{"id":37565,"date":"2026-03-19T13:10:36","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T05:10:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=37565"},"modified":"2026-03-19T13:10:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T05:10:36","slug":"hong-kongs-cha-chaan-teng-history-designs-and-legacy-celebrated-in-new-exhibition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=37565","title":{"rendered":"Hong Kong\u2019s cha chaan teng history, designs and legacy celebrated in new exhibition"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Architect Charles Lai Chun-wai still had not finished his pork chop rice \u2013 a signature dish at For Kee in Hong Kong\u2019s Sheung Wan neighbourhood \u2013 when product designer Kay Chan Wan-ki lifted his melamine plate to read the inscription at the bottom.<\/p>\n

She shrieked when she saw the words she had been desperately seeking: \u201cMade in Hong Kong\u201d.<\/p>\n

Melamine tableware was a hallmark of cha chaan tengs \u2013 Hong Kong-style cafes like For Kee<\/span> \u2013 in the 1970s, sought after for its ceramic-like appearance, low cost, durability, and high resistance to water and heat. Chan had speculated that they were products of Hong Kong\u2019s thriving manufacturing sector, but lacked proof until that serendipitous lunch.<\/div>\n

\u201cSeeing that plate proved a theory that I\u2019ve been working on for months. I was ecstatic,\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n

Chan and Lai are co-curators of \u201cThe Cha Chaan Teng Codex \u2013 Tales of Invisible Designs\u201d, an exhibition exploring the visual languages, heritage and new interpretations of these cafes unique to Hong Kong. Put together in partnership with 12 other creators, the exhibition runs until July 31 at Gate33 Gallery in Kai Tak\u2019s Airside shopping centre.<\/p>\n

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Kay Chan (left) and Charles Lai stand among exhibits at the new exhibition. Photo: Elson Li<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


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Architect Charles Lai Chun-wai still had not finished his pork chop rice \u2013 a signature dish at For Kee in Hong Kong\u2019s Sheung Wan neighbourhood…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37566,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[8815,551,5727,808,5730,2284,3569,5010,4490,5728],"class_list":["post-37565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bored-interesting","tag-celebrated","tag-cha","tag-chaan","tag-designs","tag-exhibition","tag-history","tag-hong","tag-kongs","tag-legacy","tag-teng","wpcat-33-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/37566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}