It’s no surprise to see line-ups in front of newly opened Richmond food establishments, but it was a shock for Christopher Siu, MasterChef Canada winner and owner of Daan Go Cake Lab.
Hundreds of people were spotted lining up on April 15 for the opening weekend of the Ontario-based bakery.
And despite the store not opening until 11 a.m. one person lined up as early as 9:45 a.m., explained Siu.
“I’m honestly both anxious and very happy at the same time while trying to keep a big smile on to greet everyone,” Siu told the Richmond News as he greeted enthusiastic fans at the entrance.
“Richmond is phenomenal. It blows me away that there’s so much support from the community,” he said.
Siu enlisted the help of fellow-MasterChef Canada winner, David Jorge, to open his first West Coast location in Richmond. He now has seven stores across Canada after opening his first Toronto retail cake shop in 2017.
While the lines have gotten shorter after the weekend, some people have mentioned it still takes roughly 30 to 40 minutes to order, purchase and walk out.
Daan Go, named after the Cantonese word for cake, was created to bring eastern and western dessert and cake styles together, explained Siu.
“My goal was to create something that was in between the Costco stuff, which I always found too sweet, and the baked goods from the Chinese bakeries that were too light for me,” he said.
Siu told the News he didn’t have plans to become a chef nor a bakery owner until he entered MasterChef Canada.
He was in his last year of pharmacy school when he decided to take four months off to compete in the national cooking and baking show.
“MasterChef not only gave me inspiration, but also the confidence. I had always been afraid to pursue what I love because I felt like I wasn’t good enough at it or didn’t have enough experience.”
Siu eventually completed his pharmacy degree and worked as a pharmacist for two years, but eventually chose to leave the industry to pursue his passion in baking.
He added that he has no plans to return to pharmacy because of his huge amount of “love and affinity for food.”
“Baking and cooking is really a moment of getting together and gathering with friends and family.”
