I went on a trip to Sibu with my friends recently. It’s the hometown of one of them and since she always posts about the food she has been eating there, all of us decided to visit this quaint lil town and enjoy some good food. Will post about my trip in another post.
Today I would like to talk about Gardenia bread. I have read about Sarawakians and Sabahans who would buy bags and boxes of Gardenia bread to bring home after visiting Peninsula Malaysia. At the airport, I saw long queues of people carrying Gardenia bread and waiting for their turn to pay at 7-11. I thought that it’s a norm because Gardenia bread is not available there.
Well, actually, the breads are available and I spotted them in Ta Kiong, one of the shops that sell imported goods in Sibu. Below is the shelf that’s filled with different types of Gardenia bread.
I took one loaf down to check the price. Gosh it’s RM9.70 for a loaf of Gardenia Bread. No wonder people buy so many of them back to Sabah and Sarawak! The reason for this high price is because of the cost to bring the bread over by flight. Baked goods can only stay fresh for 3 to 4 days, thus the flight cost and distribution cost make them expensive.
That’s pretty steep for a loaf of bread eh? Well actually, I do understand their struggle because a loaf of keto bread that I usually buy cost more – RM30 but I don’t eat them often. I would store the bread in the freezer and defrost them whenever I feel like having some bread. One loaf would last me for 2 months, at least.
