{"id":36122,"date":"2026-03-14T08:03:41","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T00:03:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=36122"},"modified":"2026-03-14T08:03:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T00:03:41","slug":"from-boxing-to-baking-meet-the-woman-selling-egyptian-pastries-in-singapore-lifestyle-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=36122","title":{"rendered":"From boxing to baking: Meet the woman selling Egyptian pastries in Singapore, Lifestyle News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div xmlns:default=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\">\n<p>You might know Maha Elsahhar, an Egyptian baker in Singapore, for her bakes that recently went viral on social media.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But beyond the pastries, the 43-year-old has worn many hats over the years.<\/p>\n<p>Before stepping into the kitchen full-time, Maha, who grew up in London, had dabbled in sales, worked as a translator, became a television executive producer, and even pursued competitive boxing.<\/p>\n<p>She now lives in Singapore with her husband and two children after the family relocated here 10 years ago for her husband&#8217;s job.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Each chapter of my life, from sales to translating, television, competitive boxing and now baking, has simply been another adventure and chance to learn and grow,&#8221; Maha told AsiaOne in an interview.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I enjoy the excitement of stepping into something new and discovering where it might lead.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>And her latest adventure? Baking.<\/p>\n<p>Maha&#8217;s journey into the craft began 14 years ago, when she decided to bake a birthday cake for her son&#8217;s first birthday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>While she&#8217;s an expert now, she admitted that she didn&#8217;t start out as a talented baker.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;[The cake] was a disaster, it was absolutely awful. He cried. It was scary-looking,&#8221; said Maha. &#8220;But I was determined to get better.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.asiaone.com\/sites\/default\/files\/inline-images\/the%20egyptian%20baker%20first%20cake.jpg\" data-entity-uuid=\"1335723e-a0d2-4b76-9617-48c58bfa8b65\" data-entity-type=\"file\" height=\"1000\" width=\"900\" data-caption=\"The first cake Maha had baked was for her son's first birthday. PHOTO: Maha Elsahhar\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Over the years, she continued to practise and hone her skills \u2014 focusing on western bakes such as cakes and cupcakes.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I got pretty good, and friends started to want some cakes for their kids&#8217; parties and so on. So I decided to open a home bakery,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>Maha then started her home-based business in 2022.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DQOffm8k5K7\/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DQOffm8k5K7\/?hl=en<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>&#8216;Not just pyramids and the Nile&#8217;<\/h2>\n<p>But what prompted Maha to pivot from selling cakes to traditional Egyptian bakes?<\/p>\n<p>She told us that she wanted to introduce more of the country&#8217;s cuisine to Singapore.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Egypt is well-known for its historical sites, its history and even its people&#8230; but our food is phenomenal,&#8221; the baker said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I wanted to bring that to the community, to Singaporeans, to everyone who is willing to try. Egypt is not just pyramids and the Nile.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Noting that a lot of Middle Eastern cuisine available in Singapore features shawarma, Maha wanted to show that the region has more food to offer.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Shawarma is great, I love shawarma but there&#8217;s so much more,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>Thus, The Egyptian Baker was born.<\/p>\n<p>In January, Maha opened the bakery in Joo Chiat, selling a variety of Egyptian and Middle Eastern pastries.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Some items on the rotating menu include traditional pastries such as Eggplant Manakeesh ($3.50), Spinach Fatayir ($4) and Halloumi Puffs ($4).\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Maha also adds her own twist to some bakes such as the Snickers Date Bar ($12) and croissants in a variety of flavours, including pistachio and hazelnut chocolate.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.asiaone.com\/sites\/default\/files\/inline-images\/the%20egyptian%20baker%20bakes.jpg\" data-entity-uuid=\"404a14f3-9963-4f33-9d37-83b71107851d\" data-entity-type=\"file\" height=\"900\" width=\"900\" loading=\"lazy\" data-caption=\"Some bakes from The Egyptian Baker including Eggplant Manakeesh, Spinach Fatayir and Snickers Date Bar. PHOTO: AsiaOne\/Carol Ong\"\/><\/p>\n<p>While the bakery is fairly new, she has already garnered a substantial pool of customers, with videos of her bakes going viral on social media platforms.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Items on the menu started flying off the shelves mere days after the bakery&#8217;s opening.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We were lucky that we kind of went crazy on social media for the first few weeks, and it was really intense. We were selling out within an hour,&#8221; said Maha.