Why Milk Tea in Hong Kong Tastes So Unique | City Bites Hong Kong Edition Ep2
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- Опубліковано 5 чер 2024
- Pineapple buns, egg tarts, and milk tea - you can get an authentic taste of Hong Kong just by visiting a Cha Chaan Teng. These Hong Kong-style cafes serve a plethora of dishes that’s both inspired by the east and the west. We visited the oldest existing Cha Chaan Teng in Hong Kong, as well as a newer one that’s trying to put a spin to the tradition.
This is the second episode of City Bites, Hong Kong edition, where we dive into the city’s unique food culture, and its roots.
0:00 How to make authentic HK-style milk tea
4:19 What locals love to eat
5:50 Giving Cha Chaan Teng food a twist
8:44 Should we reinterpret Cha Chaan Tengs?
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If you liked this video, we have more stories about regional food and drinks in China:
Cook and Eat the Freshest Fish on a Fishing Boat | City Bites Hong Kong Edition Ep1
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Why People Fly Across the World for Her Offal Congee | City Bites Shunde Edition Ep3
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Producer: Angie Hon, Cassie Fei
Videographer: Gavin Wong, César del Giudice, Erin Lo, Cassie Fei, Ryan Putranto
Editor: César del Giudice
Animation: Stella Yoo
Narration: Dai Qian
Mastering: César del Giudice
#hongkong #chachaanteng #cafe
What would be your go-to order at a Cha Chaan Teng?☕️
Pineapple bun ,macaroni soup and egg tart
I don't know how traditional it is, but a good one in Perth has a fried fish sandwich.
French toast (hong kong style) and of course lai cha (hot) 😍
Milk tea for sure😂
I want to try that Peking duck pineapple bun! and an Ovaltine egg tart. omg
They boil the tea dust in water which is similar to making chai. The strength of the tea is so strong, it can get up from the cup and walk away on its own! So you got to temper it with milk similar to chai. I've made HK style milk tea and chai at home because they are so similar. Only difference is chai is spiced.
So well said. Asians have so much in common in many things we do, yet we fight with each other and see one as inferior and another as superior. Hope we all can see each other in the eye and enjoy each other's cultures.
The British influenced both India and Hong Kong, took tea to India and added milk to the drink. The spice is Indian, the tea is Chinese but drinking with milk is typically British.
@@peterlee9691 unique east+west combination, a true global product and a beacon for the future.
@@peterlee9691 yeah it’s crazy how obsessive over tea British people were and the insane things they did for it. Like chill bro it’s literally just tea and now nobody even cares about it that much lol.
@@yusefkhan1752 speak for yourself a lot of people care about tea
I’m Nigerian, and black tea with evaporated/condensed milk just tastes like my childhood. There’s no pretending colonialism/imperialism didn’t happen, so it’s interesting to discover the cultural similarities across former British colonies and see what each culture did with it.
to be fair, Northeast Indians and Chinese have been drinking tea for millenia
@@thinkingcitizennot with condensed milk and evaporated milk though
Love this! Born in HK raised in USA. Listening to Cantonese is enjoyable ❤
Me too, Cantonese is dying 😭
I agree, but I know many other Chinese would disagree with that
Cantonese is a very unique, ancient and complex dialect. Too bad the ccp is trying to demolish it in china.
@@peteryeung111 to be fair, that's a bit of a harsh characterization of mainland china. implementing a standard dialect is something that the Republic of China under Sun Yat Sen did, way before the communists. today, no one is prohibited from speaking cantonese in china.
@@wed3k
don't worry - chaing kaishek ordered mandarin but dialects never die - don't cry
I think there's room for both. Traditional is comfort, the new style is adventurous and exciting.
I am Indian and this is my FAVOURITE thing in HK! Reminds me of Indian Chai. I can also order it in Cantonese as was taught to me by my best friends growing up in Vancouver.
Does it taste same ?
@@rahusphere yes chai in India is a British thing. Chai is an Urdu word that comes from Persian. “Cha-ee” they put an -ee sound at the end of it. Irani, englesi, amriki. Chai is an Indian pronunciation of a Persian word. Biryani, naan, paneer are also Persian origin Indian words that describe food.
@@yusefkhan1752 dude, do you know where the Persians got their "Chai" from?
@@yusefkhan1752 and no, chai is not a British thing; they stole it.
