I grew up in London, went to Chinese school to learn Cantonese.
I wasn't very good at it, by the way.
But my parents (still) treated us to a bun
in Chinatown (after classes).
I'm Aaron, and I'm the owner of Ong Ong Buns.
Ong Ong. It’s the name of our cat.
My parents are from Hong Kong.
They came to the U.K. in the 1970s as teenagers.
My mum grew up baking and cooking a lot.
That's why she could bake all these Hong Kong buns
and have knowledge of it.
When we started, we were selling pineapple buns.
The pineapple bun doesn't have pineapple.
It has like a vanilla cookie dough topping.
So those who’ve never seen a pineapple bun before
were asking, “What's the filling?”
When I said that it's a plain bun, they didn't buy it.
So I tried the custard coconut filling,
tested it on customers,
they loved it, absolutely loved it.
The filling’s a little bit mushy.
Then it’s got this brioche bun which is fluffy,
then this crispy topping.
It’s not just great taste.
It’s just texturally very good and complete.
Mmm. It’s really good.
Oh my God. This filling.
It is nice. It is like coconutty and creamy.
Do you have something similar in the U.K.?
Not really. Maybe a donut if you’re lucky.
It's sweet. It's crispy.
The taste is very unique.
The cocktail bun filling, we mix it all together,
then put it in the fridge. It has to harden.
Same again with the pineapple topping.
Gets made, put it into the fridge until it hardens.
Then the next day we cut all the dough,
the fillings, the toppings in its correct size.
And then roll the dough.
Put the fillings onto the dough,
then we close the dough up and roll it into a ball.
Then that leaves to proof for some time until it doubles.
Then you just roll the cookie dough topping.
So it's a flat circle.
Once the dough has proofed, you egg wash it,
put the pineapple bun topping on top,
egg wash that,
then heat it up.
And voilà!
At the beginning, we were based in Shoreditch.
It was me at the front of the shop.
My mom baked the Chinese buns.
My wife baked the Malaysian food.
People were attracted to the smell of the bakery.
I’m not the most typical sales person.
I literally rant on and say a lot about my opinions,
saying, ”Don't buy that,” “Why are you buying this?”
People enjoy that. It's quirky, I guess.
But it's just me, just my personality.
Our menu on Deliveroo is basically me but in written form.
It has been very popular. It went viral.
We’ve grown very, very quickly.
Just over half a year we got invited
to be part of a food incubator.
We needed investments. We did find an investor,
but unfortunately the investor pulled out
within a month, which frankly is, it's crazy.
The investor bought cooking equipment
which he subsequently took away and sold for himself.
And we lost staff,
which was the most important thing.
We had to close both stores.
We had to rebuild.
It's very good that we had a loyal customer base
because we started crowdfunding.
We got a fair bit of money to restart again,
which was really nice.
Mom's retired.
My wife’s getting another job outside the bakery.
It means that there's less financial risk for us.
I'm working with a baker who's not part of my family.
I am absolutely shattered. I haven't had a day off at all.
I really enjoy people's feedback.
When they have the food,
you can see in their face how much they enjoy it.
And also, selfishly, it gets me out of the house,
and talking to people,
and meeting dogs.
Get that!
This is amazing Chai.
You can taste the ginger.
This is so lovely!
How much I owe you?
Is Ong Ong Nom (filled pineapple bun)
the best-selling bun?
Sadly not.
It's the char siu bun, the barbecue pork.
My least favorite bun.
Because it's so boring.
It's everywhere. Everyone knows it.
Up next, we’ll visit a family
that’s been making crispy Taiwanese fried dough sticks
for 30 years in Australia. Stay tuned.
If you guys have a dog, please come to Cucumber Alley.
Dogs are allowed to come
and then I will give all the attention to them.
I hope that will stay on the video.
That's my basic plea.