Station Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, 1932.

I am reluctant to leave our vicarious travels this week, so before I change topics, I want to share with you a menu from the Station Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, for a dinner held by the Malay States Railway, on February 3, 1932.

I think we can be forgiven for assuming a meal of delicious Malay dishes. This was not the case, however, as you can see:

DINNER

1. Canapes Caviar

2. Consomme Royal

3. Poisson al' Italienne

4. Stuffed Shoulder of Lamb

5. Roast Fowl a l'Anglaise, Artichoke, Baked Potatoes

6. Creme de Fraises

7. Cheese

8. Fruit, Coffee

I leave you with a recipe for a thoroughly European dessert of strawberry jelly (I use the term in the English sense of a dish set with gelatin, not a ‘jam’ or conserve.)

Crême de Fraises à la Chartreuse.

I small punnet of ripe strawberries, ¾ pint clear wine jelly, ½ pint cream, I glass Chartreuse, ½ oz. angelica, 4 leaves of best gelatine.
Melt some of the jelly, put a fancy or plain mould in a basin containing crushed ice, and line the inside of the mould thinly with a layer of jelly. Pick out a few of the best fruit, halve them, remove the stalk, and substitute a stalk with small pieces of angelica stuck in each half. Decorate the bottom and sides of the mould with these; mask well with jelly so as to keep the fruit firm and in position. Pick the stalks of the rest of the strawberries, and cut them in slices; melt the remainder of the jelly, put in the sliced fruit, melt the gelatine in a little jelly, and strain into this. Let cool a little, whip the cream, and mix it with the above; add the liqueur and stir over the ice until it begins to set, then pour into the decorated mould. Stand it on the ice until firm, then tusrn out and serve.

Recherché Luncheon and Dinner Sweets, by Charles Herman Senn (1906)