GEORGE TOWN, May 7 — At a time of when fancy pastries like cronuts, churros and macarons “rule” the world, traditional biscuits like tau sar pneah and phong pneah are easily forgotten.

The younger generation cannot even pronounce the names of these traditional pastries, much less want to eat them.

So, faced with a lagging market that seems to depend only on tourists, Ghee Hiang — one of Penang's pioneer traditional biscuit makers — has embarked on a bold move to bring interest back to its pastries.

“We have to move with the times, the younger generation wants something trendy... they don't have interest in tau sar pneah… nowadays, they want croissants and cakes, not our biscuits,” said Ghee Hiang Group chairman Datuk Ooi Sian Hian.

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To turn things around, Ooi said they had to go back to remind people of the taste many have long forgotten.

Datuk Ooi Sian Hian (left) is the third generation to take over the Ghee Hiang business alongside director Ch’ng Huck Theng (right) who is the fourth generation.
Datuk Ooi Sian Hian (left) is the third generation to take over the Ghee Hiang business alongside director Ch’ng Huck Theng (right) who is the fourth generation.

“In the old days, Ghee Hiang made its name because we sold fresh-baked hot-from-the-oven biscuits… people would queue up for our hot, fresh pastries but now, though our pastries are fresh baked each day, customers don’t feel that it's fresh because we cool the biscuits before packing so it's not hot,” he said.

Packing the pastries for ease of transportation and convenience meant that they had to sacrifice the hot-from-oven part that helped place Ghee Hiang as one of the top biscuit makers in Penang for many years.

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The original Ghee Hiang biscuit shop that has been around for over a century.
The original Ghee Hiang biscuit shop that has been around for over a century.

The company started in Penang, back in 1856, making fresh traditional pastries and biscuits and till today, Ghee Hiang has refused to branch out into making other baked items.

It continues to make its tau sar pneah, phong pneah, beh teh saw, hneoh pneah, almond cookies and sesame crisps and has no intention to introduce other types of pastries and baked goods into its repertoire.

“I don't want to be a supermarket, I don't want to be selling anything and everything like a sundry shop.

“We are a traditional biscuit maker, that's our core strength so we will stick to it but first, we have to bring back the interest,” Ooi said.

The Ghee Hiang outlet in Burmah Road with Teels Heritage Cafe upstairs.
The Ghee Hiang outlet in Burmah Road with Teels Heritage Cafe upstairs.

Which brings us to… Teels Heritage Cafe

Drumming up interest in traditional biscuits requires more than a rebranding exercise and advertisements.

Instead, it meant re-introducing piping hot fresh-baked biscuits. This time, served with a flourish amidst posh British Malaya surroundings.

This forms the basis for the setting up of Teels Cafe at a Ghee Hiang outlet along Burmah Road here.

It is not merely a cafe just to tap into the trendy cafe scene but an avenue to re-introduce Ghee Hiang's signature biscuits and pastries to the public.

“Ghee Hiang is going through a transformation.  We only make biscuits, we want to be true to what we do which is our biscuits and pastries so Teels will be our introduction into the food and beverage industry… done differently,” Ooi said.

“We want to give people a chance to try hot-baked biscuits, this is to bring Ghee Hiang back, to bring back old traditions, to serve up hot, crumbly, fragrant biscuits,” he added.

All of Ghee Hiang's biscuits are painstakingly formed by hands.
All of Ghee Hiang's biscuits are painstakingly formed by hands.

The newly-opened cafe currently has a basic menu of six main signature items that marry local flavours with Western ones for something more unique.

Ooi, who is a trained architect, put in hours of meticulous planning when it came to the decor of the cafe which is plush with comfortable armchairs, vivid wall colours and fittings that are decidedly Colonial.

“I want to provide an environment that is comfortable so you can come in your shorts and slippers because we are a cafe, not a restaurant, and yet, we have formal rooms too if you want to dress up and book a room for private formal functions,” he said.

The first Ghee Hiang outlet in Beach Street.
The first Ghee Hiang outlet in Beach Street.

Ooi said they are still experimenting with the menu though the six main items will most probably remain.

