We've just been away - down in Christchurch with our families for Christmas, and also up to the bach in Kaikoura for a few days with my parents. When we arrived in Kaikoura on New Years Day we were ravenous and spied the bakery as a potential purveyor of luncheon goods (scrolls and pies, good thing we're not into crazy resolutions, isn't it?) and I couldn't resist nabbing a couple of custard squares (and maybe, just maybe, a couple of cream donuts. Told you we don't believe in resolutions!) while I was at it.
This specimen is what I grudgingly refer to as a typical custard square - nothing particularly wrong with it (perhaps the filling is a little too gelatinous but not to the point of being like rubber), but there's also nothing particularly right. It really sat just in the "meh" section of the rating scale, with very little flavour (excepting sugar!), and generally the right components in the right state but no specialness. So a very average 5/10 for a very average custard square.
The woman who served me at the bakery was very friendly and helpful, though, and I do like their creamed donuts. ;-) Do you have a must-stop bakery on your summer holiday route? Do they have a winning custard square?
Kaikoura Bakery is located at 69 Beach Road, Kaikoura, ph 03 319 5200
Hi! I'm Rosa, a.k.a. Mrs Cake, and I live in Wellington, New Zealand. I love food in all its forms, my fabulous family, and a bit of good old-fashioned Kiwi DIY. This blog started around food but has evolved to include some other bits and pieces - I hope you'll join me for the journey!
There are several bakeries in Kaikoura but the best one (I think) is on State Highway 1 on the left when you're driving north. They did once serve me a cup of tea with frothy milk (?!), but I don't hold this against them.
ReplyDeleteThat's the one! I've never had drinks from there but have been consuming their cream donuts for many years. ;-) The bach is about 15 minutes north of Kaikoura township so it's nicely on the way for us to pick up some treats.
ReplyDeleteHi Mrs Cake! A few friends and I are ALSO trying to find the best custard square in NZ! We've got a few favs from lots of little places in the North Island that we stop at while travelling by (I think we've nearly covered every cafe from Kaitaia to Wellington now...)
ReplyDeleteThey're hard to perfect and I've really seen some truly shocking specimens in my hunting!
We're having a custard square bake off soon to see if WE can create the ultimate CS! Pity you're in Welly cause I think we're still looking for a judge!
Great to find someone who has the same high standards and PASSION for CS!
Ps - do you feel a proper CS MUST have passion fruit icing? We're always arguing about this!
Hi Miri, nice to 'meet' you! Feel free to give me any tips you have for locating great custard squares - I'm always very accepting of recommendations. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI'd love to judge your competition, if only I could perfect my teleportation skills!
I am actually not a fan of passionfruit icing - in my childhood it was always vanilla icing. Perhaps passionfruit is the north island variation (I'm from Christchurch). So I vote for vanilla!
Hi there Mrs Cake, We are from Australia and just adored the cream dusted donuts from that Kailora Bakery. Do you or anyone else have a recipe for the dough to make these. We presume they are deep fried and oh how marvellous. Please please we need a recipe to make them as I may have to fly back to Chch just to go to Kaikor to get another. Will keep an eye on this site I f you give me an email address I can then correspond.
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