While the George Town cafe is now eerily empty thanks to the recent Covid-19 lockdown in Penang, the kitchen still bustles on as they’ve garnered an online presence through their wonderful pastries.

For Yeong however, his mornings weren’t always surrounded by the heady scent of decadent butter and pastries of every shape and size.

“This is a completely new world to me as all my life I wasn’t in the pastry line and worked as an optician for 20 years,” Yeong revealed.

“But you only live once, so I told myself to just go for it as there was nothing to lose, especially with Covid-19 now, you never know what might happen to you,” he said.

Before putting in his resignation in February, Yeong managed 13 branches of A-Look Eyewear and although his boss pleaded for him to stay, the optician was set on pursuing his dream of opening a cafe after attending a spontaneous sourdough class with Tan.

“Last year, Marcus suddenly asked me to join him for a sourdough class in Kuala Lumpur and that’s how I got flung into it,” Yeong explained.

Tan on the other hand, is very familiar with rolling metres of dough and being covered by speckles of flour.

Unlike Yeong, he spent most of his life in the kitchen, testing recipes and even worked as a graphic designer for Flavour’s, one of Malaysia’s top food magazines.

“After the class, we drove all the way back to Penang with our starter yeast and it was the most precious thing we brought back,” Yeong continued.

Aside from their starter yeast, the two also returned with improved technical skills. However, like many other Malaysians at the time, they were hit with the nation’s first ever Covid-19 lockdown.

Stuck at home and with nowhere to go, the duo spent hours practising their sourdough techniques and after many failed attempts, finally perfected it before moving on to puff pastry.

“Making puff pastry is a really tedious process, one that caused our aircon bill to blow through the roof,” he said, in reference to how cold temperatures are essential in keeping the delicate butter layers between the dough from melting.

With their new skills, both Yeong and Tan had the world of pastries at their fingertips and quickly began experimenting with all sorts of flavours, one of which was Emily et Coco.

The French croissant has been a hit with locals as it is inspired by kuih koci with a special homemade coconut and palm sugar filling stuffed into its crevasses

Alongside Emily et Coco, the cafe also serves other mouth watering pastries like the glorious rum and raspberry-filled Queen Emily and a delicious cheesy treat called Quiche Emily.

But, this begs the question – who is Emily?

Tan explained that the cafe’s charming name took a while to be approved by government officials.

“I liked the name Emily but for some reason our application didn’t go through the first time, so I came up with an acronym – Emily stands for ‘every minute I love you’,” Tan quipped, adding that he’s still confused to this day as to why their initial name was rejected.

Even so, George Town’s newest darling stands proudly on Penang Street, fueled by the passion of two determined pastry makers.

Every day, Tan and Yeong bake their hearts out with hopes that everyone can experience their love for pastries through each of their special treats that whisper, “Every minute I love you darling”.

If you’d like to sample a taste of Paris in Penang, WhatsApp Yeong at 012- 406 8847 for a box of freshly baked pastries delivered right to your doorstep.

Emily Darling Cafe
188 Penang Road
10200 George Town
Penang

Operating Hours: 10am – 6pm (Daily except Tuesday)