In the heart of Johor Baru\u2019s historic downtown, the air along Jalan Dhoby carries a distinct, nostalgic aroma, a blend of charred rubberwood and caramelising bananas.<\/p>\n
The aroma permeates\u00a0from Hiap Joo Bakery & Biscuit Factory,\u00a0a bakery established in 1919 that has become one of the city\u2019s heritage attractions, drawing visitors from across Malaysia as well as Singapore, and even China, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea.<\/p>\n
While the world outside has traded traditional hearths for electric convection ovens, Hiap Joo remains anchored by a century-old wood-fired oven.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This brick-and-stone behemoth, along with family recipes\u00a0guarded through three generations, has transformed the family business of\u00a0more than a century into a global heritage destination.<\/p>\n
Founded shortly after the First World War\u00a0by seven Hainanese immigrants, the bakery is today run by 38-year-old manager Joseph Lim Toh Hui and his elder brother, whose grandfather was among the founders.<\/p>\n “During the Second World War, the other shareholders did not return to take over the business, so my grandfather continued running it by himself. Since then, it has remained in our family,\u201d he told Bernama recently.<\/p>\n Lim recalled growing up at the bakery and watching his grandfather knead dough by hand on a heavy wooden table before he eventually learned\u00a0the trade himself.<\/p>\n Today, the bakery employs between 15 and 20 workers while continuing to rely on the same traditional wood-fired baking process.<\/p>\n “Many people think we bake the bread directly over the fire. Actually, we burn the wood to heat the oven. Once it reaches the right temperature, we bake the bread using the retained heat. When the temperature drops, only then do we start baking the cakes.<\/p>\n “There is no secret. It is simply the method passed down from my grandfather,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Originally producing only bread for coffee shops around Johor Baru, Hiap Joo Bakery & Biscuit Factory expanded into cakes in the early 2000s after younger customers began requesting them.<\/p>\n The bakery sells coconut, raisin, peanut, kaya, sugar and spicy buns for RM6 per pack alongside banana cake at RM13, and butter and coffee cakes at RM16 each.<\/p>\n “The banana cake is our bestseller today,\u201d Lim said, noting that the bakery produces between 800 and 1,000 items daily to meet demand.<\/p>\n Although the family owns other properties, Lim also said relocating the bakery has never been an option because the historic oven is central to its identity.<\/p>\n “The stove is the most important thing. One day, we hope we can buy this shop because the wood-fired oven is here. We want future generations to continue seeing this oven and tasting the same bread and cakes,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, loyal customer Kuldip Singh, 65, said he has been a regular at the bakery since his school days in Johor Baru.<\/p>\n “It (bread) is soft, you can really taste the banana. The quality has remained the same for the past 50 years or so,\u201d he said, adding that despite rising living costs, the bakery continues to offer its products at reasonable prices. \u2013 Bernama<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n In the heart of Johor Baru\u2019s historic downtown, the air along Jalan Dhoby carries a distinct, nostalgic aroma, a blend of charred rubberwood and caramelising…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":65447,"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-65446","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\/65446","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=65446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/65447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=65446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=65446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=65446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Bread](\"https:\/\/apicms.thestar.com.my\/uploads\/images\/2026\/06\/30\/3985354.jpg\")
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