Pandan-lovers and husband and wife want to spread some Southeast Asian love for the tasty plant across the city with Pandan Man.
Around the early 2020s, the pandan gained a foothold in the world’s foodie consciousness. Up there with former leading viral foodstuffs like ube, edible flowers, gochujang, banana bread, black garlic, and polenta, the Southeast Asian plant finally had its day in the sun.
With roots in ancient Indonesia, the plant, more importantly its fragrant and floral leaves, are cultivated in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, and enjoyed in Singapore and Thailand.
For Caroline Yuen, her Malaysian ancestry attracted her to her love for pandan. Together with husband and co-founder Brian Kwan, the pair founded Pandan Man with a mission to evangelize Hong Kongers on the wonders of the Southeast Asian plant.
“Pandan Man began during the pandemic,” Brian explains. The couple thought of themselves as “a master baker at home like everyone else, experimenting baking different recipes.”
“The one dessert that stood out in our experimentation was the pandan cake. We used pandan leaves, extracted the ingredient, and were pretty surprised at the results.” Brian says that the plan was not to start a business. They only saw potential in making this a business after the cake went viral on social media and their online store.
Pandan Man first launched with the pandan chiffon cake, a recognisable dessert and souvenir gift made popular by Singapore’s BengawanSolo desserts chain. To relate to a local market, the pair created “twists on Southeast Asian delicacies for the Hong Kong taste.”
Within their sweet repertoire, Caroline and Brian captured the flavours of Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore. A mango pomelo sticky rice forth-flavoured pandan cake was born, a Milo-flavoured dinosaur lava version is sold online and in-store, plus their signature Ondeh Ondeh pandan cake made with toasted coconut and gula melaka palm
But running a pandan-focussed desserts business, with bold Southeast Asian flavours, does not come without a need to educate Hong Kongers on the plant itself and its flavour profile.
“We do not use artificial pandan flavours,” Caroline mentions, “we purchase directly from Thailand. We educate our customers that our pandan is made from fresh leaves and sourced regionally.”
The sweetness of Pandan Man’s cakes is toned down from a Southeast Asian standard to meet Hong Kong’s health conscience level.
As the baker of the two – Brian leads on marketing efforts – Caroline scopes out social media trends in Hong Kong to engage with the flavours of today. Their new pistachio pandan cakes are top sellers. “Our durian, mango, and fig flavours are appealing in Hong Kong, whilst salted caramel and black sesame have a pull with Westerners and Chinese [respectively].”
Five years into Pandan Man, the pair plan to open a physical store to share their sweet pandan treats. A corn pandan tiramisu is on the list for crafting and selling this year, a flavour rather rare and enticing for Hong Kong.
Buy your next dessert treat at Pandan Man’s online store for a pandan surprise!
