A second stall of the same Hong Kong cafe is about to open steps from the first, and the team says it will not be a carbon copy.
One Cafe, the cha chaan teng that pulls daily lineups inside Burnaby’s Crystal Mall, has confirmed to us that it is opening a second stall in the very same food court.
Yes, two in the same food court.
The team has taken over the former Kingspark Good Food unit, which closed earlier this June, and a notice on the storefront says renovations will be done by July 10.
Whether that date holds is another question, since a food court build-out turned around that fast would be quick work.
What the team did make clear is that the two stalls will not be identical.
They told us the new stall will run a menu with more variety than the original, though they have not said yet what is being added.
That alone makes this more than an overflow twin.
The One Cafe demand is real.
When we walked by their current stall at 3pm on a weekday, an off-peak hour for any food court, there were still more than ten people waiting in line.
For anyone who has not come across it, One Cafe brands itself as Hong Kong On The Go, serving cha chaan teng comfort food in food court settings.
It launched at Parker Place in Richmond in 2023 and built its name on affordable, no-fuss classics like satay beef noodle, baked pork chop on rice, and beef brisket noodle.
From there it spread to Empire Centre, a unit in the works at Lansdowne Centre, and its busy Crystal Mall debut.
The second Crystal Mall stall is the boldest move yet, a same-court sibling that widens the menu instead of cloning it.
So far the group has also teased just one spin-off, One Bolo, which is still in progress at Empire Centre.
That has kept it a step behind its main rival ChaDon, which already runs two offshoots in ChaKee and Don Noodle.
There is no opening date beyond the July 10 renovation target, and the expanded menu has not been detailed.
One Cafe 2 now joins other upcoming food spots in Burnaby like Captain’s Boil Gilmore and Yin Ji Chang Fen.
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Address: Crystal Mall food court, 4500 Kingsway, Burnaby BC