Cha Chaan Teng in Hong Kong: How to Order, What to Get & the Best Classic Ones

Finding the best cha chaan teng in Hong Kong is less about one perfect address and more about knowing what to order once you sit down. A cha chaan teng (茶餐廳, literally "tea restaurant") is the city's everyday diner: cheap, fast, crowded, with a menu that runs from wonton noodles to baked pork chop rice to French toast. Below are four classic ones worth crossing town for, then everything you need to order without freezing at the counter.

The four classics worth the queue

Each of these is listed by the Hong Kong Tourism Board, and each does one thing better than the rest. Pick by what you want to eat.

Australia Dairy Company, 47-49 Parkes Street, Jordan. Founded in 1970 and named for a founder who had worked on Australian farms, it is the place locals bring up first when they argue about scrambled eggs. Order the scrambled eggs with thick buttered toast, then the steamed milk pudding. Service is famously fast and brusque: a study of the restaurant put the average visit at around 10 minutes. Do not take it personally, and do not linger.

Kam Wah Cafe, 45-47 Bute Street, Mong Kok. Open since 1973 and best known for its pineapple bun with a slab of cold butter tucked inside (the bun has no pineapple; the name comes from the cracked sugar crust). The egg tarts are the other reason to go. It is an easy stop on a day of things to do in Mong Kok.

Mido Cafe, 63 Temple Street, Yau Ma Tei. Open since 1950, on the corner of Public Square Street, and the most photogenic of the four: wooden booths, stained glass windows and the original wall and floor tiles. It has appeared in films including The World of Suzie Wong and Wong Kar-wai's Days of Being Wild. It closed suddenly in July 2022 and reopened that October, so it is still very much going. Head for the upper floor if there is space, then walk down Temple Street; our Ladies' Market vs Temple Street Night Market comparison covers what comes next.

Lan Fong Yuen, 2 Gage Street, Central. The name everyone attaches to Hong Kong-style milk tea, the smooth "silk stocking" kind strained through a cloth. It also has a branch in Tsim Sha Tsui if you are staying in Kowloon. Gage Street is just off the Central streets on our self-guided Central walking tour.

How a cha chaan teng works

• You may share a table. At busy times staff will seat strangers together. It is normal, and nobody expects conversation.
• A cup of weak tea arrives when you sit. Wikipedia's entry on cha chaan tengs notes some regulars use it to rinse their chopsticks and spoons. Copy them if you like; you don't have to drink it.
• It is fast. Food usually lands within about five minutes, and a typical sitting is 10 to 20 minutes. Know roughly what you want before the waiter arrives. Hong Kong redditors warn you can get hurried along if you take too long to order.
• Sets are the easy option. Breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea sets bundle a main, a drink and often toast or soup. If the menu feels like too much, point at a set.
• Cold drinks often cost a little more than hot ones. That is not a tourist charge, it is just how the menu works.

Ordering like a local: the drink codes

Cha chaan teng staff use shorthand to keep up, and regulars use a few set phrases. You don't need any of them, but they help. Here are the ones worth knowing, in Cantonese romanisation:

• Nai cha: Hong Kong-style milk tea, black tea with evaporated milk. The default order.
• Cha zau: milk tea made with condensed milk instead of evaporated milk and sugar, so it is sweet without added sugar.
• Yuenyeung: half coffee, half milk tea. It sounds odd and it works.
• Dung ling cha: iced lemon tea. On a menu or order slip you may see it written as "0T" or "OT", because the zero sounds like the start of the word for lemon.
• Zau bing: no ice. Useful if you want a cold drink that isn't watered down.
• Fei saa zau naai: no sugar, no milk. This is how you get plain black coffee or tea.
• Gaa dai: extra rice or noodles in your dish, usually for a small extra charge.

Other drinks invented or popularised in cha chaan tengs: Coca-Cola with lemon, salted lemon with 7 Up (a local cold remedy), and red bean ice with evaporated milk.

What to order: the dishes worth trying

For breakfast:

• Scrambled eggs on toast, soft and creamy, on thick white bread. Australia Dairy Company is the benchmark.
• Macaroni in soup. It looks strange to a Western visitor and is a completely standard cha chaan teng order.
• Satay beef noodles or instant noodles with a fried egg and luncheon meat.

For lunch:

• Baked pork chop rice: a pan-fried pork chop on egg fried rice, covered in tomato sauce and cheese, then baked. The defining "soy sauce Western" dish.
• Wonton noodles from the noodle station, which many larger cha chaan tengs run alongside the main kitchen.

For afternoon tea:

• Hong Kong-style French toast: two slices of bread sandwiched with peanut butter or jam, dipped in egg and fried. It is rich, so share one.
• Pineapple bun with butter and an egg tart. Kam Wah Cafe does both.
• Toast with condensed milk and butter, the cheapest sweet thing on the menu.

Four of these are officially recognised: milk tea, yuenyeung, the pineapple bun and the egg tart were added to Hong Kong's first Intangible Cultural Heritage Inventory in 2014.

Cha chaan teng vs bing sutt

You will also see the term bing sutt (冰室, "ice room"). These were the earlier cafes that sold cold drinks and light Western-style snacks, and from the 1950s and 60s many grew into full cha chaan tengs as demand for cheap Hong Kong-style Western food took off. In practice a bing sutt today is usually a smaller, older-looking cafe with a shorter menu (fewer rice plates, more toast and drinks). Mido Cafe is both.

Tips before you go

• Avoid peak meal times. Queues form outside the famous ones at busy times, lunch especially. Mid-morning and mid-afternoon are easier.
• Carry some cash as a backup, in case a smaller cafe does not take your card.
• Chains count too. Café de Coral, Maxim's and Fairwood are the big chains that have taken over much of the market. They are fine for a quick meal, but go to an independent for the real thing.
• Want the bigger picture? Our guide to what to eat in Hong Kong covers the noodles, roast goose, dim sum and street food to fit around your cha chaan teng stops.

Quick answers

What does "cha chaan teng" mean? It means "tea restaurant". The name set these cafes apart from Western restaurants that served water: a cha chaan teng gives you tea, and its menu is built around milk tea and lemon tea.

What is the best cha chaan teng in Hong Kong? It depends on what you want. Australia Dairy Company for scrambled eggs, Kam Wah Cafe for pineapple buns, Lan Fong Yuen for milk tea, Mido Cafe for the old-Hong Kong room.

What should I order at a cha chaan teng? Milk tea or iced lemon tea, plus scrambled eggs on toast for breakfast, baked pork chop rice for lunch, or French toast and a pineapple bun in the afternoon. If in doubt, order a set.

Is there a good cha chaan teng in Tsim Sha Tsui? Lan Fong Yuen has a Tsim Sha Tsui branch. Australia Dairy Company in Jordan is also one MTR stop up the Tsuen Wan line from Tsim Sha Tsui.