At 37, this entrepreneur left his business development job to be a baker
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At 37, this entrepreneur left his business evolution task to exist a baker
Kenneth Seah started Kki Sweets with his wife Delphine Liau with a simple aim: To create a happy place for people to savour succulent, Japanese-inspired cakes.
In 2007, Kenneth Seah's kickoff trip to Tokyo opened his eyes to the earth of exquisite Japanese cakes. (Photo: Threesixzero Productions)
19 Mar 2022 06:30AM (Updated: 16 Aug 2022 02:44PM)
When Kenneth Seah was growing up, he always looked forward to birthdays. His mother oft baked at home and then in that location were always cakes in the business firm, especially during special occasions.
"I grew up loving sweets, loving cakes. I guess that'southward somehow processed in me and subconsciously, I enjoyed that," said Seah with a smile as he reminisced nearly those fond memories.
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In 2007, Seah's commencement trip to Tokyo opened his eyes to the earth of exquisite Japanese cakes. He recalled, "Information technology was mind-blowing because the texture, the flavours, everything was very well-balanced. I never knew that cakes could be like that."
Upon his return he tried to find something similar but there wasn't anything that came close. And then he and his wife Delphine Liau started their own patisserie Kki Sweets in 2009, serving Japanese-inspired mousse cakes and entremets together with tea and specialty coffee. Recently, they moved into a brand new space along Seah Street.
"Kki basically means cake in Japanese. It is very straightforward and it's what we desire to do. No fancy French proper noun, just cakes in the simplest form," Seah explained. "It's very Japanese-inspired, in terms of the balance and texture."
Sparked past Japanese pastry legends Hidemi Sugino and Sadaharu Aoki, Seah was 37 when he left his job in business organization development and taught himself how to bake.
He shared, "My groundwork is in engineering science. I never really baked until we opened Kki and information technology was really a leap of faith because we didn't know whether it would work out, whether it would taste good."
While the lack of formal preparation meant a steeper learning bend, Seah felt that it had also given him a certain boldness. "Sometimes I'm glad that I didn't have that groundwork. Then I take no boundaries, I can go crazy, and I think that'due south a plus signal for me," he said.
He is also a stickler for using quality ingredients. "Information technology has to exist at the highest quality when you serve it out, because the person has taken futurity hither to eat that and y'all should award that. My mum never stints on ingredients and that has stuck with me always."
His techniques and sensibilities are informed past fine art, manner and compages, all distilled into exquisite edible structures. He even plays with unlike fruit combinations that people never think would piece of work.
Case in signal: the whimsical "J" is an ingeniously shaped "potted plant" made of blackness sesame mousse, yuzu cremeux and matcha. Another too-pretty-to-eat dessert combines Japanese tomato plant, strawberry and red pepper.
Kki's interior is designed with Japanese minimalist aesthetics. There are no cake stands nor fancy brandish cases. A long communal table interspersed by bamboo plants forms the centrepiece so diners have some privacy fifty-fifty though they're seated virtually each other. Dessert images are deliberately omitted from the card and diners are invited to let their imagination guide their sense of taste preferences.
"It's more like a dessert studio – when yous social club it, we plate it out," said Seah. "Information technology gives usa more room to play with creativity here. We can put in dissimilar textures and flavours, it's something you won't be able to do if you had a cake display."
The communal table extends right into the kitchen where Seah leads the preparations while Liau manages the front end of house. He explained, "Nosotros didn't want the kitchen to exist separated from the diners. So it's very much similar your dwelling house, anybody sees what's going on. There'south more interaction rather than a separation."
Besides satisfying the palate of discerning cake connoisseurs, Seah besides has another mission: To nurture the next generation of pastry chefs. "There are a lot of wonderful young pastry chefs and it will be a pity for them to stop up overseas, working somewhere else. We hope that this identify can also inspire them. They tin can come up hither and say that information technology is possible to do something like that," he enthused.
The couple are gratified to have a loyal clientele that includes those who bring their children to enjoy the desserts they had loved while they were dating.
Seah said, "A lot of our customers come in, hoping to chat with us. It's similar a human relationship, information technology's like coming to your friend'due south house.
"If you are having a bad day and if that cake makes yous feel a lot amend, and if information technology inspires you, if this infinite gives you something to accept away that is non tangible, that's skillful enough for us."
Adapted from the series Remarkable Living (Season three). Lookout man full episodes on CNA, every Sunday at viii.30pm.
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Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/remarkableliving/kki-sweets-cakes-dessert-cafe-singapore-252031
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