Delicious Gluten-Free Bites at Saan Saan Cafe

The other day I took my friend visiting from Toronto to eat in Vancouver's Chinatown. Well on the edge of Chinatown, dodging the homeless people along the way. 

Saan Saan Cafe has been open for over a year and it's a gluten-free cha chaan teng offering savoury and sweet items along with drinks from Hong Kong-style milk tea and yuenyeung (coffee and tea), to cocktails from Friday to Sunday.

The cafe is housed in a building that owner Eric Siu's multi-generational family lived in since 1950 when his grandparents moved in with his father and aunt.

After family members moved out, the building, which was constructed in 1904, fell into disrepair. Siu and his two siblings discussed for years what to do with the space and decided to turn it into a cafe.

It's extremely helpful that Siu is a practicing architect, though he says there was a lot more work that needed to be done, from replacing old pipes and installing new electrical wires.

The end result is a high-ceilinged space that is very welcoming and comfortable. The washrooms are also nicely decorated!

It's also helpful that Siu's siblings, Sarena is a registered dietician, and Jamie is a food scientist, to develop gluten-free items for the cafe.

The focus on gluten-free food is due to Siu's sensitivity which has resulted in him not being able to eat a lot of Chinese food in conventional restaurants; Saan Saan Cafe allows him and others to eat food they used to enjoy, or introduce it to friends or partners with celiac disease or other gluten sensitivities.

They started offering baked goods, like black sesame caramel, and pineapple coconut cookie, a mash-up between bolo bao and cocktail buns, and char siu triangle puffs. 

A few months ago they introduced a savoury menu and I finally tried them the other day.

We sampled the soy sauce chicken, which is pretty straight forward, some chopped chicken on a bed of rice. The chicken is tender, and has lots of flavour in every bite. It's a substantial portion which is good to share.

Another is curry fish balls which are usually made with gluten to give them their bouncy "QQ" texture. Here they are homemade and have more of a meatball texture. But with the delicious curry sauce and gluten-free, it's still decent and the sauce is a good way to finish off the rice in the first dish.

Our favourite has to be the prawn toast, a thick meaty chopped shrimp filling in between white bread that has been deep-fried and then sliced in half. It's slightly crunchy on the outside, and firm and slightly bouncy in the middle, and the sweetness of the prawns come through.

I had a glass of refreshing Ribena lime soda, my friend had the iced Hong Kong milk tea.

We were full by the time we finished everything and got some cookies (brown butter hojicha chocolate and pineapple coconut) to go.

Saan Saan Cafe

227 Main Street

Vancouver, BC