It is 1860 in Bakewell, Derbyshire. A visiting nobleman arrives at The White Horse, a local inn. He spots a sullen faced woman yawning at the Reception, and approaches her.
‘Harlow. Here got food ah?’ he asks.
Mrs. Graves, upset at the rude interruption to her lovely daydream about nasi lemak with sambal sotong and lots of ikan bilis, gives him an irritated look and scurries to the kitchen to check on supplies and emerges with a triumphant look.
‘All gone already,’ she proclaims. ‘Only got strawberry tart. How?’
‘Aiyah, strawberry tart only ah?’ he sighs.
‘Ya lor. Today got Siti Nurhaliza concert, everybody go to JB to see her, so we don’t prepare so much food here lor.’
He hesitates. His stomach rumbles. A strawberry tart isn’t much of a consolation when one expects to eat mutton peratal.
‘Harlow, we don’t have all day to decide! You want or not??’
‘Okaaaay la,’ he says. ‘Sure don’t have mutton peratal ar?’ he continues hopefully.
Mrs. Graves snorts in disgust and yells the order to the cook. ‘ONE STRAWBERRY TART. TABLE FOUR!!’
Fifteen long minutes go by.
‘One KAYA KOK!’ the cook says as she plonks the pie in front of the hungry nobleman.
‘But I order strawberry tart wor,’ he says.
‘I heard “kaya kok”, okay!!!’
The nobleman wonders which part of “strawberry tart” sounds like “kaya kok” and looks to Mrs. Graves, hoping to get some support. But Mrs. Graves is fast asleep, dreaming of curry laksa with plump, juicy kerang.
He takes a bite of the kaya kok. His eyes widen in delight. ‘Mmmmmm, so tasty!!’
The cook looks at him and thinks he’s a little crazy. She decides not to tell him that she had forgotten to stir the egg mixture into the pastry for the strawberry tart (which she had heard clearly enough), and in her haste to cover up her error, she had spread it on top of the pastry instead.
‘What you call this ar?’ he asks. ‘Kaya kok?’
‘Ya lor. Why? Never heard before izzit?’
‘Cheh. Kaya kok sound obscene lah.’ he says.
The cook rolls her eyes, ready to dismiss him and return to her reverie beside the fireplace in the kitchen.
‘I know,’ he exclaims. ‘Since we are in Bakewell, we call it the Bakewell Pudding LAH!!’
She walks away, muttering obscenities under her breath.
The nobleman leaves the inn, happy at his new discovery. The next week, droves of people turn up at the inn to taste the wonderful new dessert called the Bakewell Pudding.
THE END?
Well, not quite. And whatever happened to Mrs. Graves and the cook? They couldn’t handle all the extra workload, so they sold their recipe to one Mrs Wilson who turned it into a million dollar business, and I can assure you that at least Mrs Wilson lived happily ever after! For the version of the story unadulterated with sambal belacan or kari kepala ikan, check out their official website HERE.
The Old Original Bakewell Pudding Shop,
The Square, Bakewell,
Derbyshire, UK.
Tel:01629 812193
As always, for residents of the glorious nation of UAE who are unable to access my flickr photos, click HERE for pics.
Note: For a quick and easy recipe for kaya (not kaya kok, but hey, half’s better than none), check out Argus World.
u r really pampered, u asian shakesperino….lol….u cannot even stay away from malaysian hawker fare for a while…..and there u go ordering a glamorized “apom balek”….sigh. juz a smack of mentega more on top, u call it ‘bakewell pudding’….sigh, total “rubbish”!! LOL.
ktx: lol. it does look like apam balik! good one. wait till those dudes try our malaysian sweet stuff….sure pengsan from ecstacy.
It looks super delicious. I made them once but your is looking more delicious than mine.
OMG I couldn’t stop laughing! Perfect perfect!
the pics are simply awesome …..
happy cook: I got mine from the original bakewell pudding shop, so they’ve had some practice. hehe. Happy cooking!
msiagirl: Oh, I’m so glad u liked it!!
bhags: Thanks, dear!
