The price – This is a big draw card for
many. While the items in the à la carte menu are reasonably priced, the set
menu is even more of a bargain. A set lunch – complete with soup, a main dish,
and tea or coffee - only costs about USD5.
The service – Except efficiency, there is
nothing else to boast about. The waiter slams a glass of “clear tea” (which is
what gives cha chaan teng its name) on the table as soon as the customer is
seated and then just stands there with a notepad in hand to put pressure on the
customer to place the order. No sooner has the waiter made off with the order
than the food is slammed on the table, as hard as the glass of tea a while ago.
Not that the Hong Kong customers would mind, though. They are well aware that
they are here only for the food they regard as fast, cheap and tasty, not the
service.
The ambiance – Well, it is a place with the
most rudimentary facilities for a meal. At lunchtime, which is when most of the
business is conducted, a cha chaan teng at a business district is like a
battlefield, with waiters making war cries and hurling missiles in the forms of
food and drinks. Not wanting to have their appetite affected, customers
knowingly avoid looking at the floor strewn with left-overs which the waiters
swipe from the table with a piece of greasy cloth, or glancing at the kitchen
which is equally unsightly. Again, the very pragmatic, understanding and fair
customers do not seem to mind, and as long as this is the case, there is never
any pressure for the cha chaan teng to make improvement.
So this is what makes cha chaan teng a
uniquely Hong Kong phenomenon. To be fair, the restaurant is exactly what Hong
Kong people deserve.
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