Cha chaan teng-style restaurant to put a twist on traditional dishes

Hongkongers are definitely not deprived of cha chaan teng. So it's odd that Margaret Xu Yuan (pictured), the founder of private kitchen Yin Yang and also Commune, which operates a couple of organic restaurants, is opening such a place in her first joint venture. Do we really need another cha chaan teng?

The restaurant, called Cantopop (a mish-mash of East and West), will open in April at L Place in Central.

The cha chaan teng-style restaurant will put a twist on the traditional dishes we take for granted. Ingredients will be sourced from local organic farmers and the restaurant will produce its own noodles and spam.

Xu got the idea after eating a particularly bad meal. 'I ordered scrambled eggs with tomatoes at a tea cafe. The egg was tasteless and they used tomato sauce instead of real tomato, then charged me HK$40,' Xu said. 'I can afford to do better if I'm charging people HK$40 for that.'

The joint venture was a natural move for Xu and Commune, whose co-founder, Todd Darling, is a long-time friend.

'He used to be my neighbour when I opened my deli [before Yin Yang]. He's good at dealing with business and I'll focus on creating menus.'