The Custard Square Capital of the World

On the wharf at Mapua.


Today Meg and I went to Richmond to look at the shops, then we took a drive over to Mapua. We went to The Naked Bun bakery and got ourselves one of their legendary custard squares each. We have been having a debate over who makes the most delicious custard square in the world. Mr B and I are huge fans of the Denheath custard square, a skyscraper of a creation with what tastes like a custard cheesecake in the middle, topped with long shreds of coconut. Meg and Ryan assured us that Mapua spawns a custard square that could possibly challenge the Denheath. The Mapua custard square looks more traditional in form, but has a vast width (fortunate, given the unreasonable price one has to pay to take it away). The icing is passionfruit flavoured. The custard filling is where the Mapua CS excels. Thick and creamy, a pale butter in colour, it is utterly delicious. In fact, given the choice between the Mapua and the Denheath, I have to admit, I would choose the Mapua. So the best custard square in the world (so far discovered) can be found in a little seaside settlement, best known for being the home to a nudist camp and beach. Clearly nudists have high standards when it comes to baked delicacies.


Oh, so good!



Delicious is a shop well worth a visit. There was a not-very-nice smell in there (perfume and body), but masses of lovely things. They had built a boat in the corner where they had the children's things. It was odd to come across such a posh shop built in an old coolstore next to a wharf. Tourism must be very kind to the area.

The Cool Store Gallery was well worth a look too. There was quite an assortment of things. It made me think about screen printing. I must get some fabric paints and have a go. We've got a screen and squeegie thing at home. I'm sure you'll all be waiting for a post about that with bated breaths! What makes art worthy of selling in a gallery? What makes art art? You'd have to be pretty self-confident to display some of the stuff called art. Anyway, there were some lovely (and not so lovely) things in the Cool Store Gallery. Especially the jewelery.


Now Touch the Sea was the real treasure of the day. Although I didn't come home with any goodies from there, I would have loved to have had many items (saving money for The House). There were some lovely, reasonably priced ceramics, and their shop furniture made me want to grab a paintbrush and start beautifying my furniture at home.