80-year-old, 4-generation Chinese handmade bakery in Cho Lon is busy during Tet

On the days leading up to the Lunar New Year of At Ty 2025, Trieu Minh Hiep bakery (District 6, Ho Chi Minh City) is famous in Cho Lon for its handmade Pia cakes and traditional candies of the Chinese of Chaozhou origin, bustling with customers.

The 8-decade-old business has been passed down to the 4th generation.

In the warm, clean and extremely tidy bakery space, Mr. Trieu An (52 years old), the third generation successor of this bakery, along with his wife and son, are busy welcoming customers, packing boxes of hot Pia cakes and traditional candies just out of the oven for customers to take away, no one has to wait long.

Lò bánh thủ công người Hoa 80 năm, 4 đời ở Chợ Lớn đắt khách dịp tết- Ảnh 1. — Mr. Trieu An is the third generation in his family to inherit the nearly 80-year-old Pia cake oven in Cho Lon.

"The cake does not use preservatives so it can only be used within 10 days. It is best to eat it immediately after purchase while it is still hot," Mr. Trieu An did not forget to carefully instruct customers.

Pointing to his son Trieu Hoc Can (26 years old), he said that this is the 4th generation of the family bakery, the son he is extremely proud of. In front of the shop, his father Trieu An is old but still healthy, walking with a cane in the morning while watching his children and grandchildren inherit the family business.

The bakery owner confided that since the 1930s, there have been many Chinese people coming to Saigon - Cho Lon to live and do business. Among that group of people was Mr. Trieu Moc, a Teochew who chose Cho Lon as a place to stop, who is Mr. Trieu An's grandfather.

"My family had a tradition of making Pia cakes with taro filling, sesame candy, peanut candy... After coming to Cho Lon, my grandfather also made cakes and candies and sold them around Binh Tay market. It wasn't until 1948 that he opened a bakery here, and the place of sale has not changed since then," the Chinese man recounted.

Lò bánh thủ công người Hoa 80 năm, 4 đời ở Chợ Lớn đắt khách dịp tết- Ảnh 2. — In front of the bakery is a painting that recalls memories of the bakery from its early days, founded by Mr. Trieu Moc.

Lò bánh thủ công người Hoa 80 năm, 4 đời ở Chợ Lớn đắt khách dịp tết- Ảnh 3. — Mr. Trieu An has been attached to his family's Pia cake oven since he was a child.

Since then, the family has gone through 4 generations making these candies at the home workshop. Initially, these candies were only for the Chinese people to use on weddings, holidays, New Year, offerings, and death anniversaries, but later became famous in the Chinese community in general. The Vietnamese in Saigon have known about these candies for a long time and found them very suitable for their taste.

Sharing the secret to keeping customers coming back for decades, Mr. Trieu An shared that it is thanks to choosing the best and most expensive ingredients to make. For example, the flour must be imported from Japan, sesame and peanuts must also be the most expensive and selected from the region where they are grown best.

"We make our cakes fresh every day, because we don't use any preservatives, so they can only last about 10 days. Usually, when the cakes are fresh out of the oven, they are very delicious when bought right away. My family sells from 8:30 am to evening every day, but usually they are sold out by 6 pm, so customers have to make an appointment for the next day," the bakery owner confided.

Overseas Vietnamese returning to Vietnam for Tet also want to try this

Mr. Trieu Hoc Can, the 4th generation of this bakery, said he has been helping his family for more than 2 years now, after temporarily stopping his work at a foreign company. The young man confided that before that, he had no intention of inheriting the family bakery.

Lò bánh thủ công người Hoa 80 năm, 4 đời ở Chợ Lớn đắt khách dịp tết- Ảnh 4.

Lò bánh thủ công người Hoa 80 năm, 4 đời ở Chợ Lớn đắt khách dịp tết- Ảnh 5. — The bakery is famous for its handmade pia cakes, which many people buy as gifts during Tet.

However, because he loves his parents and the traditional bakery from his great-grandfather's generation, he changed his decision. "For me, working with my parents, aunts and uncles at the bakery to make and sell pia cakes and candies is no longer just a matter of liking or not liking, but it is also my responsibility to preserve the family tradition," he added.

Each box of Pia cakes here costs from 219,000 - 279,000 including 4 cakes with 2 types of fillings: mung bean and taro. This is also a product that many people love to give as gifts during the Mid-Autumn Festival and Lunar New Year.

However, the bakery said that the "best-seller" at the moment is the shop's candy. Many Chinese people everywhere, especially in the Western provinces, also buy it to eat, welcome guests, and give as gifts during this year's Tet holiday.

Lò bánh thủ công người Hoa 80 năm, 4 đời ở Chợ Lớn đắt khách dịp tết- Ảnh 6. — Families are busy during the days before Tet when customer demand increases.

Lò bánh thủ công người Hoa 80 năm, 4 đời ở Chợ Lớn đắt khách dịp tết- Ảnh 7. — Mr. Trieu Hoc Can is the 4th generation.

Ms. Hanh (residing in Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City) asked a colleague at work to buy a box of pia cake from the bakery near Tet. She said that a relative who is a Vietnamese expatriate in Germany was returning to his hometown in Da Nang for Tet. He accidentally learned about this bakery through social media and asked her to buy it and send it back to try.

"The cakes here are delicious and suit my taste. I really like the Pia cakes with taro filling here. The cakes here are completely handmade, with new batches every day, so they are very fragrant when freshly baked. That's why this year, during Tet, I also bought many boxes of Pia cakes and candies to give to relatives and partners," said Mr. Phan Sanh (30 years old), living in Cho Lon.

Lò bánh thủ công người Hoa 80 năm, 4 đời ở Chợ Lớn đắt khách dịp tết- Ảnh 8. — Mr. Trieu An's family has run the bakery for nearly 80 years.

The bakery owner said that this year, the bakery will be open until the 28th of Tet, then close for a few days to celebrate the new year and will reopen on the 3rd. Mr. Trieu An's family sends New Year's wishes to all customers from many generations who have come to support as well as everyone for a new year of peace, prosperity, and all the best.