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Bernice Chan

Saan Saan Cafe, a place for Hong Kong-style dishes at the edge of Vancouver’s Chinatown, feels nostalgic and contemporary at the same time.
The high ceiling and pale-pink painted walls make the space feel airy, while leafy plants in Chinese ceramic pots and a dark-blue Kjeldsens butter cookie tin filled with sewing items behind the counter evoke the past.
The building in which the cafe is housed has been in founder Eric Siu’s family for decades; his grandparents first settled there in 1950 with his father and aunt.
“I learned how to cook rice here, I have my grandmother’s wok. I remember playing outside in the backyard with broken pots that you couldn’t use any more,” Siu, 43, recalls with a chuckle.

After the remaining relatives moved out, the building, constructed in 1904, fell into disrepair. Following many years of discussion, Siu and his two siblings decided it was time to turn the space into a cafe.
The project involved extensive renovations, including installing new pipes and electrical wiring.
While the work was being done, Siu and his younger siblings Sarena, 38, a registered dietitian, and Jamie, 33, a food scientist, discussed the theme of the cafe and what they should serve.
“We went back and forth with different concepts but ultimately ended up with this Hong Kong-style cafe concept because we felt that it was very nostalgic and reminiscent of the foods that we remember growing up,” Siu says.


“I went to Chinese school here in Chinatown, and so did my sister. I would go to the [now closed] Hong Kong Cafe with my grandmother for the apple tart. And my babysitter would pick me up from kindergarten, and she would bring me there too.
“She would give me a ham sui gok [fried glutinous rice dumpling] and a cup of coffee,” he adds, joking about how he was caffeinated at such a young age.
Saan Saan Cafe is named after Siu’s late mother, who was born in Hong Kong. The menu features nostalgic Hong Kong-style drinks such as milk tea, Coke with lemon and lemon tea.
There is also a selection of baked goods that offer fresh takes on classic Hong Kong items, such as the pineapple coconut – a cross between a pineapple bun and cocktail bun in a cookie – the tea-coffee mix yuen yeung mochi brownie, and the curry beef pastry.
We thought, what would happen if we adapted the foods we remember growing up so people with food sensitivities could enjoy them as well?
Eric Siu, founder of Saan Saan Cafe, on its gluten-free fare
Although they smell and taste familiar, all the menu items are gluten-free, much to the delight of customers with gluten sensitivities and other food allergies who have been unable to eat such treats for years.
It is an issue Siu is all too familiar with.
“For me personally, I’m allergic to sesame oil and sesame seeds, which basically rules out all Chinese food. I can’t even go to dim sum any more. Like, how alienating is that?” he says, recounting how, at a recent dinner with extended family, he was not able to eat most of the items spinning by on the Lazy Susan.

Siu realised he was not alone when it came to food sensitivities; his dietitian sister was familiar with patients being unable to have certain ingredients.
“And so we thought, what would happen if we adapted the foods we remember growing up so people with food sensitivities could enjoy them as well?”
Siu says the cafe has helped some customers introduce non-Asian partners who may have coeliac disease – an autoimmune condition aggravated by eating gluten – or other gluten sensitivities to the food of their childhood.

The cafe has a deep fryer it uses only for gluten-free food preparation, so it can make dishes such as prawn toast and fried chicken wings for diners with food sensitivities. The cafe also makes from scratch curry fish balls containing no wheat or nuts.
Many ingredients used in Chinese food contain gluten, including soy sauce, hoisin sauce, chicken stock, wheat noodles, the cornflour used to tenderise meat, wonton wrappers and even steamed rice rolls.
That gluten-free ingredients are continuously improving in terms of flavour and texture is helpful for Siu and his siblings. “We’re fortunate to be operating at this time, because when I started this gluten-free journey, back in 2013, everything tasted like cardboard,” Siu says.


The cafe is currently open Fridays to Sundays, but the siblings have bigger plans going forward, namely to offer lunch and brunch items and, when they have the right team in place, move towards opening five days a week. They also aim to eventually offer cocktails with Cantonese flavours.
In the meantime, Siu is encouraged to see people of all ages coming into the cafe and not only enjoying the food and drinks but the space.
“It’s so cute when someone you know is third generation [Chinese-Canadian] brings their grandma,” he says. “[They’re] sitting at the table and they’re enjoying milk tea, and they’re looking around [the cafe] and talking about all of these different items that they remember.”

“You’ll have people that are my age, or a little bit older, who would come down and say, ‘Oh my gosh, I totally remember the cookie tin. Is that a sewing kit?’ I’m like, ‘Yes, how did you know?’,” Siu adds, referring to the Kjeldsens tin behind the counter.
Siu lives above the cafe, and opening it has given him more opportunities to visit his father, Gary, who still operates a pharmacy down the street.
“It was a good feeling for him when he first came here, when the renovations were done, and he would just stare out the window,” Siu recalls. “He said, ‘Yeah, I remember looking out the window like that when I was a kid.’”


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Menu items at Saan Saan Cafe in Vancouver. Photo: Saan Saan Cafe

Eric Siu, founder of Saan Saan Cafe in Vancouver Chinatown. Siu’s experience being allergic to sesame oil inspired him to serve gluten-free Hong Kong-style dishes. Photo: David Peng

Eric Siu’s paternal grandparents in the early 1960s, outside the building where Saan Saan Cafe is now. Photo: Saan Saan Cafe

High ceilings contribute to Saan Saan Cafe’s airy feel. Photo: Saan Saan Cafe

A neon sign provides a touch of nostalgia at Saan Saan Cafe. Photo: Saan Saan Cafe

A black sesame caramel cookie, a cup of Hong Kong-style milk tea, and a pineapple coconut cookie at Saan Saan Cafe. Photo: Saan Saan Cafe

Saan Saan Cafe founder Eric Siu (right) with his brother Jamie and sister Sarena. Photo: Saan Saan Cafe

Siu outside Saan Saan Cafe in Vancouver Chinatown. He says the gluten-free ingredients available are far superior to those he used to buy when he started his gluten-free journey in 2013. Photo: David Peng

Potted plants and tins behind the counter at Saan Saan Cafe. Photo: Saan Saan Cafe

Siu and siblings have big plans for Saan Saan Cafe, including extending the menu and opening hours. Photo: Saan Saan Cafe

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Food & Drink

At Saan Saan Cafe, Hong Kong milk tea, chicken wings and fish balls feature on a ‘very nostalgic’ menu catering to diners with dietary needs


At Saan Saan Cafe, Hong Kong milk tea, chicken wings and fish balls feature on a ‘very nostalgic’ menu catering to diners with dietary needs.


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