Asian Style Bakery Coming To Amsterdam!
IMPORTANT: Due to foot injury, this project will be postponed. Recovery will take some months at least and I still have a fulltime job I have to get back into. For the time being, I will be working on this website, recipes etc. and looking forward to share my work with you foodies this year!
Who are we?
Hi there! I am Jacky, a passionate chef who has expanded his love for cooking to also include baking.
Long story short, I was born in Denmark and moved to Amsterdam in 2018.
As for ‘Joy’, it is not a person but an experience! The ‘Joy’ I am refering to is the emotion of joy that your favorite foods bring you 🙂
To me, different foods are tied to various joyful moments of my life. From enjoying a cozy meal at home with family and friends to sitting on a tiny plastic stool in 35 degrees celsius while eating bbq skewers, they are all precious moments to me. So, I am Jack & ‘Joy’ is only one bite away!
My Vision?
Jack&Joy is a business-in-development bringing a new Asian style bakery to Amsterdam with breads that are inspired by Chinese, Japanese and Taiwanese bakeries. More traditional items such as bolo bao, custard buns and sausage breads are in the menu but there are also other experimental breads that I have been working on.
In the future, I hope to include a selection of Japanese style bagels, Banh Mi sandwiches and Shokupan/milkbread sandos for your quick lunch, tasty snack or perhaps a picnic basket!
I am looking forward to sharing with you the same joy that Asian breads bring me!
Hope you will tag along in this journey, and also accompany me in my goal to have a brick-and-mortar shop down the line.
About Me
Jack&Joy is a milestone in my life and a symbol of finally having enough confidence and courage to share my passion for cooking and baking with people outside my small circle of friends! Cooking has always been my love language and my way of expressing how much I care for the people around me.
Even though I work with food every day I still make time to cook meals for myself and friends as well as hosting dinners on my days off and after work. These are the moments where I can unwind, reflect, relax and also test out recipes and flavour combinations. All these off work cooking sessions have helped me find myself both as a chef and as a person. The final push that had me jumping into this project was support and encouragement from close friends and family. Without them, I would never have gained the confidence in making my dream my goal!
Experience-wise, I don’t have any professional training in the baking industry. I started out my career with cooking Danish, French and Italian cuisine to now recently ending up working with Chinese Dim Sum. From restaurants to cruise ships and hotels. Needless to say, I did everything to find my place and it took me 9 years!
Everything I know about baking is from self study, asking friends and a lot of practice in my tiny home kitchen.
Jack&joy is a project that I will keep improving on and develope. I don’t like making the same stuff over and over again. I want a place where I can keep developing new flavours and hone my skills within cooking and baking. I hope you will come and try out my baked goods and hopefully find the ‘joy’ in them as much as my friends and family do!
Savoury and Sweet Breads
Some are familiar, some are not.
Click below to check the menu!
Chilli Oil
Homemade oil that you must have in your pantry! Need inspiration? Click below to see other recipes and how I use it daily!
Japanese Style Bagels
Softer and chewier than regular American bagels. Some are stuffed with sweet/savoury components, some are plain!
Jack’s Chilli Joy
A staple in my pantry at home, and a recipe that I am finally satisfied with, I would like to proudly share with you all: Jack’s Chilli Joy!
The history of this chilli oil is long and vast; as clichéd as it sounds, the original recipe belonged to my grandfather, who to this day carries his passion for cooking, and we used to serve it in our family restaurant years and years ago. It holds a special place in my heart, and I have carried it over to every phase of my career. At each instance, be it cooking in an Italian restaurant on a cruise ship as the pasta chef or cooking staff meals at different workplaces, I have used this chilli oil to enhance my dishes. However, upon settling down in Amsterdam a few years ago, I felt the desire to develop a recipe that used the same chillies every single time so that it would become a standard. After spending time sourcing the type of dried chillies I was happy with, and adding other spices and various oils, I created a recipe that is different from my grandfather’s.
Jack’s Chilli Joy does not contain any MSG, salt, vinegar or soy sauce as it is to be used in the same manner you would use any other chilli infused oil. The reason I do not include these seasonings is because I believe that this oil is versatile and it can be used in many different ways. Beyond enhancing the flavour of your Asian dishes, you can add it to your pastas, salads, and sauces! Even better, you can dip your pizza crusts in the chilli oil, dry toss some noodles or enjoy this goodness with plain steamed rice.
Do keep an eye out on this website to see all the different ways in which you can use this chilli oil, including some of my personal recipes for both Asian and Western dishes!
