IT IS HIGHLY UNLIKELY that any Barbadian who attends major sports, community or social event would not to be familiar with Ling Pong.
Whether it be at a cricket match or calypso event at Kensington Oval, the Gold Cup at the Garrison Savannah, international football or athletics at the National Stadium or Q In The Community, one just has to listen for a distinctive voice with the familiar refrain “Last two!”, to know that Leroy Cecil Bartlett, affectionately known as Ling Pong, is somewhere nearby with his delicious fishcakes.
Nor does his clientele have to worry about being deprived of his tasty treats as Ling Pong’s “last two” seemingly never ends. But though he may be primarily known for his fishcakes, his trade also includes providing all sorts of tasty dishes, natural juices, pastries and bread from his Garden Land, Country Road, St Michael home base.
Ling Pong has been in the food business for almost 50 years. He has provided meals for the likes of legendary American singers the late Skeeter Davis, as well as Bobby Bare and Johnny Tillotson, who all visited Country Road to get their delicious fare. He has catered for Machel Montano, magistrates and judges, including the recently retired Justice Sherman Moore.
However, Ling Pong’s face lit up most during an interview with the DAILY NATION when he said that what gave him the greatest pleasure was providing for his immediate community and the thousands of average folk who patronise the various sporting and entertainment events he attends.
The sexagenarian said he was very community-minded and noted Sundays were an especially important time for him.
“Every Sunday I cook for the whole of my gap. Beef, pork, lamb . . . you name it,” he said, as he displayed a platter stacked with succulent baked pork.
And as he spoke there were about three huge pots on the stove bubbling with meats, rice and vegetables, while their inviting aroma wafted through his home and out into the waiting community.
Ling Pong recounted that he started in the food industry at the age of 14 when his mother, who “cooked for the Bridge Street Fire Station”, got sick.
“We still had to eat and we had bills to pay so she tell me: ‘Son, you got to stir the pot’.”
That first occasion he had nine lunches to prepare, and he did them so well that customers began to prefer his food to his mother’s.
The 64-year-old added: “Since then, I have cooked every day of my life, four and five times a day.
“I am a self-taught chef. I never went anywhere to learn nothing but nobody can’t do more than me or better. I would have to train the body that training, it ain’t no joke, especially cou-cou. I am the king of cou cou,” he said.
Ling Pong’s fishcakes are legendary – world renowned as the most healthy and mouth-watering – and he credited this to his elimination of flour and baking powder from the batter. Though he chose to keep some of the ingredients secret, he did disclose the integral elements were pumpkin, coconut and potato. His latest creation consists of wholewheat fishcakes.
According to him, he sells the most fishcakes in the world. Daily he sells three 35-pound buckets of fishcakes and on some days he can dispense up to six of them.
How can one tell when a fishcake is of good quality? The former baker points to its size.
“Anytime you see a person with a big fishcake, that is a tiefing fishcake. That is baking powder and it draws more grease. So the smaller, no baking powder fishcakes, are better.”
Ling Pong enjoys cooking so much that he maintained that his wife of 24 years, Juliet Bartlett, has never once cooked for him. He has 13 children (eight boys, five girls) but only one of his sons decided to follow in his footsteps. Nonetheless, he stressed he’s not about to hang up his boots any time soon.
“I am the oldest vendor around but I will be around as long as the Lord gives me strength and energy. I cooking ‘til He say: ‘Old man it is time to go’,” he said. (SDB Media)
