Cha Chan Tang translates to “tea cafe,” which is a common, casual type of restaurant originating in Hong Kong. With fast service and simple food, it’s like the Hong Kong equivalent of American diners. Due to the early British influences in Hong Kong, these cafes serve both Cantonese and Western food, or rather the Cantonese version of Western dishes.

The menu ranges from sandwiches and spaghetti to fried rice and bubble tea. We shared a pretty eclectic spread of different things. A plate of potstickers comes with a sweeter soy sauce for dipping.

I’ve never had satay sauce in noodles before, but this beef satay wide vermicelli was really good. I associate satay sauce with hot pot or grilled meat, but I think I will be ordering satay noodles more now.

You can’t ever go wrong with chicken wings, especially garlic and black pepper chicken wings. Crispy and juicy, these were quickly demolished.

My favorite and what I will come back for are the fried mantou. Mantou is Chinese steamed bread that’s usually a replacement for rice at meals. However, they can also be served almost as a dessert: fried and then dipped in condensed milk. The perfect mantou already carries a slight hint of sweetness to it, so I am usually light-handed with the condensed milk. It’s hard to find fried mantou, so I was very excited to see these on the menu. Definitely give this a try if you’ve never had it before!

Cha Chan Tang

45 Mott St (btw Pell St & Bayard St) New York, NY 10013