1 day Ago By 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..
