Perfecting the Basics: Why Mastery Begins with Fundamentals
In Penang, a city famous for its hawker food and bold flavours, French pastry was once uncommon. Nearly ten years ago, when croissants were still unfamiliar and often seen as expensive, Chef Ooi Hooi Shing quietly chose a different path — one built on discipline, patience, and respect for the basics.
Today, she is known as the founder of Le Petit Four Patisserie, a bakery that helped introduce French croissants to George Town and continues to shape Penang’s appreciation for artisanal pastry.
From Engineering to Pastry: A Turning Point
Born and raised in Sungai Bakap, Penang, Chef Ooi Hooi Shing began her career far from the kitchen. She trained as an Electronics Engineer and worked at Intel Malaysia for five years, specialising in failure analysis — a role that required accuracy, logic, and careful problem-solving.
Yet baking was always part of her life. On weekends, she baked for family and friends, testing recipes and improving her skills simply because she loved it.
In 2013, she made a life-changing decision: to leave the tech industry and pursue pastry professionally. She moved to Paris to study at Le Cordon Bleu, where she earned her Diplôme de Pâtisserie and learned the foundations of classical French pastry.
After graduating, Chef Ooi trained at the Shangri-La Hotel Paris, gaining hands-on experience. There, she developed values that still guide her work today — consistency, precision, and respect for traditional methods.
Image Credit: Le Petit Four Instagram
Returning Home and Starting from Zero
In 2015, Chef Ooi returned to Penang and founded Le Petit Four Pâtisserie. The bakery started as a one-person operation, run from a small kitchen with limited equipment.
Croissants were among the first items she sold — at a time when few people in Penang ate them for breakfast. For almost two years, without a dough sheeter, every croissant was rolled by hand.
Customers questioned the idea. Some questioned the price. Others asked for rice, noodles, or hot food — things the bakery never offered.
Chef Ooi stayed firm.
“We don’t sell hot food. We focus on pastry,” she explained, often encouraging customers to return after their meals for dessert and coffee.
Slowly, they did.
Choosing the Basics Over Trends
From the beginning, Chef Ooi made a clear decision: Le Petit Four would focus on the basics.
Her belief is simple — do the basics well, and do them consistently.
This philosophy can be seen in her signature items, including her strawberry shortcake and pistachio tart, which have stayed on the menu for nearly nine years. While other items change with the seasons, these classics remain — refined over time, but never replaced.
Image Credit: Le Petit Four Instagram
Inspired by Travel, Rooted in Memory
Many of Chef Ooi’s desserts are inspired by childhood memories and familiar Malaysian flavours. Pulut hitam, pink guava with sour plum, traditional butter cake for Chinese New Year, and red bean with dried orange peel are all reimagined as refined desserts — without losing their emotional meaning.
Beyond memory, travel also plays an important role in her creative process. Through her journeys, Chef Ooi observes different food cultures, tastes local flavours, and experiences how desserts are enjoyed in different places. These experiences quietly influence how she develops new recipes, helping her shape flavours, textures, and the combinations with a broader perspective.
Where Engineering Meets Craft
Chef Ooi’s engineering background still shapes how she works in the kitchen. When something goes wrong, her first reaction is not to blame — but to analyse.
She reviews each step carefully, studying dough behaviour, fermentation, and structure with the same mindset she once used in engineering.
For her, pastry is never guesswork. It is a balance of science and creativity, where experience and logic support craftsmanship.
Flour as a Differentiator: A Choice Refined Through Testing
At Le Petit Four Patisserie, their quality is not defined by brand names, but by careful testing and understanding of ingredients.
Rather than choosing one flour from the start, Chef Ooi tested many flours over time. Through this process, she selected MARUBISHI flours including Torigoe France, Pan syokunin, NS Crystal, T-45 and T-65, based on how they performed in her recipes.
Although customers may not see this process, it is one of the bakery’s most important strengths. The consistent quality of Le Petit Four Pâtisserie comes not from trends, but from decisions proven through experience and repetition.
Here, flour is more than an ingredient. It is a technical foundation that supports the bakery’s focus on fundamentals.
During the Christmas season, Chef Ooi uses MARUBISHI’s Super Melanger flour to make panettone. Super Melanger flour has exceptional stability, superior water absorption, and ability to deliver remarkable volume and elegance.
Image Credit: Le Petit Four Instagram
A Kitchen Built on Respect
In an industry often known for pressure and strict hierarchy, Chef Ooi leads her team differently.
There is no shouting.
Mistakes are discussed, not punished.
Knowledge is shared openly.
Her team rotates opportunities to attend demonstrations, competitions, and supplier workshops. Recipes are never hidden. Skills are taught with the belief that craftsmanship should be shared, not protected.
For Chef Ooi, skill matters more than titles.
“A degree doesn’t guarantee success,” she says. “But skills stay with you forever.”
