A tribute to FORUM CAKE HOUSE

Wednesday, 27th October 2004

With a heavy heart, I’m writing this article and posting all these photos of the bakery that my Mum has worked at for 10 whole years. For my sec school, JC and poly friends, u shud noe that this is the very bakery that I have brought all those bread to school from; this is the bakery that has provided my breakfast for the past 10 years; this is the bakery that has allowed my mum to earn a part-time living; this is the bakery that has supplied my family with all those pink plastic bags which I hate(!); this is the bakery that has been around the quiet neighbourhood opposite Bukit Gombak MRT for more than 10 years; this is the bakery whose bosses are so benevolent to the point that they would rather take home a pay lower than their employees than to dismiss them; this is the bakery that has maintained the old, traditional style of pricing its bread between $0.50 and a dollar; this is a bakery that has seen better days….

A new bakery has opened earlier this year at a more strategic location just beside the road across the MRT station. It occupies the space of 3 shops. Its décor is one that is brightly-lit inside out and seems to be screaming for attention to me. It has fanciful stuff that appeals to all those who needs/wants more than just hunger to whet their appetite. The bread are attractive and pricey nonetheless. Its targeted customers seem to be the younger ones, and the working middle-aged group. In comparison, the little shophouse tucked in the corner just 1 minute’s walk further up from this brand new bakery which houses a bakery in its one shop-space at the 1st level simply would not yield another look from the common passer-by.

The rental has been increasing over the past year as well, according to my mum. As to how much it is, I need not know and it seems to me that the landlord wants to evict my mum’s boss, most probably to some other business that can pay him a higher rent and earn a living in that small, ‘wuloo’ neighbourhood.

Due to the presence of the new bakery, sales has dropped drastically over the past few months as earnings can dip to only 40% of what they used to collect on the worst days. How is a business that is not raking in profits supposed to continue on?? Furthermore, the rental is increased. I’ve been to the bakery many times before and the amount of bread left over lately is tremendous. Mum said that they used to sell out almost everything in the past. On the bright side(if u consider it bright), there’s a man who will fetch the bread every morning to the old folks’ home.

If the new bakery wants to use novelty to attract its customers, it certainly has succeeded. The crowd, as what I’ve always seen when I passed by the area, are usually the young and working middle-aged group. Forum Cake House(the bakery that my mum worked at) has its steady flow of regulars who are the ones who interact with my mum and the bosses and the other aunty who worked there. They are the ones who exchanged tips with my mum on how to make their thinning hair grow by using certain shampoos; they are the ones who bring their kids to the bakery and ask them to greet my mum ‘aunty’ and the boss ‘uncle’; they are the ones who will share gossips on which vegetable seller to get the best greens from in the market; they are the ones who will bring my mum claypot rice and red bean soup which they made from home; they are the ones who have become ‘friends’ of the bakery.

For those who would need more than just hunger to whet their appetite and reach for that piece of bread to fill their stomach, they would definitely be won over by the stylish-looking shop with all its ‘pretty’ bread. Correct me if I’m wrong; the ingredients that go into making bread constitute baking flour, sugar, water and yeast? With the right proportions and the precise temperature under a pair of adept hands, they’re magically transformed into what most of us have everyday for breakfast. So why are people so ‘captivated’ by bread that has a few more strips of seaweed or pork floss on them?? In the end, they all turn out to be a lump of flour that has to go through your alimentary canal to be digested. Sigh. It’s just human nature to be curious and having a taste for ‘out-of-the-ordinary’ things eh?

All those points aside, the bakery has actually been a part of my life for the past 10 years while my mum worked there. Unknowingly, it has become part of me sub-consciously. I’ve never taken more than a mere look at it when I went past it, except during the times when my mum was inside or when I waved to the say ‘bye’ to whoever is in there. Yet, the machines that churned out the bread, the tables and shelves that laid out the bread and the all-so-familiar pink signboard and plastic bags have managed to infiltrate into a part of my life and they now occupy that bit of memory space in my brain.

That’s why I decided to drop by on the last 2nd day to take photos of the bakery.

As I walked to the MRT station after the photo shoot, I looked up at the sky and saw the almost-full moon(it was the 14th of the lunar calendar) in the clear sky. Somehow, a wave of nostalgia and melancholy came over me…

Somehow, it reminds me of the part of my life when I used to stay in Bt Gombak. That was my childhood days… Perhaps it serves as a form of connection to Bt Gombak and its surroundings… That’s why I’m feeling sad as I’m writing this…

While the old must give way to the new, I believe some things are still the best when they are old. That’s why I would still stick to eating the simple looking bread which my mum brings back from the bakery every night made in the small kitchen of the small bakery tucked away in the small corner opposite the Bt Gombak MRT station……….

If only she still could…