@@kithaupang Yes they got it from China during the silk road trade. It has nothing to do with Indian tea or Chai at all LOL
I personally like both. Depending on the mood I would love the unbeatable traditional flavors. Other times I want something new, a creative twist to traditional favorites in a more comfy modern setting. But I think actively we should support the traditional ones. New modern ones will come whether we ask for it or not, but the traditional ones, those are a dying breed and we will miss it more and more.
nice name
I have visited HK a few times from Tokyo and I will ALWAYS seek out these small family run establishments as they are authentic and I value tradition very highly. The new re-twisting of old favorites by the new owners is important too. Things evolve but I hope there will always be somewhere you can savor traditional food and drinks.
I am from California. I first tried HK milk tea in 2019 by accident. I fell in love with it. Upon a return trip in January 2020, I made sure to visit the oldest place that you showed. I miss HK milk tea. I think it’s good for newer versions. But older, traditional cafes should not disappear.
hi phong
not only the carts the food itself:-
spare ribs used to be bell pepper n salted black bean n the orange plum sweet sour types but now only the black bean but no garlic or celentro or bell pepper - so short cut n cut corner - no orange type any more
the charsui used to be grilled now looks bake n boil n soaked it syrup - those in san francisco hawaii asia is still old style - los angeles sucks
the kung po chicken used to be blackened red pepper, cube bamboo shoot black mushroom peanut n onion - now it's only peanut
they cut the ingredients, time, tlc, packaging ...
old dim sum/food disappear - go extinct - boo hoo
i tried it the first time in 2021 at a dimsum shop! the barista and i had fun talking about HK vs other milk tea types, and how much bitter we could handle. after 3 visits there i knew i couldn't dip under their 50% sweet.
@@bobevans9996 you talking about the dim sum style that they push cart around??
Lies again? Drink Tea Heal Cancer
I think Cha Chaan Teng's are the embodiment of evolving. Hong Kongers took a cuisine that wasn't originally theirs and drew from western inspiration to create a fusion of western-like dishes that you would never find in the west. In the same vein, evolving cha chaan teng's are pushing that needle forward and are embracing changes in the world as we as a society also evolve. Pretty interesting gray area of trying to draw a line between what can be considered a cha chaan teng, but there should be room for both tradition and growth.
Being a native HK-er now living in the US, this series brings me joy and nostalgia. Please keep up the great work! ❤
Watching this gave me an overwhelming feeling to visit my homeland, I can barely remember Hong Kong, I was only there for a short while as a child before moving to the US.
I love the question of whether or not to re-interpret cha chaan tengs. I think both the super-traditional and the new-twist ones are valuable; I would personally love to order from Tai On; some of the flavor combinations in their menu items really amazed me. I saw a "cokeccino" on the menu and I'd LOVE to try that, plus the Ovaltine egg tart, the Horlicks capuccino and the Peking duck pineapple bun; they all sound amazing. I hope they can find the right balance between tradition and new items.
I also loved the four essentials for cha chaan tengs: 1. counter, 2. folding chairs, 3. flies (!) and 4. foul language! that's so very real and human.
For a simple perfect milk tea. 1. Tea Dust (1 Tbsp) 2. Everyday Full Cream Powder (3 Tbsp) 3. Sugar (1 Tbsp) 4. Hot Water. Method: a) Put tea dust on 1.5 mug boil water (stainless steel mid size mug) b) Stir the tea awhile. Put in finest mesh strainer and pour to and from times, clean away fine tea dust. The ready tea, add in sugar and full cream powder stir well. The add another empty mug, pour in and and out till blended well. Milk Tea is ready to drink. Remove foam from the pour
Where can you get "tea dust?" Is it sold by that name? I don't think that I have seen that on shelves of any Chinese stores that I frequent.
@@TScott-zx8gt You can probably just grind loose leaf black tea if you have any or boil teabags with black tea as those are usually in a finer ground form.
What brand is good?
Tea dust is not sold to consumers usually because it is the dust broken off from tea leaves at the bottom of the barrel. Tea leaves is much more priced. They sell tea dust to coffeeshops rather than throw it away. It is like broken rice. People don't want to eat broken rice usually. It is sold to food service industry to turn it into congee, rice cakes etc. Tea leaves is better and you can still make more concentrated tea with tea leaves. Just soak it longer.
The original fusion food. Cha Chaan Teng are also being exported to places outside Hong Kong.