HAHAHAHAHAHA kaya kok.. LOL! I think its only obscene when the ang mo’s says it
hhee.. I like this version better. the pudding looks beautiful. love the shots.
U make farny. Big farny. I big smile all the way cheek-to-cheek. Oh yessiree. Who-who-who…
What a way to start my day! 😀 *hugs*
Heheheh… couldn’t stop myself giggling. Cute writing 🙂
teckiee: It sounds obscene whichever way you say it. 🙂
daphne: Glad u liked the story. hehe.
Kenny: Big farnee give big fart too.
jason: Glad u enjoyed it. heehee.
*death by chocolate*
Hilarious!!
And raw sugar cubes!!
Somehow it’s not quite the same, reading and viewing the pixes separately… (%$#^!@#&!! give her an inch, she asks for a mile…) 😀
But let’s be thankful for small wonders.. (dreams of rogan josh for this weekend’s lunch)
so funny wan you, your bakewell pudding oops kaya kok looks dang good,got whipped cream summore, what sauce you pour on top ah?
like your blog lah, photos also so nice..
this is simply hilarious! for a minute, i thot u were writing some story related to the bennets..haha
Hahaha…that was a good one sista. I also particularly like the part where the cook covered up his mistake by pouring the egg mixture on top. My dad did just that when he forgotten to marinate the pork with egg. Ended up the sweet and sour pork grave came with egg (imagine Cantonese noodle). Ewww…it didn’t taste good lor. Heehehe.
😀 As usual, your version of ‘history’ is miles more entertaining than the real stuff! Does it really taste like ‘kaya kok’ ah? Seems like the improvements in your photos are stoking your creative writing skills too. Well done!
a creative write-up. and I enjoyed looking at the pictures you took. Marvellous!
you have such an eye for a photo that tells a story, far better than just food porn, and you write in this whimsical and laid back manner that is original and funny!
i really enjoy reading your blog!
Hey… I really like your post.. talk bout creative storytelling…
I sent u an email but I’m not sure if u got it (might have been trashed by the spam detector?)
Anyway, would like to invite you and your other food loving (& blogging) friends to check out Ravejoint (www.ravejoint.com).. Its a site I created with a fren for people who love food to rave bout it (kinda like what u’re doing with your blog). All your raves would be useful in helping people search out the best places to eat food in their area 🙂
Currently we got like lots of contributions from KK, Sabah and we would like to see more raves from pplz of other cities.. 😛
Do tell me what you think bout d site and what we can do to improve… ^_^
Looks really delicious!
for a moment i believed u..wahahah..but where got kaya kok in london 1?
Lol.
Testing testing. Been losing comments I made in your posts.
Err u ‘managed’ them-ar?
kat: sorrylah…will see what I can do about the problem, k. 🙂
prince namor: yes, I got your email. Will respond to it shortly. 🙂
nipples: check out the recipe for both the bakewell pudding and kaya. They’re *almost* the same. heehee.
tummythoz: I look forward to your comments, so I would never “manage” them leh. Blame blogger! 😛
omg we have seen nor tried neither …tho the macho name and thick struggling drpping brew are vagely familiar .
thrust those englishwomen
You nearly sent me to my early grave picturing Mrs Graves speaking like dat lor! (Good thing my history got straightened over how ‘kaya kok’ turned into Bakewell pudding. Obscene indeed, eh! Reminded me of how a Sarawakian ex-collegemate ordered a big Coke at McD’s and he pronounced coke obscenely & other students told him to shut up and we’ll do the ordering for him. 😉 )
Ah, thanks mutchee for the ‘how to easily make kaya’ plug.
Kewl… 🙂 waiting for your reply…
Beautiful pictures and blog.
http://www.hanafionline.com
farnie one! I never tot that ‘kaya kok’ sounds obscene till now…
The ‘bakewell pudding/kaya kok’ looks very sweet though, i think i’ll get sugar high by having dat.
i’ve always wanted to try to make the bakewell pudding. sounds easy enough. but that pic makes it look delumptious.
Cute writing!!:D
Loved the way you depicted it and those pics are great too:)