Cha Chaan Teng Offers Taste of Home

A giant fluffy pineapple bun that's made on the premises

Hongkongers missing the taste of home can now to go to Ho Yuen Cafe, opened by the second-generation owner. The mural on the wall has Lion Rock in the centre, flanked by Hong Kong on the left and Vancouver on the right.

Over 60 years ago her father opened Ho Yuen, a cha chaan teng in Tsz Wan Shan, but in the 1980s the family immigrated to Vancouver and so he shut Ho Yuen. However, in Vancouver he opened two other Ho Yuen businesses in Richmond and Coquitlam. 

The interior is bright and cheery with Lion Rock

By 1996 her father retired, and the family returned to Hong Kong where she worked in marketing in the fitness industry. She met her husband, a personal trainer and they had a son.

She decided to go back to her cha chaan teng roots and in 2014 she revived the Ho Yuen brand by opening in Wong Tai Sin, and later Ho Yuen Bakery.

When Hong Kong invited tenders for food trucks, Ho Yuen Express was born and it was a baptism by fire, spending HK$1 million on the food truck and modifying it, and then quickly learning how some locations like Disneyland were better than others, like Kwun Tong.

In 2020 she moved back to Vancouver because of her special-needs son. And in the last few years she took her time looking at locations to open Ho Yuen Cafe.

The location is not high traffic at all -- it's in an industrial area near a park where people walk their dogs. Nevertheless, the bright cafe has large windows and a big kitchen where staff make everything in-house from the char siu to cookie-base egg tarts and pineapple buns. 

Satay beef noodles is another signature item here

One of the signature items is the pineapple bun which is really large and fluffy, complete with a giant slab of butter inside, and a cup of hot milk tea to wash it down.

If that's not enough carbs, a bowl of satay beef with instant noodles is delicious. The noodles have slices of tenderised beef and it's not too spicy, and the soup is comforting.

The owner is already thinking of expanding the brand down the west coast to Seattle and California, and it will be interesting to see if she can spread the culture of cha chaan tengs in North America.

Ho Yuen Cafe

113 - 1750 West 75th Avenue

Vancouver