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Cover: Harry Seggu with Ceylyn Tay (photo: Harry Seggu); other cover photos and background (Dim Sum Discovery by Canning, Kinta Jaya, Ipoh): Ceylyn Tay / Instagram @ceylyn, used with permission, cropped and darkened.
From a corner bungalow in Canning Garden, Ipoh, in 2018 to a halal dim sum factory whose products are sold from the Gulf to Melbourne. It began with a request her father-in-law had heard for years, and "dared not" answer.
You may have queued outside it for breakfast.
A corner bungalow in Canning Garden, Ipoh. A landscaped garden out front. Inside, a high, vaulted ceiling, steamers of bright blue and orange dumplings, and tables full of diners from all walks of life.
This is Canning Dim Sum. And the woman who co-founded it is Ceylyn Tay.
In this series, we usually tell you about tin barons, Kapitans and heritage buildings, people whose stories ended long ago. In our last story, it was Eu Yan Sang, born in a Gopeng medicine shop in 1879. Today's story is still being written, by an Ipoh entrepreneur who took one family's decades of bun-making know-how and carried it somewhere new.
Who Is Ceylyn Tay?
Ceylyn Tay Wei Lung (郑惠浓) is the co-founder of Canning Dim Sum, which opened in Canning Garden, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia, in June 2018, with her husband, Nang Yu Chuan, known as YC Nang (蓝友泉).
She is also the managing director of Team Some Sdn Bhd, the Ipoh company behind the restaurant, which makes halal dim sum and pau in its own factory in Ipoh and sells them at home and overseas.
In August 2026, she was named the Perak Inspirational Women Icon (Anugerah Wanita Ikon Inspirasi Perak) for 2026/2027 by Kelab Wanita Ikon Malaysia, with the support of the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development.
A Family That Had Been Making Pau for Decades
The story starts with her husband's family.
YC Nang's father supplied pau all over Ipoh for decades. Different reports put the family business at more than 30 years (in 2019), 35 years (in 2020) and more than four decades (in 2024). Until 2018, it had focused only on non-halal buns and dim sum.
Before Team Some, Ceylyn helped run that family business. She brought something else, too. A 2019 Chinese-language newspaper report describes her as a former head of a business-planning company who had planned strategy for many firms, and a local community paper described her as bringing "experience in business management and marketing".
"Since his family had been in the business for such a long time, YC has acquired technical knowledge to make authentic and good tasting dim sum," she said in a 2020 interview.
So the couple divided the work. By the 2019 account, YC focused on sales and market development, and Ceylyn ran the company from the inside.
The Request Nobody Had Answered
For years, Muslim customers had been asking the family for something it did not make.
"All this while, there have been requests from the Muslim community that he make halal version of dim sum but he dared not venture into it until we set up Canning Dim Sum in 2018," Ceylyn said in a 2024 interview, speaking of her father-in-law.
She and YC saw the potential in the halal market. In her view, Malaysian halal food certified by JAKIM, the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia, is recognised at home and abroad, so one halal kitchen could serve both local diners and export markets.
Even the company name is a play on words. According to a 2019 Chinese-language report, "Team Some" was chosen because it sounds like "dim sum" in Cantonese.
June 2018: A Bungalow in Canning Garden
Canning Dim Sum opened in June 2018 at No. 1, Lebuh Cecil Rae, Taman Canning, Ipoh, right opposite the New Hollywood kopitiam.
By YC's account in 2019, they had not planned to open a restaurant at all. They came across a well-placed unit in Canning Garden and decided to try. The restaurant became a place for customers and agents to taste the products, for the company to test the market, and for training staff.
A local food writer, reviewing it in August 2018, visited about a month after it opened. She found it packed, in a converted corner bungalow with a vaulted ceiling and a landscaped garden. At the time, it was billed as "pork-free". By 2022, according to a local report, it was halal-certified by JAKIM.
The menu set out to show what dim sum could be without pork. There was Lala Mai, a siew mai-style filling on top of large clams, a smoked duck wrap in place of suckling pig, a steamed ginger chicken in place of the classic spare ribs, and lava buns oozing with five different fillings.
Later came dishes with a Malaysian twist. "For instance, we have the sambal siu mai, carbonara chicken ham pau with mozzarella cheese, pau made from curry puff filling and also durian lava pau that uses the D24 durian filling," Ceylyn said in a 2024 interview.
The bright colours come from natural ingredients such as butterfly pea flower, pumpkin, dragon fruit and capsicum, according to the company and to a 2022 online food review. One signature dumpling is shaped like a little carrot.
Ipoh is famous for its dim sum, with some shops operating for several generations. One food reviewer concluded in 2022 that Canning Dim Sum "stands up to par with Ipoh's other famous dim sum shops".
In 2024, Ceylyn told a Malay-language newspaper that about 80 per cent of her customers are Malay, and that Chinese customers tell her the taste is authentic.
A Christmas Tree Made of Steamers
One early moment is pure Ipoh fun.
At Christmas 2018, according to a Chinese-language newspaper, the restaurant's staff stacked 800 bamboo dim sum steamers into an 18-foot Christmas tree for a Malaysia Book of Records attempt. A local paper later reported that Canning Dim Sum made it into the Malaysia Book of Records for the country's tallest Christmas tree made from bamboo.
From Restaurant to Factory
The restaurant was only the front door. Behind it, the couple were building a factory.
