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

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