Sweet Musings takes the cake as Memphis’s first Taiwanese-style bakery
Looking back over the first few months of owning Sweet Musings Bakery & Cafe, Regan Chen says he and his wife Christy Lin made one mistake: underestimating the people of Memphis.
They were surprised—and initially overwhelmed—by how quickly Memphians embraced their Taiwanese-style bakery, the first in the area. “The opening in May was really busy. We didn’t expect it would be that busy,” Regan says. “We did not prepare enough staff, especially the bakers. We were really behind. We would bring out all the pastries, and it was gone in two, three, four hours.”
They quickly ramped up their staffing and put in long days themselves, often working from 5:30 a.m. to midnight, until their product could meet customer demand.
Today, Sweet Musings has moved past those early growing pains, though Regan and Christy still are pulling 12-hour days, six days a week. When you walk into the Germantown Road shop, you’ll immediately understand its instant popularity. The focal point of the cafe is a huge glass pastry case that sits in the middle of the dining room. It’s filled with beautiful Taiwanese-style pastries, all baked fresh in-house every day. There’s an Instagram-worthy wall of flowers with an illuminated sign. Pretty tables with comfortable chairs line each side of the shop with more seating on the patio outside.
The store opens daily at 8 a.m. They close at 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. So whether you want breakfast, an afternoon pick-me-up, or an evening treat, they have you covered.
Sweet Musings came about in the same way that many of the best things in life do: When someone found that what they wanted didn’t exist, they created it themselves!
It happened like this. Regan and Christy moved to Memphis six years ago for Regan’s job. He was a sushi chef in Houston, Texas, and his promotion required a relocation to Memphis. When they arrived, they began looking for an authentic, Asian-style pastry shop, but they couldn’t find one. So Christy began making pastries herself. She started with a personal passion for baking and perfected her skills with an online class. She began filling private orders for Asian communities in the Memphis area, making birthday cakes and other treats. Business grew quickly by word of mouth, and soon Christy began planning to open her own shop.
They knew from the beginning that they would open a Taiwanese-style shop, though both Christy and Regan are originally from southeast China. “In China we have a lot of Taiwanese bakery shops,” explains Regan. “A lot of Taiwanese people came to the China mainland and brought this concept into China. We have our own style [of bakery]—Cantonese style—but that’s not popular in my hometown. In my hometown, the Taiwanese bakery is more popular.”
Preparing for the launch of Sweet Musings took two years.
They had to order specialized equipment from Taiwan—and then learn to use it. And they had to hire and train staff. (It takes a minimum of six months to train a new baker, says Regan.) It was a steep learning curve to go from Christy’s at-home baking to owning a store. “To do a private order in-house and to do the business is a completely different story,” says Regan.
Wanting their bakery to be authentic, Regan and Christy started looking for a professional Taiwanese baker to bring on board. Through a family connection, they met a man in Taiwan who has spent his whole career baking. During the build-up and launch of Sweet Musings, he made several trips to Memphis to train Christy, Regan, and the rest of the baking staff. He’s working toward a visa that would allow him to stay and work with Sweet Musings permanently.
In the pastry case, some items look familiar to the typical American patron—like the House Danish, topped with custard and fresh fruit. But bite into it and you’ll find this Taiwanese-style pastry is nothing like the Danish you find at the grocery store or hotel breakfast buffet. This Danish is light and fluffy inside with just the tiniest bit of crunch to the crust. And it has layers of flavor—from the fruit to the custard to the light glaze to the pastry itself—so much better than what probably comes to mind when you think of a Danish.
Other items are less familiar, like the Black Sesame Bun, whose alternating rows of pastry and black sesame paste are reminiscent of zebra stripes. The Pineapple Bun actually doesn’t include any pineapple—but is scored on top with the diagonal lines of a pineapple rind.
Among the sweet pastries, the Hokkaido Cheese Bun is Regan’s favorite. “It’s so fluffy and soft, and the cream cheese inside is sweet,” he says. “We have the secret recipe on that.”
And from the savories, he recommends the Scallion Pork Floss Bun. To make the pork floss, they take a cut of lean pork and marinate, bake, and shred it. Then they cook the shredded pork over low heat to completely dry it out. Then the bun is cut in half and layered with sauce and pork floss, and pork floss coats both ends of the bun. “I love it,” says Regan. “A lot of Asian people come here just for that.”
Two cold cases offer treats like Coconut Snow Cubes, individual cheesecakes, and slices of crepe cake, another customer favorite. To make the cake, around 40 sheets of crepe are layered with flavored crème. “No one else does the same crepe cake in Memphis, and probably not in Tennessee,” says Regan.
Their drinks are just as thoughtfully and artfully made as the pastries.
They offer a wide range, from bubble teas (like the passion fruit made with real passion fruit pulp) to a full menu of coffee and espresso choices.
Customers make their own pastry selection using trays, paper liners, and clean tongs provided at the end of the case. Each pastry is clearly labeled with its name and price, so there are no surprises when you get to the register. Speaking of the register, many of the pastries are less than $3. This is intentional, says Regan.
He and Christy want Sweet Musings to be welcoming to the whole community—with a price point that’s accessible to a wide audience.
Community is important to Christy and Regan. They rely on their own church community to look after their two young children while they’re working on the weekends. And they’re working to serve the Memphis community through their shop.
One way they’re doing that is by partnering with other local businesses, like Comeback Coffee. Comeback owner Amy McPherson was an early customer and fan of Sweet Musings. Now the Comeback Coffee team picks up pastries from Sweet Musings every Tuesday and Thursday to sell at their downtown shop. “It is a solid partnership right now,” says Regan. “We feel really thankful. They are great people. We love working with them.”
When school began, business slowed for Sweet Musings, but they anticipate an uptick during the holiday season. In the meantime, they’re working on more partnerships to bring more choices to their customers. And they’re planning a rotation of pastries so regular customers can have new things to try.
As they continue to deal with the normal stresses of owning a new small business, they mostly are just happy and grateful for the bakery and for their customers. It means a lot to them when they hear about customers who used to drive all the way to Atlanta to find a Taiwanese-style bakery but now have one they love in their own hometown. “That makes our hard work mean something. It means a lot to us,” says Regan. “I hope we can keep doing better and keep the business running and make quality pastries for everybody. That’s our goal.”
1890 Germantown Parkway, Suite 99
sweetmusingscordova.com
Manda Gibson is copy editor at Edible Memphis. She loves the whole storytelling process—from getting to know the people she interviews, to weaving together a story, to being entrusted with editing other writers’ work.
Chip Chockley, an attorney by day, has been a professional photographer since 2008. Things that make him happy include tacos, mai tais, and his wife and kids. @chipchockley