Here in Melbourne, new Cha Chaan Teng are being opened and appear to be doing very good business.
Man I really want to visit Hong Kong because of these videos. Also, I think tradition is important for keeping in touch with your identity but culture evolves. Keep the old and allow the new.
Awesome episode! Good to see Hong Kong's unique Cha Chaan Teng featured!
i am such a tea head. and anything that has to do with tea peaks my interest. China really has a strong and interesting culture revolving around tea and I am glad they are taking newer approaches to making it and not afraid of experimentation. Although there is always a special place in my heart for traditional Chinese tea, these ones in the video are really good to have from time to time.
I am a sucker for tradition and think that the cha chaan teng's should be preserved and food kept the same! I know the change reflected in the second place is to deal with current times and will probably draw the younger generation in because its "fancier" and more "instagrammable" but I think its nice to keep to the tradition. Or, I hope that the original cha chaan teng's will always stay in business and there will always be people that love them and don't just support the new and improved.
Hard to keep traditions alive though imagine all the thousands of Chinese foods lost to history. Gov should support imo
I'd say maintain both, have ur traditional fare and the more modern setting, both will do well I reckon
In Hong Kong, there is definitely room for both, as long as the food and price are acceptable. The problem is the old ones do not always meet the minimum cleaning standard or the new ones have horrible new style food at outrageous prices.
The best food in the greater China area are in Hong Kong + Canton Province.
LOVE the Cantonese !!!
I used to work in a Hong Kong cafe, learned a lot of cooking and various fast eats. Thanks for this video, brings back good memories.
Not enough credit to the editor. Damn it's so well done
I don't why the second place can't have the classic dishes as well as a specials menu for the new dishes, the items on this menu can change according to popularity or seasons... a great way to keep people interested to try new flavours. The best of both worlds...
And I don't see why people would complain that this particular place doesn't have traditional items when there are many other cha chaan tengs they can go to that still serve the these types of foods...
Agree with you on that last one. We can and should have both co-exist :)
So so so so well made! The videography, and commentary was super inviting despite it not being my culture!
Quite lowkey but I think it’s actually a really important subject matter too! In terms of striking the balance between maintaining traditional treasures and evolving with the times ❤
Great episode, love it!
The best OG videos in youtube🙌
Those shots are so good! Especially in the restaurant 💕 thanks for sharing!
Thanks for covering this!!! Love Hong Kong ❤
There are 2 forms of these restaurants 冰室 (Bing Sat) for mostly drinks and simple food items and 茶餐廳 (Chan Chaan Teng) full blown meals to offer but now they are mixed up
I love your series, well done!
焗豬扒飯啦！The best of east meets west. Baked pork chop rice is the best !
I think the new and old style can co exist, the market is huge enough. Why we need to pick a side when we could just pick whereever we like whenever we like?
I come from a country with important culinary tradition, like you guys. If you can maintain and attract interest (from the locals and abroad), evolving is a wonderful with, that expands new tastes and even pushes forwards the traditional version. A culture that can keep both versions is a culture that is on the right track. Food is culture and promotes social cohesion and dialog. Those little bites and great tea drinks look amazing!
This was fantastic! I take a middle position. The tradition needs to be recorded, acknowledged, and maintained where possible, but innovation and change is the way forward. I love seeing this type of work. Would love to visit HK one day, but until then, I can only try to recreate part of it in my kitchen. Especially milk tea and pineapple buns.
Well said
I loved this video! My family is from HK and whenever we visit, I always make everyone go eat at a Cha Chaan Teng. I do believe that the Lan Fong Yuen brand now sells bottled milk tea in the States now. Excellent video and definitely made me hungry for all the foods.
Great clips and great interviews
Love the presentation and the cartoony elements of the video 😄
I was born and raised in Australia. Family isn't even from Hong Kong, but whenever I visit it feels extremely familiar.
This is the place I want to eat when I travel anywhere. Good, cheap, local food. Milk tea is amazing ❤☕❤
Beautiful video I love the contrast between the traditional dishes and the more modern ones
If I ever go back to HK I definitely want to check both of these places out!
This video was very well done, subscribed.
