Tanglin Make-Up Artist & Husband Open Legit Traditional HK Cha Chaan Teng

Located at the The Brooks I condominium in between Yishun and Upper Thomson, Friends Cafe has a queue forming even before it opens at 11.30am. Be prepared to wait for a table, or for your food; spacing is limited here and there’s not quite enough manpower for now to take orders quickly.

The cha chaan teng is opened by couple Vicky Lee, 32, and Keith Wong, 34. Vicky has been based here since 2007, when she moved from Hong Kong to Singapore for her studies at Kaplan. An only child, she was also tapped to help her HK-born mum out at her Cantonese restaurant called Wong Chiew, which was started in 1999 and specialises in roast meat and dim sum at Sembawang Road just a stone’s throw away from Friends Cafe. “No choice, my mum would feel very sad if she has to let go [of her restaurant due to a lack of manpower],” Vicky laughs.

Other than F&B, Vicky also discovered her interest in offering beauty services, and is now also a freelance make-up artist and brow embroidery technician who operates out of her home. “I worked on shows like Tanglin and [online video channel] Click Network with [a make-up collective called] Makeup Entourage,” she says.

After Vicky and Keith - who met during their studies in Australia - got married, they settled down in Singapore and had three kids. Keith, a trained construction engineer, also started working at Wong Chiew helping with “cooking, accounting and maintenance”.

But he shares that he has been working in the F&B industry for 15 years. “I was a barista and I worked at McDonald’s and in a kitchen making pizzas and so on,” he says. Which is why he’s also now the temporary head chef at his cha chaan teng till they find more manpower. He explains, “We can do everything ourselves here, so the cost is much lower. At Wong Chiew, we have to hire the masters to make dim sum and cook zi char.”

Despite being parents-of-three (with the youngest being only four-months-old), Vicky and Keith decided to open their own traditional cha chaan teng as they miss the food from their native Hong Kong. “The main thing is to make our lives here happier because we can’t go back to Hong Kong for now. We created the menu according to our taste buds,” Vicky says.

As for how they deal with their insane workload, Vicky reckons: “Like typical Hongkongers, we’re workaholics. We feel sinful if we stop moving, so Keith and I force each other to move!”

The couple “spent a lot of time and did a lot of research” before coming up with the look for their cha chaan teng. Even then, it was a challenge finding the right contractor to create a legit bing sutt. Vicky elaborates: “It took us two to three months to find someone to create our mosaic floor, because there aren’t many people who know how to stick the tiles, which were also custom-made to be the same as the ones in my grandmother’s house.”

Like in space-starved Hong Kong, the booth seats here can be lifted up to reveal hidden storage space. “And the mirrors on the wall are a must,” enthuses Keith. “We also fixed the lights ourselves.” Whimsically low-res photos of dishes and the menu are slipped under a clear glass panel on the tables, while the specially-made metal chairs are upholstered in an old-school emerald green shade.

While you can find cha chaan teng mainstays like French Toast ($3.50), Char Siew Macaroni and Chicken Chop Noodles (both $6.50 for a set with a side and buttered toast) here, the wallet-friendly menu is missing a conspicuous item: Hong Kong-style nai cha (milk tea). We were rather dismayed to find no milk tea or yuan yang (coffee and milk tea) offered here.

Keith explains that he’s waiting till he can hire more staff to brew and make tea. He says, “I’d rather not sell it for now, when we’re short on manpower. Details are very important - the staff need to be able to mix the tea and not make it too sweet. So I’d rather that we [serve our] milk tea later than have people say, ‘Wah, this is not good, I’m not coming back.’ (laughs)"

But you can find more unusual dishes here like Preserved Vegetable Beehoon with Pork and Spiced Pork Cube Noodles (both $6.50 set). “A lot of Hongkongers cry when they see this preserved vegetable beehoon,” laughs Vicky, adding that she uses Hong Kong-made bee hoon for the dish (unfortunately, it was unavailable during our visit).

She also plans to add bolo buns to her menu in the future. “My wife can make very good bolo buns, but we have no manpower ’cos we didn’t dare to hire more staff during this Covid-19 period. Everyone was asking us to sell bolo buns,” says Keith.

Unlike the teeny fishballs swimming in a vat of curry at Hong Kong’s roadside snack stands, Friends Cafe’s “premium” fishballs are enormous, bouncy orbs draped in a fragrant, tasty HK-imported curry sauce. The feisty sauce is so good, we wish we got more than a drizzle of it.

There are nine $6.50 set meal choices here, including this char siew macaroni. Each set comes with (rather dry) buttered toast, and your choice of a fried egg, scrambled eggs, luncheon meat, ham, sausage or a hash brown. Our bowl of tender marinated char siew with macaroni in creamy soup is comforting with a side of silky scrambled eggs.

Don’t expect skewered beef in this classic HK breakfast dish with the city’s famed Doll brand instant noodles; the ‘satay’ part merely refers to the satay marinade for the meat. The beef slices, while succulent, could do with more spiced oomph along with the too-light broth. You can opt to swap the Doll noodles for the more premium Nissin instant noodles.

Canned spiced pork cubes and soupy instant noodles make up this simple but popular HK-style dish (we ordered a slice of ham with our set). We’d get the eggs as a side next time; it would go better with the salty processed pork.

While there are no typical cha chaan teng drinks like milk tea and yuan yang here, the cafe offers a selection of Yuzu, Kumquat and Red Date Teas ($2.20 - $3), plus nourishing picks like Honey Lemon ($2.20) and Red Date Ginger Tea ($2.20). There’s also the dessert-style Red Bean with Ice Cream, a thick concoction with milk, cooked-down red beans and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Not bad, but we prefer the refreshing fizzy Pineapple Drink ($3) with fruit chunks.

Address: #01-18, 60 Springside Walk, S786020

Tel: 8621-1125

Opening hours: Open daily except Tues, 11am to 9pm

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Photos: Alvin Teo/ Friends Cafe