Team Some began producing halal dim sum in its own factory in 2019, in the Kinta Jaya light industrial area of Ipoh. Ceylyn has said that it took 10 months to obtain the halal certificate and food-safety certifications such as GMP, MeSTI, HACCP and ISO 22000.
She explained the thinking in a 2020 interview: "This is why halal certification alone is not sufficient. Adherence to international food safety management systems is equally crucial in keeping our business going for a long time."
The awards started early. Team Some was named a Rising Star in the Outstanding Business Awards (SOBA) 2019. A local paper also reported a World Top Gourmet Award in 2019 and a Nanyang Business Award in 2019.
When the Pandemic Hit
Then came COVID-19 and the Movement Control Order in 2020.
Ceylyn told a Chinese-language newspaper in 2021 that the restaurant's business was badly hit. But she spotted demand for frozen dim sum and pau. She launched frozen packs, and sales rose 50% in the first two weeks.
Out of that came Jom Dim Sum, which she described as a halal dim sum fast-food concept with set meals, aimed at making dim sum affordable for everyone. One newspaper dates the fast-food outlets to June 2020, while a local paper was already writing about the Jom Dim Sum brand in Ipoh eateries in April 2020. In 2023, she called it the first halal dim sum fast-food restaurant in the world. That is her company's claim; we could not verify it independently.
From Ipoh to the World
In 2020, Ceylyn shared a big dream in an interview:
"Instead of buying franchises from other countries such as KFC and McDonalds, why don't we start and sell our very own international outlet brand of healthy halal dim sum? I know that would make us (Malaysians) proud!"
By 2023, Team Some's frozen dim sum was being sold in the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Kuwait, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong and Melbourne, Australia, she told Malay-language newspapers. The company says it offers more than 100 types of pau and dim sum.
In Malaysia, the Canning Dim Sum and Jom Dim Sum restaurants in Ipoh are run by the company, while outlets elsewhere, in Penang, Sarawak, Kuala Lumpur, Cameron Highlands, Pahang and Kedah, were run by franchisees, by her 2023 account. In 2022, the company counted 20 Canning Dim Sum and Jom Dim Sum outlets around Malaysia. Today, the Team Some website lists Canning Dim Sum outlets in Ipoh, Bayan Lepas in Penang, and Bangi in Selangor.
"Our goal is to become the number one brand in Southeast Asia, and an international dim sum brand," she said in a Malaysia Role Model Recognition profile published in 2022 (our translation from Chinese).
Dim Sum Discovery: A Factory You Can Visit
On 25 January 2024, the company opened its second Canning restaurant in Ipoh, Dim Sum Discovery by Canning, next to its factory in Kinta Jaya, Ipoh.
It is a restaurant with a classroom attached. Visitors can see how dim sum is made, and children can join a Kiddo Dim Sum Workshop. There are fish ponds, and private tables set inside giant bird cages. Ceylyn calls it a "3P" concept: business, education and tourism.
"Five years ago, we envisioned creating a space where the public could witness the entire dim sum production process," she said. The idea, she said, was inspired by facilities in Japan, Taiwan and Korea.
She added a line that sums up her approach: "Halal compliance is not exclusive; it's about ensuring safe and hygienic food production. We want the world to know about our fusion-based and creative dim sum recipes, inspired by our multicultural nation."
By then, the Canning team had grown to more than 100 staff, a local paper reported.
People First
The dumplings are only half the story. In every interview we found, Ceylyn talks about her team.
"I've experienced bad working environments too, so the last thing I would want my employees to deal with is what I had gone through," she said in a 2020 interview. "We always strive to treat each other like a family in the office, instead of merely colleagues."
In 2019, she told a Chinese-language newspaper that products are easy to copy, but a company's culture is not. By that paper's account, when one young employee who had left school in Form 4 seemed distracted at work, the couple drove to the family's home in Kuala Kangsar at night to understand what was wrong, and arranged help through a charity.
Her 2022 profile says Team Some also takes in interns from B40 households through partner colleges and offers them jobs after they graduate.
A Woman Icon for Perak
More recognition has followed. On its own website, Team Some lists a Halal Dim Sum Brand Building Entrepreneur Award (2024) and an Outstanding Revenue Award (2025), both from Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper award programmes.
Then, in August 2026, Kelab Wanita Ikon Malaysia announced 26 State Women Icons for 2026/2027, chosen from 301 nominations nationwide. Puan Ceylyn Tay Wei Lung was named the Perak Inspirational Women Icon. She is one of only two women to receive a State Inspirational Women Icon award in this edition.
Our founder, Harry, presented Ceylyn with the Ipoh the City of Millionaires Leadership Award.
What We Take From Her Story
For our students, Ceylyn Tay's story holds a few simple lessons.
Listen to what people keep asking for. For years, customers asked for halal dim sum, and nobody in the family dared to try. She and YC did.
Do the slow work properly. Ten months of certificates is not glamorous, but it is what opened the door to the world.
And look after the people who build it with you.
Made in Ipoh. Built for the world.
Have you eaten at Canning Dim Sum? Which dim sum would you order first? Tell us below
This story is part of Ipoh Connections, our City of Millionaires heritage series. At EdQuest International School in Ipoh, we believe history, character and critical thinking are best learned through real stories, including the stories of our own city.
Stories in this series are shared for informational and educational purposes. Where accounts differ, we say so. We respect all races, religions and cultures, and we do not represent or endorse any political party or movement.
