Cha's Restaurant with Shanghai Bloggers

Cha's Restaurant for "Cha canting" is the 1950's Hong Kong style diner on Sinan Road. It is a place I have heard many expat friends in Shanghai like to visit because they say the food is good and cheap and the line is worth it.

Instead of taking on the challenge of an epic wait, The Thirsty Pig (Jimmy Chang), Sugared & Spiced (Cindy Wang), and Buzz of Dining Secretary's Dumplings to Donuts met on a rainy Sunday right after opening at 11:30, beating the lunch rush. Actually, there is no actual waiting area in the restaurant, but the small entrance where patrons manage to tuck themselves into in anticipation of a table. We were seated at the back in a tight table where the menu was visible under the glass on the table. Never have being been to a Hong Kong style diner, The Thirsty Pig reassures us it looks exactly like the old diners in Hong Kong. Points for authenticity.

The food came out as quickly as it was ordered. The egg tarts did not come out until last, as is tradition. I will say that I have never tried typical Hong Kongese diner food, so bear with my newbie experience.




The Poached Chicken in Soya Sauce (50RMB) came out first. The meat was incredibly moist, tender, and cooked all the way through. The thin skin of the chicken had a slightly sweet tang to the otherwise salty dish. The chicken flavor was allowed to come clean through. The Homemade Curry with Beef Brisket and Tendon (40RMB) had a vibrant color and a strong, spiced flavor to match. It had large chunks of potato, carrot, and green pepper to compliment the incredibly tender and rich thickly-cut beef brisket. The potato and carrots were cooked all the way through and the green pepper still maintained some of its crunch. The curries at Cha's are supposed to be the household specialty. Cha's Fried Rice (32RMB) had bits of egg, cucumber, and a few shreds of salty cured meat in it. Just pour a bit of the curry sauce or more on a spoonful of fried rice and the curry flavors overpower and are carried by the rice, which simply offers a variety of textures (some crunch from the vegetables, softness from the bits of egg, and fluff from the rice) when eaten with the sauce. The Sweet and Sour Pork (32RMB) also left quite an impression with the exterior of the fried pork still being crunchy even after being on the table for some time. The Pineapple Buns (6RMB each), so named for looking like a pineapple although not containing any trace of it, were served with a giant tab of butter inserted in the middle. Seeing how much butter was put in the middle to give it a soft, buttery center to contrast with the more crunchy topping was kind of gross, but at least the pineapple buns were warm. It made it easy to spread the butter evenly, making them more satisfying.


To end the meal, we each had an egg tart (5RMB each). The crust was dense and baked just the way through tasting bland. The custard filling was bright, but a little runny. More effort was placed into maintaining an aesthetic expectation of bright-yellow custard filling instead of baking the tart the whole way through, even if it means some browning. The egg tarts at KFC are still a lot better, in my opinion.

The final bill came to 243 RMB for four people. Not too bad as we left absolutely stuffed. As we left the restaurant, the queue was taking up most of the entry space. So glad we did not have to wait through that. Cha's Restaurant is a solid choice for Hong Kongese dining and while some dishes were good, I may require a return visit to decide if it is really something I would wait in line for.

Sugared & Spiced and The Thirsty Pig going at it with their cameras
Cha's Restaurant 查餐厅. 30 Sinan Road, 1F (by Huaihai Middle Road) / 思南路30号1楼 (近淮海中路), Shanghai, People's Republic of China. 思南路30号,近淮海中路. +86 21 6093-2062. 11:00-02:00.