KAI Sweets Cafe
“They have classic desserts such as macarons and cakes, but their shining star is the ICHIGO DAIFUKU (aka strawberry daifuku).”
“I happily ate my cream puffs but yes they are better than beard papas and the filling is so rich, the green tea is a kick in your mouth.”
“It's a strawberry and red bean paste wrapped with mochi.”
KAI Sweets Cafe
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Price range.
$ Price range Under $10
8 reviews
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After battling the endless crowds in the main food court, I always make sure to stop by KAI Sweets for dessert. They have classic desserts such as macarons and cakes, but their shining star is the ICHIGO DAIFUKU (aka strawberry daifuku). Getting one (sometimes two) is a must for me every time I'm in the area.
What is it? Well, it's a heavenly little ball of pure joy–a juicy red strawberry nestled in red bean paste then wrapped in a fresh sheet of mochi. In other words, it is perfection.
The little pouches in the display case are just for show and each one is made fresh to order in the back. They cost $3 each, which is not outrageous for speciality desserts, especially one that is so hard to find, and are seriously delightful beyond words.
I always walk pass this tiny storefront on my way to the main attractions of the Mitsuwa market, i.e. the supermarket and food court. I never really give it a second glance as it just has a small little display case for a few average-looking pastries. However, this past weekend, after I finished eating my way through the food court and the new pop-up stands, I was walking toward the parking lot. I stopped in my tracks when I saw a kid carrying a tray with this delicious looking omelet with gravy. I begged the bf to stay for another round of food so I can try this amazing looking creation.
I walked up to the counter and there were three people in front of me. No big deal, I thought, as I have been waiting in line for hours already. Every stand in this place had a line, and this was the smallest line I've seen all day. However, it ended up being the longest wait I had all day, and there were only three people in front of me! There was a woman in the front of the house, and a man in the back cooking, both looked like teenagers, while the older gentleman (probably the manager or owner) went back and forth like a maniac tried to help them both. Don't get me wrong, they were extremely nice, but looked incredibly stressed, and they appeared to have the least customers out of all of the stalls in Mitsuwa.
Long story short, I ordered the shrimp omelet and rice. It was as delicious as it looked! The egg as fluffy as a cloud (if cloud tasted fluffy, not sure), while the sauce was the perfect combination of saltiness and savoriness. Lastly, the rice was well-cooked. The only letdown was the shrimp, which had no taste and was unnecessary. Overall, I highly recommend the omelet dish, just be prepared for the wait!
One Friday night I was at mitsuwa and I decided to come back to try the cream puffs here. I went to do some grocery shopping first but when I came back, kai was closed. I was devastated but I saw someone was still in the kitchen, they still had 2 green tea cream puffs left and I called out to get his attention in hopes of purchasing it.
I'm assuming he was Kai, a middle aged man came out and said the register was closed but I asked it I could give him the money and still purchase it anyways since the puffs were still there. He said no at first since he couldn't open the register but then came back out and asked me if I still wanted them.
He began to wrap up the puffs and started rummaging around, for what I'm not sure but I was excited and had my money ready.
He ended up giving me the cream puffs for free!!!!! Least to say that was the highlight of my day!!!!!! I was such a happy camper!
Kai's food is not only sweet but his heart is sweet as well. Thank you so much !!!
I happily ate my cream puffs but yes they are better than beard papas and the filling is so rich, the green tea is a kick in your mouth. I was nearly licking my fingers at the end cause the cream oozed out.
*This review is for dessert!* My siblings and I shared a green tea "parfait" and a strawberry crepe when we came this past weekend.
The parfait is green tea ice soft serve in a cone, some red bean, and one dango. It was good, but I definitely prefer "Matcha Love" both for the price and the serving side.
The strawberry crepe had a good texture (and was a decent price) but the strawberries were syrupy (maybe not fresh?) which I didn't love, and they didn't fill the crepe very much.
I'm sure the desserts are just as good as everyone makes them out to be, but we had one focus. It was one of the most crowded nights (Saturday night) I've ever been to Mitsuwa, and I go to Mitsuwa A LOT, given that it's a 5 minutes ride from home.
The food court was completely packed, and KAI Sweets always have seats in their own sector – this is my only reason for choosing KAI – I've had about 3 meals here thus far and I haven't been all that impressed with their food. There's just TOO much rice – check out the picture of the beef curry. At $8.50 (before tax), they can definitely be a bit more generous than a measley 5 bite-sized, tough beef cubes. The beef seemed old and my shrimp omurice wasn't all that spectacular either. Far from it, actually. The sauce was fine, but again, too little of any substance to the dish. It's eggs, curry, and some frozen pieces of shrimp and a regular week's consumption of rice.
For the convenience of always having seats and a good avocado salad (which I had on my previous visit), I'll give it a 3.
We stopped here for coffee to-go with us on our drive back to the highway and on a whim, decided to try a selection of their French macaroons. Boy, were we happy we did so! The macarons were everything you would want in them: delicately crispy on the outside, tender and moist on the inside, and a creamy not-too-sweet filling in between (I'm sure even Paul Hollywood would be happy with them!) We tried their strawberry, chocolate, and espresso- flavored ones — uniformly excellent, each and every one; the bag was empty not five minutes after departing the parking lot. So sad, so ephemeral. Well, we'll just have to visit again!
Why oh why must Kais Sweets must be so far from me. I absolutely love the cream puffs here, whenever I'm at mitsuwa I would eat 2 puffs by myself. It's seriously worth it.
And based on my opinion I prefer the cream puffs here than in Beard Papas! Although not too much variety with the cream puffs, it's definitely good.
Don't mistake the cream puffs here for the cream puffs sold elsewhere in the market. Definitely not the same. Specifically sent someone to retrieve these yummy puffs but they failed and got me the supermarket ones (cue the sad violin music please).
Other than creampuffs I have tried the anmitsu (dessert with mochi, sweet syrup, fruits) and it was yummy. Have also tried the ichigo daifuku, but I felt the strawberries were kind of tart (maybe it's because it wasn't in season). Overall I'm a creampuff girl and I really really like the creampuffs here!
I believe this was called UCC cafe or something before it became KAI Sweets. I'm not in the area often so I don't know for sure.
This is sort of an oasis in the otherwise always-crowded Mitsuwa food court/market place. They have a limited menu–curry with beef or katsu, teriyaki chicken, hamburg steaks, and a few other meals. They also offer a selection of treats to go with coffee–cream puffs, macarons and puddings. They all look tasty. I never have had the sweets there.
All the times I've eaten there it has either been just for a cup of coffee (OKAY, not eating..) or for curry (my favorite), and I knock a star off because the curry has changed. The katsu curry used to be a fairly large portion (too large) with a thicker darker curry with beef in it. However, now that it's changed names, the katsu curry is just curry sauce with nothing else in it–no veggies even, and a piece of katsu with some fried onions (I think? I couldn't tell) and rice. It comes with a small but fresh mixed greens salad with some sort of sweet onion dressing that is pretty tasty. It's a much smaller portion but I was happy for that because I could never finish it before. The curry wasn't as rich or tasty as it used to be though, so I took off a star…
Coffee has been pretty good consistently and it's nice that they let you add your own milk and sugar.