Cuisine: Desserts
Address: 46 Kim Yam Rd, #01-07 The Herencia, Singapore 239351
Nearest MRT: Fort Canning MRT (Downtown line) / Clarke Quay (Northeast line)

Tucked away in a tranquil corner at the Herencia, you will find the dessert paradise of KURA. In Japanese, KURA means “warehouse”, specifically a place to store treasured goods. It was set up by two experienced patisseurs Koo Jee and Rachel. Armed with experience from Tiong Bahru Bakery and five-star hotel kitchens, the duo’s treasures come in the form of pretty pastries. Everything in the display window looks too decadent to be eaten.

The Herencia is tucked within the former Nan Chiau High School that’s now mostly an office complex. It is a short 10 minutes walk from Fort Canning MRT station, along the way you would pass by a row of shophouses, Studio M hotel and some Japanese eateries. Trying to find this place is like a treasure hunt itself. So we were glad when we finally reached some air-conditioned comfort of the building and checked in to the place.

The cafe shares the space with other restaurants / bars in the same space, such as In Bad Co. Craft Beers which serves beers and pizzas, as well as The Real Peranakan. KURA serves a variety of sweets such as cakes and tarts; all of which is being served at pretty pocket-friendly prices. Whilst only serving up entremets, tarts and other simpler forms of cakes for the time being, KURA intends to serve up plated desserts when the space kicks into full operations with the dinner service launched.

We ordered two desserts to share. This is the Royal Citrus ($9), which is a lemon meringue tart with a twist, served with yuzu ham in the middle and a slice of canned peach. It was on the sweet side due to the combination of the peach and the jam. But I loved the citrusy taste of the yuzu paired with the cream. The crust was hard and crumbly.

The other dessert we had is the Matcha Tiramisu ($8.50), served in a aesthetically pleasing tin cart with the auspicious word “huat”. This is a practical dessert to give to your parents or parents-in-law. Usually I do not like the Japanese version of tiramisu because they do not use a lot of mascarpone cheese or it is not mixed in properly. However, this tiramisu killed it because of the layer of matcha powder at the top, with layers of green tea flavoured mascarpone cheese. I scooped up every single crumb of this.

To pair with the desserts, there is also a wide selection of hot and cold drinks, from coffee, tea to juices. We had an iced teh ($2.10) and a cold mocha ($7). Surprisingly, we could still find coffee shop prices for the local drinks such as kopi, teh or milo, considering how this neighbourhood is in a prime district. The prices of western drinks such as latter, cappuccino or mocha (from $4.50 to $7) are comparable to other cafes. On such a hot day, we definitely needed some cold drinks to cool us down.

For those looking to buy whole cakes, they should place their order in advance. KURA also sells whole cakes, such as Tiramisu, Strawberry shortcake, Mango mousse, Blackforest, starting at $63. They also have whole tarts such as earl grey, key lime, mango pomelo, raspberry mochi etc, from $45 to $65.

We were tempted to try the chocolate desserts but that should be reserved for another time. Now that we know how to walk to this cafe, the next time should be faster and less painless. It could be combined as a dinner outing over pizza and craft beer, before ending the night with some sweet treats from KURA.