The iconic bakery helmed by executive chef and co-owner of Tigerlily, Maxine Ngooi, is set to reopen its doors today
Despite its dreaded closure, the well-loved Chin Mee Chin has remained an integral part of Singapore’s social fabric. For most of us, the image of the unassuming bakery might have long slipped our minds, but our mouths fondly remember the soothing taste of its signature white bread buns and kaya, hot cross buns, custard tarts and luncheon meat buns.
Chin Mee Chin is synonymous with home. To Chef Maxine Ngooi, the bakery was deeply ingrained into her routine, being the place where her close-knit family caught up with each other every weekend after church. Such sentimental attachments to the well-established name no doubt places overwhelmingly high expectations on its imminent relaunch—not only from the legions of loyal customers, but also on the team themselves, who long to preserve the beauty of traditional baking techniques and treasured original tastes, while at the same time keeping it relevant in the modern climate.
Ngooi passionately affirms: “While we intend to stay true to Chin Mee Chin’s traditional Hainanese roots and preserve its tradition and heritage, we also want to attract a younger generation of diners and hence we will also introduce contemporary offerings tailored to their taste.”
In fact, Ngooi might just be the perfect culinary figure to find the sweet spot between history and hip. Having received formal training in classical French baking techniques, it was a culture shock to learn from the family behind Chin Mee Chin, as their ability to create signature bakes stemmed from hard work and years of practice and experience, rather than documented recipes.
The process of solidifying recipes and techniques thus became a learning process for both sides, with Ngooi injecting input based on her personal training and knowledge in pastry baking to demystify abstract details of the recipes. “There was a lot of work that went into troubleshooting and tweaking the recipes to retain the nostalgic flavour,” Ngooi notes in retrospect, “It was both an eye-opening and humbling experience, and truly helped me grow as a chef.”
Being aware of the grind, passion, history lovingly baked into each creation, its no wonder that Singaporeans will be once again clambering to get a taste of the past—this time reimagined with a chic modern twist. To get you started, here are 5 Chin Mee Chin bakes that we are most excited to devour.