Barbara and her Slice of Heaven [Photo/Lynn]
Shiny-brown and crispy on the outside; chewy and soft on the inside. Scattered with aubergine and soft milk cake, traditional dairy product in Yunnan, this is one of the most popular pizzas on which Barbara take pride in The Slice of Heaven.
This lady from New Zealand taught in Kunming four years ago in the hope of saving money and do something. With some experience working as a waitress in eateries during school years, she took on managing the bakery two and half years ago with a Chinese partner Yang Bin who teaches in a college in the city.
New Zealand featuring coffee, bread and wine are offered here for travelers, and a slice of heaven, of course.
Many customers enjoy the Friday happy hours of half-price pizzas, say 20 yuan for a pretty good pizza.
With heart-felt love to the city, Barbara chose Kunming for long stay. She thinks Kunming is a remarkable city because it is one of the few Chinese cities with clearly blue sky in China.
Lynn, a reporter from InKunming, met Barbara at her cafe, positioning as “the best New Zealand cafe, bakery and wine bar in Kunming, possibly China”, on April 3. Barbara shared Lynn with her kitchen secrets of cooking tasty and running a successful bakery.
InKunming: Can you share us your stories?
Barbara: I was hoping to open a store for backpackers, but failed to find a suitable property. Two and a half years ago, I had a long talking with a woman named Corina who has a bakery in Dali : Bakery No. 88. She started her kitchen at 10,000 renminbi. She keeps it just with some hobbies and enjoys it. Everybody I knew like cooking and baking. Setting up a bakery is easier than a backpacker’s that may take a year. I found a bakery more sensible.
InKunming: What has been the most satisfying part for you to run a bakery?
Barbara: I like cooking. Cooking has been very easy, and you cook something maybe in ten minutes and you can see your results very quickly. The other thing, you can count your economic contribution of a day. I’ve made a cake that is 100 yuan, and this maybe 100 yuan again. At last, I find I make 500 yuan a day.
I have a lot of friends because of this cafe. Once you have a friend, it’s easy to have more friends. Foreigners who travel here are all well-educated, interesting, curious and have a lot in common. I’m always meeting such kind of people.
But it is a very sad thing that people you know very well go home, and it happens all the time. Last Christmas, eight of my friends went back.
InKunming: What makes you cook a pizza with Rubing?
Barbara: Kunming is a seasonal city, and it’s hard to buy some fruits and vegetables in certain seasons of a year. So we import cheese, butter and wine from South America and France. I tasted Rubing in a Chinese restaurant in Kunming for the first time. I try to make it into a Greek cheese. We soak it in salty water. After drying it, we put some oregano. Certainly it’s Rubing, but tastes like softy cheese.
InKunming: Have you ever met any challenges in running a bakery here?
Barbara: The Chinese Food Hygiene. They are not interested in the hygiene, but silly rules. The kitchen is separated by glass walls. It’s really inconvenient for a bakery and serves no purpose. If knowing about food hygiene, you don’t need glass walls to separate sinks for washing dishes and vegetables. You just need the common sense. It’s is a bakery, no frying. It’s so frustrating to have those walls.
We used to make jam in jars. They came in and didn’t allow it. The lady in the kitchen gave them the jam and they left. The part that made me angry is that the food hygiene regulations is not about the food hygiene, but about regulations. In New Zealand, you can never ever open a bakery without dish washing machine and hot water. Everyone in the bakery should have a food handling certificate and go to classes for about 3 to 4 weeks, to learn how to handle food safely. Nothing here.
InKunming: Have you ever been to other parts of Yunnan?
Barbara: I have been to Shilin, Yuanyang, Jinghong, Wenshan, Dali, Lijiang, Shangri-la. I don’t do much about traveling. My favorite is Jianshui where I found a lot of ladies with bound feet. Once apart a time, it was incredible how the practice could be widely spread.
Travel is incredibly hard. I hate traveling, tiring and at the mercy of everything around, such as “abnormal” food, bus stops, rooms at reasonable prices or maybe disgusting toilets. I travel because I need holidays. If I stay in Kunming for vacations, it will be boring.
InKunming: Why do you like Kunming?
Barbara : I feel very much at home here. It is a very comfortable city. It’s just a little bit slow and sleepy. It’s quite an attractive city. There are lots of trees. Look out at the trees on this street, and they are typical in the morning. Besides, there are about 60 foreigners living around.
From a part-time waitress at the bakery:
"I admire Barbara very much. It's always difficult for a woman to start an enterprise outside his own country. She is a nice woman. I believe she will bring us her friendliness and enjoy working at the bakery."
Location:
168 Hongshan Dong Lu, Kunming. (昆明虹山东路168号)
Next to Yun'an Shang Pin residential complex.
Getting there：
Buses 104, 121 and 133 stops close by.
(Editors:Lynn, Minnie Mao)
Click here to view Chinese report.
