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Thursday, June 10, 2021

Kki Sweets - Cafe with No Signboard @ Seah Street (Next to Raffles Hotel) [Singapore]

This visit to Kki was long delayed as I had heard of its renowned Japanese-inspired cakes back when it was located at Ann Siang Hill. By the time I decided to drop in to try the cakes; the shop had already closed due to a doubling in rent! 

Therefore, I was astounded to read an article about Kki on Singapore's national newspaper and this time; procrastination shall be thrown out of the window! Problem; I couldn't find the entrance to the cafe when I was at the said location as there wasn't any signboard signifying its presence.

Super thanks to this signage though as the supposed symbol on the notice is actually KKI if you rotate it 90 degrees anti-clockwise! Anyway, we were lucky to secure seats almost immediately as reservation is encouraged (to get the cakes you have in mind) and the cafe can only sit 15 persons with safe distancing. 

Don't be shocked; the cafe was only this big with an open concept kitchen. Everyone shall sit around this long boardroom meeting table, despite the fact that I do not know anyone else except for Alex!

I don't know what to make out from the design; simple, minimalist yet not as plain with dry plants (are those wheat) sprouting out randomly from the table and bushels of them hung from the ceiling.

Another eyebrow raiser - I thought this was some sort of a paint palette carelessly placed on the table. It was actually a bloody menu; one that didn't have any pictures to give you a rough idea of what you would be ordering! To be able to imagine what to expect can be real interesting. 

Specialty Coffee - Not bad. I have recently taken quite a liking to Japanese pour-over coffee; even though it was still bitter with a light sourness, the texture was smooth with a comfortable aroma that's easy on the taste buds. 

Apple Green Tea - for Alex as he only likes local coffee! I took a sip and it had that thinly veiled apple fragrance. Most importantly, Alex enjoyed the tea.

Our cakes! Remember I mentioned earlier about imagining what to expect? Well, I did expect the cakes to be bigger given their price tag of at least S$10.00 each! They were pretty though.

As we didn't have a reservation, there were only four cakes for us to choose from; namely dumo, antoinette, fromage and "J". Given the limited descriptions, my elimination method was based on the ingredients we didn't like; e.g. coffee and rum. 

"J" - why is it called "J" when it's visually a pot of soil with a single stalk of sprouting!? Frankly, it looked so real; I used my fingers to move the "cement pot" for better angling.

That "cement pot" was actually compact sesame mousse but it's the insides that regaled our taste buds. I am usually not into such complicated layers of flavours as one wrong move would mar the experience. 

But the J impressed; it was a balance of sourness, sweetness and nuttiness that fused together to elicit one expressive vocal tone; "Mmmmmmmmm"! I especially loved the surprise brought forth by the crunchy things hidden in the middle that tasted like rice crispies.

Antoinette - looking like a jewelled tear-drop, I don't deny that not seeing how it looked like beforehand might not be such a bad thing after all. 

That white cream might seem hard but for a moment after biting through; I thought it's a literally a puff of lightly sweetened cottony cloud that I could eat! It perfumed my mouth and the question that popped in my brain then was; where's the mango? 

There it was; like a treasure waiting to be discovered! One thing about both cakes; their 'cake' content was extremely low and this might not be well received by those looking for traditional cakes. For me, I don't mind eating less flour and taste wise, prefer Antoinette over "J" even though on photos; "J" was more captivating.

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Out of their "eight cakes and three plated desserts" on their menu, I only tried two. Would be back to check out the rest but in the meantime, let me save some money first. Oh, and a mental note for me to remember to make a reservation before patronizing Kki! 

Address
3 Seah St, #01-01, 
Singapore 188379 
(Next to Raffles Hotel)

Map
As above.

Operating Hours
Mondays to Tuesdays - Closed
Wednesdays to Saturdays - 11.00 am to 7.00 pm
Sundays - 11.00 am to 5.00 pm

Website

Pricing
Specialty Coffee - S$6.00
Apple Green Tea - S$6.00
"J" - S$13.50 
Antoinette - S$10.50
(Subject to Service Charge)

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