“The First Bakery of South Asia”

About a century and a half ago, when people of Indian subcontinent were unfamiliar with taste of cakes, pastries, pattis and other baked items, an accomplished pastry chef, Syed Mohkam ud din came up with the novel idea of establishing a bakery..

...which sold western style baked items. Mohkam and sons opened its doors to people of Lahore and Indian subcontinent on January 1st, 1879. Mohkam’s father, Qamr ud din played an important role in paving the way for his young son to adopt baking as a profession.

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During British rule Qamr worked as an army contractor for tea supplies in Jalandhar before moving to Lahore. Owing to the nature of his job, Qamr was well acquainted with elites and socialites of Lahore. Among his numerous acquaintances was Sir Charles Aitchison who was...

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..serving as governor of Punjab. He was founder of Aitchison College and held Qamr in high regards. Upon Qamr’s request, Lady Aitchison, famous socialist with exceptional baking skills, agreed to mentor young Mohkam.

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Once Mohkam attained expertise in baking, he pursued it as a career.
Besides bureaucrats and elites, Mohkam’s list of clientele comprised of names like Allama Iqbal, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sir Henry Lawrence, Nawab of Junagarh, Feroz Khan Noon and Mumtaz Daultana.

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But Mohkam’s ambition did not end here. He wanted to extend his services to commoners and introduce them to the taste of his baked goods. Everyday he would stock up a basket and walk around the Old City of Lahore and handed out free samples of his products to passers-by.

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Syed Mohkam's legacy is intact and the bakery is still operational in Anarkali Lahore. According to Syed Sajar Naqvi and Syed Mohkam (descendants of the founder):
“We still bake for many foreign dignitaries, ambassadors. The archbishop of Lahore, Mr Alexander John Malik...

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...is an old customer of ours too. We have our very own delicacies, recipes that have been passed down for generations, we have this Rich Plum Cake. There was this time when Mr Bhutto was foreign minister and my father, Syed Kush Bakht Husain, sticking to his reputation...

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..of baking enormous birthday cakes, baked a 200-lb cake to the foreign minister on the occasion of Ms Benazir Bhutto's Birthday. And then, there was that time when the Shah of Iran visited Pakistan and my father baked a seven-storied 30-lb cake for him.

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We even baked a 1500-lb cake when Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams visited Pakistan in 2005”.

The owners shared another interesting bit from their cherished history. "We have a biscuit and they are named 'Lady Harrison's Fingers' due to a very funny incident that..

occurred in my grandfather's time. Mrs Harrison was a fine painter and a fast friend of my grandpa's. Every time she would drop in for coffee, she would jokingly ask my grandpa to bake cookies in the shape of those long, delicate fingers of hers. And my grandpa actually heeded...

..to her jokes. Now not many Punjabis coming here could speak English very well nor did they understood the story behind those cookies that had been an overnight success,so they would come in and shout at my grandfather, ‘O Pajee Lady Harrison diyan ungalan deyo’.

We had very special relations with the Harrison. We baked a very special cake for their son's birthday, a recipe we have never shared with anyone else.”

Mohkam's bakery is the first to extend its services to people of subcontinent and could very well be the first in South Asia.