Jeanette Aw opens patisserie pop-ups in Japan, feels 'a little emotional' seeing desserts sold out

It's been two years in the making, and local actress and patissier Jeanette Aw has finally opened her first pop-up in Nagoya, Japan.

The Once Upon a Time pop-up is one of three — the others are set to open in Tokyo and Osaka — from mid-January to Valentine's Day and the 44-year-old has previously said she'll be competing with over a hundred other chocolate stores during the period in just Tokyo alone.

Earlier today (Jan 18), Jeanette posted an Instagram video of yesterday's opening of the Amour du Chocolat fair at Nagoya, writing: "Such a humbling experience. I'm so grateful."

In it, she can be seen standing alongside other patissiers and attending to customers queuing up to purchase her chocolates. She even signs some of the chocolate boxes and takes photos with customers.

Finally, she can be seen putting a "sold out" sign in Japanese in the chocolate display case.

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Jeanette reposted Instagram Stories yesterday, shared by her manager Pauline Soh who wrote about her excitement at seeing Jeanette stand "on the same stage as so many famous pastry chefs", press and TV interviews and seeing two queue lanes for the pop-up.

According to the patisserie Once Upon a Time's Instagram Stories, the pop-up and its new What The Fudge orange cake was featured in three Japanese broadcasts.

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In her own Instagram Story, Jeanette wrote: "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.

"'Sold out' means so much to me. It also made me a little emotional."

She added that she realised afterwards "just how stressed" she had been planning for the event and that she had "just been keeping it all in".

Jeanette's next stop is Osaka, she shared in an Instagram Story today.

Once Upon a Time opened in Singapore back in 2021 and, in a recent interview with AsiaOne, Jeanette discussed whether the pop-ups were a way for her to test the waters to open up a permanent store in Japan.

"The pop-ups during Valentine's Day in Japan are a pretty big event. They run for a month starting in January," she explained. "I don't think it's testing waters, it's jumping into the deep end of the pool."

When we asked how she'll manage to stand out among the competition, Jeanette said: "It's tough breaking into a different market so it's really taking baby steps and I put all my trust and confidence in my partners and PR team in Japan.

"And of course, I hope my recipes won't disappoint too."

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drimac@asiaone.com

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