pineapple tarts
of m'ka
















ian song who went back to kuching, his hometown, for the chinese new year, brought us a container of pineapple tarts made by his 80-year old grandmother. the open tarts with intricate patterns on the pineapple filling were meticulously crafted by hand. i think kuchingites prefer the pastry firm.

whenever i eat pineapple tarts, i think of those that we used to buy back from the shop behind the federal cinema in melaka. the coffeeshop called bee bee hiong is also very popular for its yong tau foo. a lot of locals and visitors could be found eating yong tau foo for breakfast at the shop.

the rolled crumbly buttered pastry tarts come in transparent plastic containers and each box of tarts was priced at rm$10. i am sure with its popularity and the increased cost of its ingredients and other things, the price will have gone up. i do not think they made the tarts themselves because each time we placed our orders of twenty to thirty boxes, we would be told to collect them later in the day or on the next day.

however, unlike other pineapple tarts, the rolled tarts from melaka cannot keep for long. we were advised to consume them as soon as possible. the pastry melts in your mouth and the pineapple filling is just nice, not too sweet and sans the sour taste.

the last time i went to melaka i found the rolled tarts being sold in quite a number of shops in the town, especially in the jonkers street area.