{"id":43275,"date":"2026-04-10T14:13:42","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T06:13:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=43275"},"modified":"2026-04-10T14:13:42","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T06:13:42","slug":"how-a-chinese-takeaway-kid-brought-hong-kong-style-french-toast-to-london-with-a-twist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=43275","title":{"rendered":"How a Chinese takeaway kid brought Hong Kong-style French toast to London \u2013 with a twist"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Imagine this: a thick slab of golden-brown toast, topped with a perfect knob of butter melting slowly into the middle, finished with a drizzle of sticky golden syrup.<\/p>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">For many Hong Kong diners, this variation on French toast is a familiar sight and a staple on menus across many of the city\u2019s <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">cha chaan teng<\/span>. But don\u2019t expect Cantoast Bakery in London to follow the mould.<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cA lot of the time, I get questions from customers,\u201d says Haydon Wong, chef-owner of the pop-up bakery, which specialises in an updated version of the dish. \u201c\u2018What is salted egg?\u2019 or \u2018What is Hong Kong-style French toast?\u2019, which I feel like is the first step in getting people more curious.\u201d<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Cantoast\u2019s signature is made with rectangles of house-made milk bread that is deep-fried and cloaked in flavoured custards, such as pandan coconut, salted egg and black sesame.<\/p>\n<div class=\"image-inline-container e1a5rv550 css-1llrc1m e1yqhwb40\" data-qa=\"Component-renderMap-StyledDiv\">\n<div class=\"image-inline caption e1fvabeq0 css-19sk4h4 ea9pn0s0\" data-qa=\"Component-Container\">\n<figure class=\"image-inline caption ea9pn0s1 css-1vtntpq e1gf69pb0\" data-qa=\"ArticleImage-ArticleImageContainer\">\n<div data-qa=\"ArticleImage-handleRenderImage-ImageContainer\" class=\"css-0 e1gf69pb3\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Haydon Wong is the co-founder of Cantoast, a bakery in London specialising in Hong Kong-style French toast with a twist. Photo: Cantoast\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/img.i-scmp.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto\/sites\/default\/files\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/04\/09\/9b3e4208-21e6-4cb7-b365-46ff1fcab729_f76d3248.jpg\" title=\"Haydon Wong is the co-founder of Cantoast, a bakery in London specialising in Hong Kong-style French toast with a twist. Photo: Cantoast\"\/><\/div><figcaption data-qa=\"ArticleImage-DescriptionContainer\" class=\"css-1bj5zno e1gf69pb1\">Haydon Wong is the co-founder of Cantoast, a bakery in London specialising in Hong Kong-style French toast with a twist. Photo: Cantoast<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"image-inline-container e1a5rv550 css-1llrc1m e1yqhwb40\" data-qa=\"Component-renderMap-StyledDiv\">\n<div class=\"image-inline caption e1fvabeq0 css-19sk4h4 ea9pn0s0\" data-qa=\"Component-Container\">\n<figure class=\"image-inline caption ea9pn0s1 css-12vv9w2 e1gf69pb0\" data-qa=\"ArticleImage-ArticleImageContainer\">\n<div data-qa=\"ArticleImage-handleRenderImage-ImageContainer\" class=\"css-0 e1gf69pb3\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Cantoast\u2019s Hong Kong-style French toast comes cloaked in luxurious toppings such as golden salted egg yolk sauce, pandan coconut and cr\u00e8me br\u00fbl\u00e9e. Photo: Cantoast\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/img.i-scmp.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto\/sites\/default\/files\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/04\/09\/f74d0a6d-e16c-4660-8c9a-cdf9b418efab_2ecdf2ec.jpg\" title=\"Cantoast\u2019s Hong Kong-style French toast comes cloaked in luxurious toppings such as golden salted egg yolk sauce, pandan coconut and cr\u00e8me br\u00fbl\u00e9e. Photo: Cantoast\"\/><\/div><figcaption data-qa=\"ArticleImage-DescriptionContainer\" class=\"css-1bj5zno e1gf69pb1\">Cantoast\u2019s Hong Kong-style French toast comes cloaked in luxurious toppings such as golden salted egg yolk sauce, pandan coconut and cr\u00e8me br\u00fbl\u00e9e. Photo: Cantoast<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">\u201cAt a glance, Cantoast doesn\u2019t resemble the traditional cha chaan teng French toast at all,\u201d says Wong, adding that the philosophy of <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">Korean cafes<\/span> and Japanese bakeries has long inspired him.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/lifestyle\/food-drink\/article\/3349463\/how-chinese-takeaway-kid-brought-hong-kong-style-french-toast-london-twist?utm_source=rss_feed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Imagine this: a thick slab of golden-brown toast, topped with a perfect knob of butter melting slowly into the middle, finished with a drizzle of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43276,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[3048,107,7261,3569,871,12198,1833,14102,720,3904],"class_list":["post-43275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bored-interesting","tag-brought","tag-chinese","tag-french","tag-hong","tag-kid","tag-kongstyle","tag-london","tag-takeaway","tag-toast","tag-twist","wpcat-33-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43275","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=43275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/43276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}