Emilia reviews a CBD pancake restaurant where there’s always a line out the door
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I was sent here by Jimmy Bartel, so I know his excitement will be completely palpable, but so for Marko’s sake let me explain exactly what we’re getting into here… souffle pancakes in the middle of the city.
High profile — in more ways than one — the large pancakes have taken TikTok by storm with their highly Instagrammable wobble and oozing toppings. I think that might be helped by their good looking owners, brothers Jason and Jin Tan. They’re social media geniuses.
They test ran their success in a series of pop-ups across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth before opening a permanent spot in Melbourne’s CBD.
Here are the disclaimers: There can often be a line, you’re only allowed one pancake per customer and you have to be out within 60 minutes.
If you don’t like sweet, don’t bother with Kumo.
The staff are absolutely fantastic, they make sure the vibes stay high with music and updates as you wait and what all that is pointing to is the undeniable popularity and excitement of having a specialty menu item like this.
OK let me explain the hype. They make it with 20 per cent pepe saya (you know, the one with the head on it) butter making the flavour caramelised and crispy on the outside and airy, squishy and bouncy on the inside. It’s like if cake, pancakes, omelette and a souffle lava cake had a baby.
The flavours to choose from vary from Honey, Strawberry, Mango, Nutella, Boba Brulee, Biscoffee and after 7pm, Pandan.
We tried the biscoffee and nutella pancakes. The Biscoffee is Biscoff & coffee stuffed soufflé pancake served with mascarpone. The crumb on top is biscoff which is cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger lotus biscuits.
And crunchy Nutella stuffed souffle pancake served with fresh strawberries & more Nutella!
These were SO worth the hype, the novelty does not wear off. You could definitely share one between two if it’s an after dinner treat due to the size or you could hoof into one each.
We spent the week trying to get back in to try it again, everyone I spoke to this week I raved about these pancakes!
The place is full but they turn over quickly, even when the line is down the street we got in within 20 minutes.
At around $20 a pop it’s not the cheapest pancakes ever but considering you’ll be rolling out of there I guarantee you won’t need a full stack like you normally might
Kumo Desserts
198 Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne
kumodesserts.com