(3) Pineapple Bun/chicken tail Bun/mini custard pie:

Usually out of the oven by 3 pm.

Lately under the influence of Macau there are some new additions:

(4) Pork Chop Bun:

Freshly pan-fried pork chop stuck between bun.

(4) Deep-fried pigeon:

Hand-sized young pigeon deep fried and served hot from the wok.

[Adam]

Those mini custard pies are gooood..

[Ian_Lee]

For a closer picture of min custard pie (egg tart), go see the picture here:

http://www.virtualtourist.com/m/36a1e/5d6/2/

The Tai Cheung Bakery (mentioned in the forum) is the favorite of Chris Patten who bought 5 dozens of egg tarts every time he went there.

[skylee]

The English milk tea is made with pantyhose as filter.

Not real pantyhose I suspect? A net or something which looks like a pantyhose perhaps?

HK style cafe is called 茶餐廳. Another of its specialties is 菠蘿油, a sandwich made of a pineapple bun with a thick slice of butter in the middle. Yummy.

I like egg tarts from 檀島餐廳.

[Ian_Lee]

My favorite at HK-style cafe is 架央 toast.

I believe 架央 is a kind of jam that is imported from SE Asia but which you can seldom find on the shelf of the supermarket.

However, every HK-style cafe has 架央 toast on their menu.

[Ian_Lee]

Actually I believe that HK-style cafe is a British legacy.

Even today construction workers still like to take a tea break at 3:15 pm and sip a cup of English milk tea and eat a piece of toast at these cafes.

[TSkillet]

it's a british leagacy - it's also a place where younger people in Hong Kong (especially in the 60s) could get their first taste of western food. or western-like food. my parents told me that corned beef and luncheon meat are popular in hong kong because when they wanted to try western food - that's all they could afford.

i personally like cha chaan tangs mainly for their operating hours, their lai yau duo si, their luncheon meat/fried egg instant noodles and the fact that my waiter is smoking a cigarette.

[Ian_Lee]

I heard that HK-style cafe is even a Mainland tourist hangout.

Many female tourists from Mainland, after watching Wong Kar Wai's movies, go to those cafes in Portland street and Sai Yeung Choi Street in Mongkok, and experience sitting amid pimps and hookers.

Probably they want to see if they can come across a pimp who looks like Andy Lau.

[Ian_Lee]

Here is the favorite HK-style cafe that Andy Lau, Fu MingXia and even Tokiwa Takako like to dine at:

http://news.chinatimes.com/Chinatimes/newslist/newslist-content/0,3546,110511+112004072100276,00.html

Lau's preference: Pineapple Bun

Fu's preference: Fish Ball "Funn" with broth made from shark's bone

[keith]

Everybody loves those Pineapple Buns, no matter celebrity or not!

The funny thing is there is no real pineapple in it, but OH MY GOD they are so terribly delicious!

I really do miss them cos I can't buy them here in the UK.

[Ian_Lee]

Now many HK-style cafes are opened 24/7.

They have also installed 42-in plasma/LCD TV.

Since HK legalized soccer gambling last year, frenzy has been building up on this new kind of sport gambling. So before or during some important soccer events, i.e. Euro 2004, fans would gather in these cafes to watch the game.

And most of these games won't be aired until deep into the night (i.e. Euro 2004 broadcasted at 3:45 a.m.) due to time difference.

[keith]

Oh ok, like the pubs in the Uk then. Only difference is the games are aired from 7 or 8pm normally, but then again we're in Europe lol so of course Euro 2004 and all CL games are aired around that time.

I'm just a bit confused now cos I though HK cafe stands for "Cha Chan Tiang" in HK, but if they install these LCD plasma screens for live broadcasts, don't they effectively become 'sports bars'?

[TSkillet]

They have also installed 42-in plasma/LCD TV.

I don't know which cha chaan tangs Ian_Lee is going to, but they ain't the same ones I go to - which are filled with chain smoking triads, prostitutes and tired cubbers at 4am.

[keith]

Hmmm it depends heavily on the district in HK.

I am aware Mongkok is very dodgy at night until dawn, traids and hookers roam the streets apparently.

On the other hand, the cafes on HK island are very "clean" in my opinion.

I heard someone say that the reason for this difference is: Kowloon is traditionally more working-class while HK island is more middle-class...

[TSkillet]

It's not dodgy at all. And Tsui Wah in Causeway Bay is equally filled with triads and prostitues at 4am.

[Jade]

Hi

My name is Julie and I am from Trinidad in the Caribbean and I would love to know the recipe to make pineapple buns and some others ,but for now pineappple buns. I tried making it this weekend it took me whole day in the kitchen and it did not come out good, it was like rocks which I can pelt and stone someone down with ,apart from being tasty and not look anything close to a bun. But I am not going to give up so please anyone help out this desperate fool here.

[Ian_Lee]

Hong Kong style cafe (cha chaan tang) is getting popular in Beijing. There are estimated 100+ cha chaan tangs in Beijing:

http://hk.news.yahoo.com/061021/12/1v16t.html

茶餐廳近年在北京異軍突起，據說已經有百多間，除集中在港人聚居和工作的朝陽區外，其他地區很多新落成的商業大廈都有標榜「港式」的茶餐廳開張。坐落在海淀一個居民區的山頂茶餐廳（據說是影星吳孟達投資），開業4年多以後，趁國慶長假期花費幾十萬元翻新。一些茶餐廳更做出品牌，開辦4、5家分店。

這些以「港式」為招牌的茶餐廳，裝潢比香港的茶餐廳講究，部分茶餐廳的座椅與餐具更可以與大酒樓媲美，奶茶8到10元、雲吞麵21至23元、碟頭飯20到30元，還有物有所值的燒味與老火湯，大部分提供1至4份香港報紙，是在京港人吃工作餐的好去處。

茶餐廳沒有本地人顧客是撐不住的，北京近年湧現大批高薪白領，是孕育港式茶餐廳的支柱力量，他們本來就是快餐文化的擁躉，加上港式因素，就是成就茶餐廳成行成市的原因。什麼是港式因素呢﹖價格與口味調校是所有餐飲業都要考慮的問題，而港式茶餐廳的獨特處在於，碟頭飯製作簡單但又不是預先製作的蓋澆飯，是快餐廳但又不是付款自領食物的食堂，美觀整潔又有服務員，更有一些非洋不土的食物配搭花樣。

港人憑經驗累積產出的「港式茶餐廳」模式目前在北京旺丁旺財，一間位於朝陽區商業大廈有400個座位的茶餐廳，早上有來吃18元早餐的顧客，中午有人排隊等座，晚上有人帶家人來吃便飯，通宵營業又能吸引唱完K的人來夜宵，據說一個月的營業額達到100多萬元。

[smalltownfart]

Hi

My name is Julie and I am from Trinidad in the Caribbean and I would love to know the recipe to make pineapple buns and some others ,but for now pineappple buns. I tried making it this weekend it took me whole day in the kitchen and it did not come out good, it was like rocks which I can pelt and stone someone down with ,apart from being tasty and not look anything close to a bun. But I am not going to give up so please anyone help out this desperate fool here.

The pineapple bun is basically similar to the so-called "Mexico bun" (bun with sweet thin yellow crust on top)

You can do a search or try this version (try replacing the sugar and coffee by using boiled-down pineapple syrup)

http://kuali.com/recipes/viewrecipe.asp?r=2252

[Koneko]

A mix of coffee and milk tea??

Not really my cup of tea, mate!

[Ian_Lee]

Koneko:

Why do you object it even before you try it?