This is a Cha Chaan Teng, or Bing Sutt. The one in the photo above is the famous Honolulu Cafe on Wellington Street in Hong Kong, circa 2014. It is an eatery, native of Hong Kong, that serves meals at all hours of the day of a style of food we simply know as “Cha Chaan Teng” meals. There are noodles, breads, and other carb-heavy, inexpensive meals.
It can be a fast meal or lingering afternoon tea, or to wind down after work , or the end of an evening at the bars. Everyone goes into a Cha Chaan Teng, at all hours of the day. (this photo was taken at 6:30am. I had just landed in Hong Kong).
On the menu is usually Milk Tea, Coffee, and various other hot drinks. The name “Bing Sutt” or “Ice House” in Cantonese, refers to its lists of cold, iced drinks. Hong Kong has long, humid summers and before the city became the International Metropolis that it is, very few people had air conditoning. A read way to cool down and socialize is to attend your local Bing Sutt, order an iced drink and talk the evening away.
I am a native Hong Konger and I have watched the city change. I was there when it was a British Colony, when the first flux of immigrants left in the 80′s when it repatriated to China in 1997, SARS in 2003, and all the subsequent events since then.
I believe that a place’s history can be remember through its food and knowing the history behind them. I’m also an immigrant myself. I live in Toronto, Canada, and I’m desperately homesick.
I’ll walk down memory lane then, mine and the city’s - one dish, one flavor, at a time.
