Bestsellers: Booming bakery rises to meet demand with expansion

Thursday, 23 July 2026

La Promesse Bake House, 5 Ward St, Hamilton Central

La Promesse, one of Hamilton’s busiest bakeries, is set to expand, keeping the city’s professionals well supplied with their favourite pastries.

Walking into the bustling bakery, you’re met with an array of chunky muffins and glistening fruit pastries - enough to tempt anyone. It is filled with regular customers from construction crews to office workers and local police officers, and owners Ling and Richard Loh know almost all of them by name.

“Our concept is always that we treat all customers as our friends. We recognise them and remember their preferences,” Ling said.

“We opened because we want to provide good quality pastries and friendly service to the local community, and people from offices, normally they need food and of course they need coffee.”

The husband and wife duo opened the bakery three years ago, but their experience extends well beyond this. They have worked in bakeries for the past 20 years across Malaysia, their home country, as well as Singapore and Ireland.

Ling said they worked well together - although who was the boss was up for debate - she described her husband as the “head of the operations” but she was the neck and worked her magic in the background.

Richard handles the baking side of the business, making all of their tasty treats from scratch, while Ling is out the front chatting to customers. They offer cabinet food ranging from fruit danishes to cheese kransky sausage croissants as well as serving up what several customers described as “the best mocha in the city”.

Before moving to New Zealand seven years ago, they owned a similar bakery in Malaysia called La Promise for 10 years. Now, with business booming, they have decided to expand to a second site in Garden Place despite the cost of living tightening belts.

The couple started with just them and their three children, but now have seven staff and expect to hire another four once they open the new place in August.

“It's very challenging at this time because of the economy. People are really cautious about their spending, especially those with a family, so we understand but we need more room with people queuing outside.”

Tell us about the bestseller:

While it was tricky to decide, Ling thought the winner would have to be their pain suisse au chocolate, which was crisp pastry wrapped around Belgian chocolate and custard.

Why is it so appealing?

She said the draw was the homemade custard that was thick and creamy, unlike some commercial types. The pastry was also laminated three times to get that snappy flakiness.

Who buys it?

The sweet treat appealed to most people, but was especially popular among office workers who came in weekly for it and a coffee.

How much?

$8.50.

What’s your favourite item?

Ling enjoyed having a fresh fruit danish, which included their creamy custard.