Local actress Jeanette Aw returns to Japan with pastry pop-ups

Local actress Jeanette Aw, who in recent years has turned her passion for baking into a patisserie business, is taking her sweet treats to Japan once more.

The 45-year-old star’s patisserie Once Upon A Time has returned to the country ahead of Valentine’s season for a slew of pop-ups, a year after she launched her first Japan pop-up at the Amour du Chocolat fair in Nagoya in 2024.

Back then, Once Upon A Time held three pop-ups in the cities of Nagoya, Osaka and Tokyo.

This time, Aw will have pop-up booths in Nagoya, Osaka, Kobe and three locations in Tokyo, featuring the brand’s What The Fudge brownie, as well as orange and macadamia nut versions of the brownies, alongside chocolate bonbons.

Once Upon A Time, founded in 2021, posted photos of its famous chef mingling with customers and signing boxes of her bakes at the pop-up’s first stop at JR Nagoya Takashimaya department store on Jan 18.

It wrote: “Nagoya, you’ve truly stolen our hearts. Our first stop was filled with so much warmth, meeting customers who fell in love with our sweets last year and came back for more this Valentine’s season. Your support means the world to us. Thank you for making this journey so special.”

Aw, who is best known for playing the lead character in the hit Channel 8 period drama The Little Nyonya (2008) and will return for a cameo in the spin-off series Emerald Hill set to premiere in March, had previously been emotional when her desserts sold out in Nagoya in 2024.

In a video posted by her manager Pauline Soh at the time, Aw could be seen dabbing away her tears and saying she was “happy” with how well-received her desserts were.

Aw, who completed a patisserie course at cooking school Le Cordon Bleu Tokyo in 2019, wrote in an Instagram Story: “This is the biggest event in Japan, so I really didn’t know what to expect. I’ve been working on this for two years, and there were challenges along the way. Today is the launch day in Nagoya. Finally.”

She added that putting up the “sold out” sign meant a lot to her and made her “a little emotional”.

This article was originally published in The Straits Times.