The Chias keep Teochew tradition alive, one pastry at a time [WATCH]

KUALA LUMPUR: Chia Chin Chong fights back tears as he recalls the sacrifices his father made to keep their family bakery alive.

The 26-year-old had watched his father, Chia Seng Chee, labour at Ming Yi Bakery, turning out traditional Teochew pastries to support their family of four.

"I saw how my father grew older alongside our business. He would start making pastries at 4am," he recalled.

Ming Yi began in Pulau Ketam in 1977, when Seng Chee's father, Chia Kek Leng, started making pastries while working in the family's existing catering business.

Kek Leng had learned the craft of pastry-making from a master baker and, in time, passed that knowledge and the skills that came with it to Seng Chee.

Seng Chee was exposed to the trade from the age of eight. By 15, he had left school to work in it full-time.

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"Coming from a small town with no other skills besides making pastries, I naturally continued learning the craft," said Seng Chee, now 56.

Today, Ming Yi Bakery, which operates from a shoplot in Klang, specialises in traditional Teochew pastries, known for their flaky textures and savoury or sweet fillings, including Hua Tao and La Gao mooncakes.

Unlike the intricately moulded Cantonese mooncakes commonly associated with the Mid-Autumn Festival, Hua Tao and La Gao are markedly different in appearance and preparation.

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Hua Tao are typically flat, pan-fried cakes stamped with a bakery's seal, while La Gao are steamed, chewy pastries filled with white lotus or red bean paste and often garnished with sesame seeds.

While traditional baking equipment has made way for modern appliances, Seng Chee still maintains his father's philosophy of never cutting corners and using the best ingredients.

PASTRIES AS A BRIDGE

Growing up, Chin Chong remembers the rhythms of the family business vividly.

"Every night after finishing work, my father would come home and write down a list of customers' names, and call them one by one, asking them if they would like to buy some pastries," he said.

His father would begin baking at 4am before pausing to send Chin Chong and his older sister to school before continuing to make and deliver the pastries.

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"Growing up, we were always helping out by his side while he worked. So, in a way, he was working and spending time with us simultaneously.

"In fact, these pastries served as a bridge of communication between my father and us," he said.

Chin Chong, who holds a degree in International Business, initially had no plans to take over the family business but had a change of heart as he did not want the family legacy to die out.

WHEN OLD MEETS NEW

But the handover from one generation to the next has not always been seamless.

Father and son sometimes clash over how the business should evolve. Chin Chong pushes for changes to packaging, marketing and recipes, while Seng Chee remains cautious about altering traditions that have sustained the bakery for decades.

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"Sometimes we do reach a consensus. But honestly, most of the time we don't," Chin Chong said with a chuckle.

Beneath those disagreements, however, lies one principle on which both generations remain firm: quality comes first.

For Chin Chong, preserving the family's heritage does not mean resisting change.

He hopes to introduce traditional Teochew pastries to a wider Malaysian audience while finding ways for the business to grow.

More than that, he hopes to ease the physical burden his parents have carried for years.

"Everything we have today was shaped piece by piece, pastry by pastry. All these achievements came from making one pastry at a time.

"What I hope most is that when people taste our pastries, they can realise the importance of preserving this culture and heritage," he said.

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For Seng Chee, the future now rests with the son who once watched him work through the night.

"I leave the future to my son. I believe he can carry on and expand our business, and it has made me very happy seeing him willing to learn this craft," he said.