Traditional all the way - just simple comfort food - fast and easy. Can't wait to go to Hong Kong to try their authentic milk teas ☕ Thank you for this episode 🙂
That's a steep price for a lava egg tart. It's even more expensive than some of the expensive layered cakes. Normal egg tart costs about 5 HKD. I’ve seen fancier ones costing around 20 HKD. Cha chaan teng supposed to be cheap eats.
Some people are confused
Just because you want to hang on to tradition doesn't mean that your stuff has to be old and dirty and shabby
Take the Japanese onsen tradition for example
Most onsen places in Japan have been modernized and outfitted with modern day quality of life upgrades
But no one in their right mind would say that these new types of onsens aren't traditional Japanese culture
You can carry on the HK CCT traditions without having cramped spaces or oily floors
Miss HK! Thanks for making interesting nostalgic yet relevant content 👍
amazing video! personally i love to see modern takes on classics but the tradition should be protected and taught
So interesting. i would love to visit hong kong and try it out sometime. Great video! love it
both are needed! the cha chaan teng near my pohpoh's place has been there FOREVER and i love it... but i also want to come try the new places now on my next visit!!!
Something that is tradition was once a new thing that people loved and kept around for an extended amount of time.
New things can become future traditions ;)
Both is good :)
Thank you for sharing
This video has a sense of positive energy and make people feel that living in the moment. p.s.I love these animations!!!
The Italians also put macaroni (+ other pasta) in their soup.
Only in the US (+ it's sphere of influence) is mac + cheese popular.
Great video Angie! I miss Hong Kong so much. Here in Halifax, Canada I can’t get many of the traditional dishes of Hong Kong. I can make the macaroni breakfast spot on my self but not the milk tea. Will be back soon and can’t wait to get some authentic milk tea and try a few of the new dishes you showed in the video as well! 😊
Hello from Airdrie, Alberta! Look up "A Classic Hong Kong Diner Dish That Came from British Rule" here on youtube. A chef named Lucas Sin breaks down how to make milk tea (as they did here as well). But, I've found it helpful in figuring out how to make milk it's helped me to get closer!
This is home. My mouth can feel the flavours when the tea was being made
Just want to say the girl is so cuteeeee, look at her face when satisfied by the egg tarts lol
It depends on who the person is. But I'd say in one or two more generations, traditional will become even more a very niche thing because of the cost.
Some think of traditional as "the right way" and scoff at change. The reality is everything is an evolved version of what came before it and their "traditional" is maybe one to three generations old. The majority don't live or eat like previous generations. Good and bad, It will change to be closer to sustainable in our time and still be tasty. Those unwilling to adapt will likely close down and disappear faster than the rest.
Well said, I agree
HK Milk tea is the best. Smooth with rich aroma of tea leaves
lot of "old Hong Kong style" info,,,,food is what I craved the most while I have been away 😭😭😭😭
thanks for the wonderful episode
Big props to the video editor, amazing work!! 🤩
I think both the old and new Cha Chaan Tengs can somehow work together, just like music.
I don’t know how but I definitely believe it will work!
Thanks Angie, great video! The place in YMT is soooo interesting, great find! Even McDonald's has pretty great HK Tea -- do they still provide free refills? I used to get 4-5 refills and get completely buzzzzzzed whenever I landed in HK.
Love the tradition, please don't mess with simple comfort!!
Nothing better than a good milk tea, honestly not possible to replicate at home...
Hong Kong has my favourite cuisine
To answer the last question in this video, I personally like the traditional recipes. However, I know my (adult) children and my wife would like the varieties. As long as the traditional flavours are still available, my opinion is Tei On will do well, attracting different demographics to dine there.
My family and I live in Canada. The next time I visit HK I definitely will eat at Tei On....lunch and dinner!!!
I visit Cha Chaan Teng in Toronto at least 2 to 3 times per week. I just love drinking the HK milk tea. Food wise, anything from a Cha Chaan Teng is good. However, if I can finish my meal with a warm Egg Tart that would be a dream come true.
I already have Tei On website and location saved on my cell phone. Just got to hop onto an airplane......
Any good cha chen tang recommendations in Toronto??
@@tomliuyt The best one recommended is the Garden Hong Kong Cafe on Kennedy south of hwy 7 in the plaza where T&T is.
Their address is 28 South Unionville Ave. Unit 1035. Same plaza as the Langham Square. The reason i can only refer to it as recommended because a few times i went the line up was very long. There is a Hong Konger UA-camr claims they have the best HK milk tea around as well. The recommendation was be thre early (i failed). In the same plaza there is The Big Trio. Its a chain of 4 restaurants used to be known as Wonton Chai but has this new name now after the owners split up. Personally i think they have the best wonton and beef tripe noodles. All the best in your foody adventure.
