In February this year, veteran Hong Kong TV producer Robert Chua told 8days.sg that he was planning to open a cha chaan teng kiosk at Ion Orchard this April. Called Joy Luck Teahouse, its Chinese name sounds similar to Robert’s long-running TVB variety show Enjoy Yourself Tonight, The stall offers Hong Kong’s three culinary treasures — nai cha (milk tea), bolo buns and egg tarts. The milk tea and bolo buns are from HK’s Kam Kee Cafe, one of the city’s iconic traditional bing sutts that are widely considered to be the predecessor for cha chaan tengs, while the egg tarts hail from Kowloon City’s Hoover Cake Shop, which counts Chow Yun-Fat as a regular.

Due to Covid-19, Robert (pictured) has pushed back Joy Luck Teahouse’s initial April opening to July. But you can still try Kam Kee Cafe’s famed milk tea now (it’s said to be HK actor Dicky Cheung’s favourite). For a limited time, the nai cha will be served via Robert’s roast meat eatery, Kam’s Roast. As beverages can’t be sold a la carte due to the circuit breaker, you have to order at least one Kam’s main dish with every drink. You can get the milk tea plain ($3.80 a cup), or a bubble tea version called Pearl of the Orient ($4.80) with brown sugar tapioca pearls that Robert initially concocted to make his cha chaan teng brand more hip for millennials. You can also top up $1 to add Korea-imported ‘beautifying’ marine collagen.

The nai cha follows Kam Kee’s longtime recipe, which uses broken orange pekoe-grade Sri Lankan black tea (the bits of tea leaves and tea dust left over from gathering high-grade leaves). It’s then brewed with European evaporated milk. The result is a velvety, robust cuppa with an enticing floral fragrance. We tried the bubble tea and found the pearls respectably al-dente, though lacking in brown sugar flavour. Still, we didn’t expect nai cha to make such good BBT. Now we can’t wait for the bolo buns and Hoover Cake Shop’s egg tarts to launch in July.

Order via www.kamsroast.oddle.me, or via GrabFood, Foodpanda and Deliveroo.