Founder of Ambon Boenda, Linda Lo shares her love for her hometown from where her famous Ambon Boenda kueh lapis available in Malaysia originated.
From this idyllic haven in Indonesia comes forth the famous heavenly kueh lapis brought to Malaysia by Ambon Boenda.
Medan, the capital city of Indonesia’s North Sumatra province is the hometown which Linda Lo, Founder of Embon calls home.
This fascinating place is home to the huge Maimun Palace and octaganol Great Mosque of Medan which dominates the city centre culminating in Islamic and European styles.
North of this area is the Jalan Selat Panjang Street which is famous for its ethnic food stalls. As a tourist destination, Medan is famous for its Lake Toba and the Brastagi mountain area with its cool climate where residents use horses as their mode of transportation to get around.
“What I love most about Medan is that it is an exquisite food haven where the variety of noodles are exquisite and the nasi padang most delicious to taste to the last bite,” says Lo naming its Duck noodles, Street good, Hokkein noodles, Rojak and Padang packet rice as must tries.
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“Medan is the third largest city in Indonesia. Majority of the residents there speak Hokkein,” she adds sharing the background of its ethnicity mix.
It is from this idyllic surroundings famous for its servings of Lembur Kuring Sundanese food and fresh seafood that the famous Ambon Boenda kueh lapis originates from. Utilising the traditional Dutch recipe incorporating the workings of a gas oven, the handmade treats are made from scratch by extremely skilled bakers the traditional way without the use of machines, hence retaining the authentic flavours. Among the ingredients used are a medley of secret Indonesian spices and creamy Dutch butter.
“The layer cake is the cake I fell in love with since tasting it for the first time when I was seven years old. Someone gave it as a gift to my family,” reminisces Lo adding that she would look forward to eating this cake whenever she came home from studying abroad in Singapore or Sydney, Australia.
So in love was she with the fragrance and taste that she took it upon herself to learn from five master bakers how to make it so that she would never be at a loss of not having to eat it.
This is the gift that keeps on giving which she has now introduced under the brand name Ambon Boenda to make available to Malaysians. This was spurred also by her observation that Malaysia lacked handheld souvenirs with only the Sarawak version of kueh lapis available.
Hence, she started to sell her kueh lapis online in 2015 and from the overwhelming response abs repeat orders, she started a central kitchen in 2016. In 2017, she started her distribution line has not looked back since.
“I wanted to preserve the heritage of the kueh lapis but albeit not as commercialised without using preservatives in my cake as I want to share my live for kueh lapis with the world.”