Milk tea looks strong tea and milk mix . delicious. Tradition is always best
Enjoyed the vid
Been to HK for years since the 90s...where alot of cha chan tengs.
I still preferred the old school types cos this is what HK culture about. But also there should be newer and evolving cha chan tengs for the new generations..
Now I am craving tea !!!
really well produced food film !
女老板好赞👍 中意你的坚持品味
i love the script. Well written
I just love Hk's 茶餐厅.
I have discovered this restaurant about a year ago and since then I have gone over 20 times it is so cool to see this restaurant featured on UA-cam as well for the global audience. I am proud to see this place receive the attention it deserves as a local Hong-Konger. If you get the chance definitely visit milk tea there I recommend asking for extra milk as well.😊
the first shop owner is charismatic
We use to eat at this chinese restaurant some weekends, I always ordered Nai Chai, thats what they called it. It's like a milk tea poured over ice. Delicious, I have replicated it and there's a Store in australia called Hi Tea that makes it
this was great
How sweet way of describtion very well
I have one very nice one near me in Morley, Perth call Kowloon Cafe.
I love their tea and baked rice
Whenever I travel, I always tried the local eatery, street food, I never understand why people will travel abroad and go to Starbucks, McDonald's etc. Try new taste while you have a chance! I spend almost 2 days per month visiting either Hong Kong or Macau from 2011-2013 because I had to "exit" China via the 6 months tourism visa because the school I was teaching in China were too cheap to get me a teaching permit. So I get to try all sort of street food, cafe like in this video. This is the Hong Kong I missed, + the late night outdoor shopping, you can buy just about everything!☺️
Lan Fong Yuen is the best. When I lived in Sheung Wan a went at least twice per week.
i find the milk tea in a HK tea cafe, is very similar to the indian "Teh Tarik" or pulled tea, i think the relationship is that both India and HK were under British Colonional rule and many British have servants of Indian or Chinese origins...who learn to make tea for their masters and hence their style of tea making and the sweetness of the tea and the amount of "creaminess" and milk added is very similar.
however the Indian pulled tea, has more forth and bubbles due to the effect of transfering drink to and fro
9:30 阮小儀 🤣
Love this episode! Keep them coming!!!
As a Canadian born Chinese, 查餐廳 has always intrigued me after I learned about them later in my life. I think both should coexist together; both modern chains like Coral and local ones can cater to different audiences (ie. having chains that serve modern twists on old classics, coexisting with the old school traditional places).
我覺得香港咁大個城市一定會夠人想保持茶餐廳嘅文化，最大個問題就係如果政府開始加啲限制落去，例如帶排擋而家唔再renew啲牌
Can't wait to try an authentic milk tea when I visit HK (from USA)
I guess I would love both: keep the original food as must have items. Then, create new ones for people to try out. Over the last 20 years, when I flew back to Hong Kong , I would visit these cha chaan tang for milk tea, egg tart , french toast, ham-eggs(extra creamy and fluffy) sandwich.
Cha chaan teng is similar to kopitams in malaysia and singapore. Though I am not really sure what really constitute as Kopitam, It's is quite blur in the state I live in. Because some places refer to themselves as kopitam but they don't sell kaya toast but sells noodle soups or stir fry noodles.
Nice and Warm
Me being born in the 60s era would still prefer the traditional style. We can never forget the good old days. At the sametime bringing in some changes tend to add a bit of life and vibrance into a Cha Chaan Teng. After all its not just a place that we dine but also to socialise. Food, comfort and atmosphere are important to make customers keep coming back for more.
Hk milk tea will always have a unique place in my heart..
Makes me want to go back to Hong Kong for a small taste of the past
Good job nggie
Love the milk tea !! Unique to HK
احب شاي با الحليب 💓خصوصآ اذا كان شاي اسود بنكهة الهال ☕️🫖انا اشربه كل يوم
Great video. Nothing stays the same it either evolves or gets stagnant.
No one cooks the same today as 100 years ago. So HK restaurants/Snack Shops, will have to evolve as well!
Well done video
I would go to the traditional one. He says it is not cozy but that looks like the definition of cozy to me.