“I don't want to be serving aglio olio, every single cafe is serving spaghetti, I don't need to jump on the same bandwagon so we do something different,” Ooi said.

The most interesting thing in the cafe is its afternoon tea sets. These come with Ghee Hiang's very own hot-baked tau sar pneah and phong pneah.

“I remember in my mother's era, there used to be this confinement food called the phong pneah chien.

“It's a confinement lady’s recipe where sesame oil was slowly heated, then ginger strips stir-fried till crispy and removed, then the phong pneah placed in the oil to fry.

All of Ghee Hiang's traditional pastries are still handmade till today.
All of Ghee Hiang's traditional pastries are still handmade till today.

“A hole is poked in the centre and beaten eggs is poured into the phong pneah while it's being fried in the fragrant sesame oil.

“The whole biscuit will be fried over very low fire while the egg inside will curdle into a soft, creamy custard.

“This was served hot and fragrant and I remember, as a child, waiting for remnants of it as my mother couldn't finish it,” Ooi said.

The phong pneah chien will be one of the main tea set items but instead of deep fried in sesame oil, Ooi said it will be baked instead.

“We know people don't like oily food in modern times, so to keep it as healthy as possible, we bake it but it will still be a throwback to a long-forgotten recipe,” he said.

Ghee Hiang is mostly known for its sesame seed oil nowadays.
Ghee Hiang is mostly known for its sesame seed oil nowadays.

Hello world… expanding outside Malaysia

The opening of Teels Heritage Cafe is one of the first steps Ghee Hiang is taking before it moves overseas to sell its traditional biscuits. The company is already exporting its famed sesame oil but is yet to export its biscuits.

“You know the old labels for our sesame oil was Teelseed Oil so I want to use back our own branding and that's why the cafe is called Teels. It's an abbreviation since I can't copyright the word teelseed,” he said.

Ooi said the Teels Heritage Cafe in Burmah Road sets the tone for them to move forward into introducing more Teels Heritage outlets, possibly up to three in Penang, one in Kuala Lumpur and several more outside Malaysia.

The freshly baked 'hneoh pneah' in Ghee Hiang.
The freshly baked 'hneoh pneah' in Ghee Hiang.

All Ghee Hiang pastries are still handmade and Ooi said the only way for them to bring their biscuits overseas is to bring the ingredients there and hand make it there.

“This cafe is our prototype for Ghee Hiang and Teels to go out into a bigger playing field, possibly to Ho Chin Minh, Xiamen and Australia,” he said.

Both brands will open overseas in tandem: the cafe will serve up hot fresh-baked pastries to drum up interest for Ghee Hiang's biscuits, which is sold pre-packed.

He said Ghee Hiang can't stubbornly remain only in Penang and Malaysia when there is a larger market outside to tap into.

“So will all Teels cafes be the same? I don't plan on opening cafes with the same concept everywhere, then people will get really bored and stop coming so yes, there are plans to open more Teels cafes and each will have different concepts and menus,” he said.

All of Ghee Hiang's biscuits are made fresh daily.
All of Ghee Hiang's biscuits are made fresh daily.

For now, Ooi said they must concentrate on making Teels a success by branding it as a British Malaya eatery so that it is easily relatable not only locally but also internationally.

“The key to a successful franchise to go all over the world is to have a brand that everyone can relate to, that's how those Japanese and Korean franchises can be so successful and this is our plan for Teels too... to create waves and make a scene internationally,” he said.

Ooi said they have to concentrate on establishing Teels as a brand alongside Ghee Hiang, especially when faced with over 300 cafes all over George Town, before they can think of expanding further.

“You know what they say about starting a business in Penang… if you can survive in Penang, you can survive anywhere else,” he said.

He said they are also considering giving the old Ghee Hiang 160-year-old shophouse in Beach Street a “facelift” to revert it back to the old traditional look.

“We want to bring back the old traditional feel so people can visit it and sort of go back in time to when we first started,” he said.

Ooi is the third generation to take over the Ghee Hiang business alongside director Ch’ng Huck Theng who is the fourth generation. They are both descendants of the two friends who started Ghee Hiang back in 1856.