A Visit to Al Sabah Bakery in Fahaheel
Once upon a time, back in the 80′s, there used to be a little vanilla sponge cake topped with vivid pink sugar icing and cut into squares, packaged and sitting on the Co-op aisles for us to pick up and enjoy as little kids. I saw it again in Mishref Co-op back in 2010 and I was hesitant to try it after all these years. Three years on and my husband arrives home from Fahaheel one day with a brown paper package. Inside, was the very same vanilla sponge cake sans the icing, unbelievably fragrant and screaming for a cup of hot milk infused with cardamom and saffron to be dunked in.
The cake was extremely fresh and soft, unlike the usually hardened version I used to experience in my childhood after being left on the Co-op shelf for quite some time. When dunked into the hot cup of milk, the combination was so succulent you find yourself reaching for another slice without an thinking twice. You look up after your cup of milk is drained and you realise you’ve eaten half the loaf of cake already! Humble in appearance yet gigantic in flavour, I knew the time has come to finally make the trip to the bakery in Fahaheel and get myself some pink crusted cakes and see what else they have to offer.
We were driving around, missed a couple of turns, and suddenly found the little bakery right across from a traffic light. Inside, the shop was quite sparse, with only a few fridges, a metal stand, and a few plastic boxes storing their cakes and cupcakes.
Here are the vanilla sponge cakes, wrapped up in brown paper and ready to be picked up and go to a loving home. There are two sizes for the cake and a family can easily feast on one -or two- big sizes wrapped cakes. The wrapping reminded me of black & white movies where all the shopping was wrapped up like parcels including sweets and desserts.
They also had hot baked pastries -fatayer- stuffed with cheese, dates, or za’atar. I tried the one with the white cheese and I have to say it tasted like something out of the school canteen from the 80′s! This is the white cheese fatayer I was looking for all these years to accompany my orange Sunkist drink when I want to be reminded of my elementary school breakfast!
And now we come for the cake that started it all: thin white vanilla sponge covered with a layer of crunchy pink frosting and cut into squares! It was packaged, waiting for me to pick it up, and most importantly freshly baked!
Other things we picked up from the bakery was the dates stuffed pastry and tiny cupcakes that taste good as well!
Needless to say I couldn’t wait to go back home, prepare myself a cup of hot milk infused with saffron and cardamom, and devouring my fresh and quite tasty cake improved even more wight he vibrant pink sugar coating. Its the taste of nostalgic happiness, I tell you!
All my life I’ve been eating this cake a tad stale hence why I didn’t miss it much, now I’ve tasted it fresh I believe its worth making the trip all the way to Fahaheel for! I never even knew before 2010 that these cakes came from a real bakery, I just assumed they were like biscuits made in some dainty old factory.
The Al Sabah bakery is located in Fahaheel and if you need directions you can give them a call on +(965)-23911992.
