KARACHI: There are only a few bakeries in the entire city that offer hot cross buns and they bake the popular spicy cinnamon bun with currants or raisins and yellow cross on the top made from shortcrust pastry round the clock since the people so fond of having them on and around Good Friday know exactly where to buy them from, too.

Most of these bakeries are situated in Saddar. “I would have been baking them, or rather my sister would have if we had a nicer oven at our place but thank God for this bakery,” said Avril Cardoza while grabbing a couple of packets with six puffy hot cross buns each at one such bakery.

Two women in blue nuns’ attire walked in also to buy some hot cross buns for their families. “We work at the Army Public School in Saddar. We just cannot find the time to bake ourselves,” said Taj Khatoon.

Her friend, Maryam Abbas, said: “And since tomorrow is another school day, we’ll again be busy there so it’s better to buy before even the bakeries run out of them. Tomorrow there will be a big rush for them anyway.”

“We have been making the buns since Wednesday as everyone is buying them as soon as they come out of our ovens and also distributing among friends. Hot cross buns sell very well before and on Good Friday and after that there is a demand for Easter eggs. Although the buns need to be warm and fresh, the eggs can be made days in advance as they do not go stale or mouldy quickly,” informed the manager of another popular Saddar bakery.

But a change of location brings up a change in taste and preferences. Hardly any bakery in Clifton and Defence areas except for a couple with branches in Saddar seemed to have hot cross buns. “Sorry, we don’t have any kind of bun today. Would bread do?” The sales-boy at a well-known chain of bakeries said.

Another bakery and cafe in Zamzama also pointed towards their varieties of chocolate cakes and pastries to make up for the non-availability of hot cross buns.

“Oh yes, there’s that name again! This lady on the phone was asking us if we make them or not,” said the man behind the counter of another well-known bakery-cum-store off DHA’s Khayaban-i-Shamsheer. “What is a hot cross bun anyway?” He asked next.

Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2015

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