Borscht (Cha Chaan Teng style)
Also: Lo Sung tong, Hong Kong borscht, HK diner borscht, 茶餐廳羅宋湯
A Hong Kong cha chaan teng adaptation of borscht built on beef, tomatoes, cabbage, and root vegetables in a sweet, mild broth — conspicuously and definitionally without beetroot.
Identity criteria
- 1No beetroot: colour and sweetness derive entirely from tomatoes and tomato paste; beet is absent by design, not omission
- 2Beef-based broth: brisket or bone-in cuts are the canonical protein; collagen from long simmering gives the soup its body
- 3Sweet-mild flavour register: notably sweeter and less acidic than Eastern European borscht; sugar is a deliberate seasoning, not a corrective
- 4Cabbage is structural: it provides bulk and gentle sweetness and is non-negotiable
- 5Tomato acidity is muted: sugar balances the tomato so the broth reads harmonious and mild, not sharp
- 6Cha chaan teng register: an affordable, filling everyday soup served as the first course of a set meal, not a restaurant centrepiece
Components
beef brisket or bone-in beef short ribsessentialSimmered long enough to tenderise and release collagen; defines the broth body
cabbage (white or napa)essentialStructural bulk; softens into silky ribbons during the simmer
carrotessentialContributes natural sweetness and colour
potatooptionalCommon for substance; adds starch body; omissible
butteroptionalFinishing knob is a surviving Russian holdover; adds richness and a faint dairy note
fresh tomatoesessentialProvides colour and mild acidity; volume determines sweetness calibration
tomato pasteessentialConcentrates tomato depth without sharpness; cannot be skipped for colour stability
ketchupoptionalFast-service shortcut that partially replaces tomato paste; sweeter and less complex but within the HK tradition
beef bone stockessentialFoundation of the soup; thin water-based shortcut destroys texture
sugaressentialThe defining HK adaptation; added to taste to balance tomato acid
saltessential
white pepperoptional
Technique
- Long beef simmer
- Brisket needs 90+ minutes to tenderise and release collagen; shortcuts yield chewy meat and a thin, waterlogged broth that cannot be rescued by seasoning alone
- Tomato sweating before liquid
- Cooking tomatoes and tomato paste in fat before adding stock deepens colour and mellows raw acidity; skipping this step leaves the broth sharp-tasting and dull in colour
- Incremental sweetness calibration
- Sugar must be added in small doses and tasted iteratively; the sweet-acid balance is the dish's signature — over-sweetening reads as ketchup soup, under-sweetening reads as European borscht
Form & serving
- Served
- Bowl of hot soup; canonical first course of a cha chaan teng 套餐 (set meal) paired with toast, a main plate, and milk tea or yuenyeung
- Temperature
- hot
- Portion
- Single-serve bowl, approximately 300–400 ml
- Pairs with
- buttered toast · Hong Kong milk tea · yuenyeung · pork chop rice · macaroni in soup · pineapple bun
Character
Flavour
Texture
Soft-cooked vegetables and silky cabbage ribbons in a body-rich, lightly thickened broth; beef tender enough to break apart with a spoon
Eaten
Everyday affordable meal; the soup course in a cha chaan teng 套餐 eaten at breakfast, lunch, or afternoon tea; strongly associated with nostalgic working-class Hong Kong diner culture and the Shanghainese emigrant community that shaped it
When
year-round
Variations & related
Regional variations
- Ketchup-forward version · Hong Kong (fast-service diners)
Heinz ketchup replaces or augments tomato paste; faster production, sweeter and flatter in complexity
- Celery-added version · Hong Kong
Some diners add celery for herbal brightness; also introduces a celery allergen
- Shanghai precursor (罗宋汤) · Shanghai
The intermediate form that arrived via 1949 emigration; already beetroot-free but slightly less sweet; considered the immediate parent
- Pork-bone variant · Hong Kong (budget operations)
Pork bones substituted for beef; produces a lighter, less characterful broth; not considered canonical
Related dishes
- ancestor Russian borscht
The European original; distinguished by beetroot, sourness, vinegar, and sour cream — all absent in the HK form
- ancestor Shanghai-style borscht (罗宋汤)
Immediate parent; already beetroot-free; transmitted to HK via 1949 Shanghainese emigration
- sibling Tomato and egg soup (番茄蛋花湯)
Shares the tomato-sweet-mild-broth logic in everyday Cantonese cooking
- pairs-with Hong Kong milk tea
Standard pairing in a cha chaan teng set meal
- pairs-with Pork chop bun
Classic set-meal companion in afternoon tea
Substitutions
beef brisket → oxtailadmissible
Higher collagen yield; richer broth; fully acceptable
fresh tomatoes + tomato paste → ketchup onlyadmissible
Sweeter, less complex, but within established HK diner practice
butter finish → omittedadmissible
Lighter result; common in lean versions; does not break identity
cabbage → no cabbageinadmissible
Removes bulk and structural sweetness; dish loses its characteristic texture and register
beef → chicken or porkinadmissible
Eliminates the beefy backbone that defines the soup; becomes a different dish
sugar (omitted) → no sweetness addedinadmissible
Produces a sharp, acidic broth that reads as European-style rather than HK-style; identity-breaking
no beetroot (correct) → beetroot addedinadmissible
Single most damaging substitution; converts the dish into Eastern European borscht and destroys the HK identity entirely
Common mistakes
- Adding beetroot — the single most damaging error; cooks who know only European borscht default to this and produce a fundamentally different dish
- Under-sweetening: omitting or skimping on sugar leaves the broth sharp and tomato-acidic rather than the gentle HK register
- Short-cooking the beef: brisket needs 90+ minutes; rushed versions yield chewy meat and thin, flavourless broth
- Using chicken or vegetable stock as the base: the dish depends on beef collagen for body; substitutes produce a watery, characterless soup
- Over-reducing to a thick stew consistency: the HK version is a light-to-medium soup, not a braised pot
- Skipping the cabbage: carrots alone cannot replace the bulk and gentle sweetness cabbage contributes
- Adding sour cream or vinegar: European garnishes that do not belong in the HK form and shift the flavour profile entirely
Provenance
The dish entered Hong Kong via Shanghai, where Russian Jewish émigrés and White Russians had adapted borscht after fleeing post-1917 Russia — already stripping the beetroot to suit Chinese taste. When the Communist takeover of China in 1949 prompted a large Shanghainese migration to Hong Kong, they brought this adapted soup. Hong Kong's cha chaan teng culture — cheap, fast, Cantonese-inflected — further sweetened the profile and locked in the beetroot-free form as the definitive local version. The Cantonese name 羅宋 (Lo Sung) is a phonetic rendering of 'Russian' as pronounced in Shanghainese dialect.
References
- 1.Culinary history of Hong Kong cha chaan teng culture
- 2.Cecilia J. Tan, 'Hong Kong Food'
- 3.Paul Freedman, 'Food: The History of Taste'
- 4.Hong Kong Heritage Museum records on Shanghainese emigrant food culture
- 5.Oral tradition and menu documentation from Tsui Wah and other legacy cha chaan teng chains
Confidence: high