21/09/2026
In our shop today are picture frames that most don’t know enough about - a 40-year old business before us - Kedai Dobi Universal. Most who visit our shop in Damansara Kim are well familiar with our “vintage” signage, and only a rare few recognise the significance of the Kedai Dobi to their community. When you walk in today, you’ll see us honouring that legacy with the original photos of the previous shop.
You see, it isn’t so much about the dobi, but the person behind the counter - Than Siew Eng or as we’ve come to call her - Aunty Dobi.
Aunty Dobi was never just someone who washed linens for a living. She was an entrepreneur, a migrant, a mother, and an active member of the Damansara Kim community. She did it for 40 years, and she embraced this role with pride, humility, and unwavering commitment. She, by all measures was the OG.
While we young bucks first ran Table & Apron and our bakery like a speedtrain, she reminded us with grace to embrace life as a journey, a ride to remember, and not a race to burn out. It was a glimpse into her perspective of an unwavering commitment to her regulars through the passage of time with them. Being a custodian to that same spirit as the Dobi business in Damansara Kim is a blessing to us.
Through a handful of daily coffee morning runs with her, she was equally as excited for the expanded bakery. Perhaps time had to intervene - and she passed on the week we re-opened in July.
This post is a tribute - to Aunty Dobi. To that, we raise our bakes everyday to her.