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I would be up at four in the morning baking, and the items would be gone within an hour of opening.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" style=\"background-color:#FFF;border-radius:3px;border-width:0;box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15);margin:1px;max-width:540px;min-width:326px;padding:0;width:calc(100% - 2px)\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DTRu5lJkw0V\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\"\/>\n<h2>One-woman show<\/h2>\n<p>Despite the bakery&#8217;s viral success, running an F&amp;B business alone doesn&#8217;t come without its challenges.<\/p>\n<p>Besides high overheads, Maha also faces staffing issues.<\/p>\n<p>As Egyptian cuisine is fairly new to Singaporeans, it was tough to find someone who could &#8220;understand&#8221; the food, she explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Training them from scratch would also require more effort from Maha, who is managing all aspects of the business by herself.<\/p>\n<p>Talk about a one-woman show.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;One of the other difficulties is [the food] selling out, which sounds ridiculous, because it doesn&#8217;t sound like a problem,&#8221; Maha added.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.asiaone.com\/sites\/default\/files\/inline-images\/the%20egyptian%20baker%20interior.jpg\" data-entity-uuid=\"b3c5bb87-5b17-46f9-813d-d7f11259e44a\" data-entity-type=\"file\" height=\"600\" width=\"1000\" data-caption=\"Maha in her bakery, which consists of a display counter and open kitchen. PHOTO: AsiaOne\/Carol Ong\"\/><\/p>\n<p>While she noted that this is &#8220;a good problem to have&#8221;, the baker feels guilty when customers leave empty-handed \u2014 especially when they&#8217;ve travelled to the store specifically for her bakes.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I feel so awful when someone&#8217;s travelled from Jurong and has come all the way down here, and we&#8217;ve literally cleared out our kitchen. Everything has been sold,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>Some customers even scolded her when they weren&#8217;t able to purchase the bakes.<\/p>\n<p>Maha has since refined her workflow, spreading out her baking throughout the day so the items don&#8217;t sell out too early.<\/p>\n<h2>Bringing Egyptian fare to Singaporeans<\/h2>\n<p>Despite the challenges, Maha enjoys bringing good bakes \u2014 particularly Egyptian pastries \u2014 to those who enjoy them.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s so lovely that I can represent my country in a way that people are enjoying, and they&#8217;re receptive to it.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s really nice when Singaporeans, who have never tried or heard about a lot of these foods, try them and think &#8216;This is really lovely&#8217;,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>The bakery<em> <\/em>sees a mix of both local and foreign customers, Maha added.<\/p>\n<p>Her love for sharing is clear in the way she interacts with customers \u2014 with warm welcomes and &#8220;mini tours&#8221; of what&#8217;s available once they set foot into the bakery.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I do that with every single customer, unless they&#8217;ve been here very often and know what&#8217;s what, or if I can see that they&#8217;re in a bit of a rush,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>Since opening in January, Maha has had many memorable interactions with customers, many of whom have become regulars.<\/p>\n<p>A customer who has left a particularly lasting impression on Maha was an elderly woman in her 80s or 90s.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;She came in and wanted to try some stuff. She tried it, came back the following week, and ordered more because she loved them. She was really lovely,&#8221; said Maha.<\/p>\n<p>Looking ahead, the baker wishes to expand her menu to introduce more Egyptian delicacies to Singaporeans.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DU_v7P9k-Q3\/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DU_v7P9k-Q3\/?hl=en<\/a><\/p>\n<p>During Ramadan, Maha is offering Egyptian iftar meals such as <em>koshari <\/em>(the country&#8217;s national dish) consisting rice, lentils and pasta.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>She also hopes to bring more of these warm, savoury dishes to the people here.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m proud that I can be part of Singapore and give back the same way I&#8217;ve taken from the country, in a way that I can share my culture and my passion for food with Singaporeans.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><em>Address: 83 Joo Chiat Place, #01-04, Singapore 427800<\/em><br \/><em>Opening hours: 8.30am to 4pm (Wednesday to Saturday), 8.30am to 2.30pm (Sunday)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>[[nid:676034]]<\/p>\n<p>carol.ong@asiaone.com<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.asiaone.com\/lifestyle\/egyptian-baker-singapore\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You might know Maha Elsahhar, an Egyptian baker in Singapore, for her bakes that recently went viral on social media.\u00a0 But beyond the pastries, the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36125,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/36125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}