Cha chaan teng or the ‘HK diner’ food culture has its origins back in the 1840s, when the impotent Qing rulers of China ceded Hong Kong to the British Empire. HK grew rapidly under the British, with an influx of foreign traders and companies who were confident of the colony’s potential.
The strong British presence, with their overwhelming political, economic and socio-cultural dominance in HK gave rise to a curiosity amongst HK’s Cantonese-Chinese populace with regards to British gastronomy. Food has always been central to the Chinese, not just for celebratory occasions or religious purposes (ritual food offerings), but also socially: when the Chinese get-together with their friends or relatives, it’ll inevitably be for a meal, and not much else.
But British food, in its original guise and manifestation, hardly appeals to fellow Europeans, let alone the culturally-introverted Chinese with their finicky Sino-centric dietary preferences. Thus were born cha chaan tengs and their Sino-Western dishes - most likely from the pre-war years onwards: tomatoey “borscht” soups sans beetroot, but with a dash of soy sauce to give an umami hit; deep-fried pork chops served atop rice, with a sprinkling of dark soy sauce; eggy French toasts slathered with peanut butter or jam, and drizzled with sweetened condensed milk, etc.
“Cha chaan tengs” became a ubiquitous feature of Hong Kong’s breakfast scene, delivering cheap, affordable quick meals to the city-state’s hardworking, oftentimes harried denizens. Then, as the HK diaspora spread throughout the world, so too their “cha chaan teng” culture: from Sydney to Singapore to San Francisco.
Trois Canon Cafe on Campbell Street is one of the leading purveyors of HK-style cha chaan teng breakfasts in George Town, Penang. 48-year-old Penang-born marine engineer-turned-cafe owner/chef, Danny Kooi, spent 17 years in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, before returning to Penang and starting this cafe in 2011, first in Chulia Street, before moving to its current location on 165 Campbell Street in July 2015.
The place exuded a frozen-in-time, retro HK-in-the-1950s feel, which most cha chaan tengs in Hong Kong seem to convey.
We dropped by for breakfast earlier this week:
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Borscht soup - this is the HK-style version, and bore very faint resemblance to the beet-flavoured Russian/Ukrainian originals. The tomatoey version, with beef stock, and with carrot, potato and cabbage bits, flavored with soy sauce, is created to suit the Cantonese-Chinese palate. Very flavoursome here, with a well-balanced sweet-sour flavour.
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Lumberjack breakfast set - which included ham, bacon, eggs, sausages, and kaya-butter toast.
All breakfast sets came with a choice of local coffee, tea, or a mix of both beverages (called “yIn yeung”) in one cup.
- *Ham-and-macaroni, accompanied by fried eggs and sausages, together with either toasted bread or bun slathered with ‘kaya’ (egg jam) and butter.
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Pork chop and scrambled eggs, with curry sauce - the crumbed and deep-fried pork chop was crisp on the outside, and moist on the inside. The curry was very mild and slightly sweet, more similar to British or Japanese curries than South-east Asian or Indian ones.
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Luncheon meat and fried eggs on rice - think of Hawaiian musubi served in a bowl: thick slabs of pan-fried Spam blanketed by sunny-side up fried eggs, sprinkled with fresh scallions and drizzled with thick, dark soy sauce. Some blanched “choy sum” greens with golden-fried shallots and oyster sauce on the side.
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Nissin instant noodles with sausages - this is oh-so-HK: their favourite brand of instant noodles, paired with frankfurters, a fried egg, and “choy sum” greens.
Owner-chef, Danny Kooi, is a loquacious, approachable raconteur. He also happens to be able to cook up a storm.
Address
Trois Canon Cafe
165, Lebuh Campbell (Campbell Street), 10100 George Town, Penang, Malaysia
Tel: +604-264 3168
Operating hours: 7.30am to 4pm, Mon-Fri, Sunday. Closed on Saturdays.
