Date: Thursday January 9, 2025
Order:
- Ube And Huckleberry Basque Cake
- Apple Hand Pie
- Ham & Cheese Danish
- Blueberry Tart With Chamomile Cream
- Longanisa, Egg, and Cheese Sandwich
- Longanisa, Egg, and Cheese Sandwich; ADD: Hashbrown
Initial Thoughts:
I made the 35 minute drive to Kasma on a Thursday morning when it was about 15 F outside. I could already see the line as I pulled up. I counted around 20 people waiting for the restaurant to open. I fully intended to place my order while waiting in line. I knew that the Toast App will not allow you to place an order until the restaurant opens at 9:00 AM (it was about 8:55 or so when I hopped in line).
For some reason, I kept receiving an error that the breakfast sandwich was out of stock when I tried placing it in my cart right at 9:00 AM. So I went and ordered my pastries then went back to the sandwich, and then it worked, so maybe you have to wait until 9:01 AM. I was given a pickup time of 9:30 AM when my order was placed at 9:05 AM.
I was handed my food at exactly 9:30 AM. I was impressed, honestly. For the wait not being ideal, they sure have an efficient operation inside. So much, so, that I didn’t even double-check I had everything. I just trusted the guy.
Longanisa, Egg, and Cheese Sandwich; ADD: Hashbrown
The sandwich is gorgeous. It’s put together, isn’t sliding apart. Still warm too, despite it being 30 minutes since I picked it up. I love that I can clearly see all of the ingredients too.
Absolutely phenomenal. Just every part of it. The longanisa is without question the star of the show. But the egg is also just so fluffy and perfectly cooked, and also a perfect amount of cheese to compliment the egg. And then the hashbrown just takes the whole sandwich up an entire notch. It was 100% worth the extra $3.00. It’s perfectly salted and cooked. But that crispy crunch is what sells it. This is why they offer it, because the sandwich, while it is amazing in its own right, is perfectly complimented with the crunch from the hashbrown.
The sandwich doesn’t look unwieldly, but it is very rich and filling. But I had to endure for the pastries.
Ham & Cheese Danish
Does not at all look like what I was expecting for a Danish. But still a beautiful pastry. It also held together after taking a bite, yet the crust was enjoyably flakey, which reminded me of a croissant. The ham and cheese were excellent, but what stuck out the most was the cinnamon and sugar along the top. So you get sweet and savory in a single bite. It works. Still, I would have liked the ham and cheese to have had a bit more flavor.
While not my favorite item (that title goes to the breakfast sandwich), this was still a well-executed pastry.
Blueberry Tart With Chamomile Cream
The blueberries were all large, and looked amazing. They were all plump and juicy.
I had to look up what chamomile tasted like as I don’t order the tea typically. The consistency of the cream was fluffy and smooth. I am not sure I noticed much in the way of floral notes from the cream. It reminded me of pastry cream; rich and delicious. The cream and the berries complimented each other well.
While the crust held the tart together well, it didn’t put up any fight with a fork, and was also cooked perfectly. Loved how everything tasted together. The cream was my favorite part of this pastry.
Ube And Huckleberry Basque Cake
Love the presentation with the powdered sugar on top. The filling was good, and the cake had a good consistency. I didn’t care as much for the taste of the outer edge which had been baked longer. I totally understand how it was necessary to hold the pastry together, as the inside was moist and much softer. I could not really notice the Ube flavor, I think I need to try Ube more to make it stand out. The huckleberry was nice, though I think I prefer raspberry. Overall, there was objectively nothing wrong with this pastry, just not my favorite.
Apple Hand Pie
I was tempted to heat the pie, and eat with some vanilla ice cream, which I suspect would have been divine. But instead I opted for room temperature on its own so I could fully experience it.
I chose this item since it was highly recommended. I also love fruit pies so I was pretty confident I would like it. And this was an absolute banger. The crust was just excellent: flakey, held together well, the layers were good, and wasn’t too thick/dense so you could get to the filling inside.
I recognized the cinnamon/sugar coating on the outside from the ham & cheese Danish. It goes without saying that the coating complimented the filling and crust beautifully.
I think apple filling commonly suffers from an over-use of cinnamon. This was not the case with the hand pie. The filing was sweet, the consistency was awesome, and the filling was the perfect match with the crust. I felt like I could taste the individual apple slices rather than have it be a sweet apple syrup like you’d get in a Hostess apple hand-pie for example.
Closing:
The breakfast sandwich is 100% worth the hype. I don’t think I would wait 2 hours or whatever people do mid-day on a Saturday in the summer for it, but absolutely worth the 30 minute wait I did for carry-out.
Every pastry item was extremely well-executed. Even though not all were my personal flavor profile preference, the pastries were not lacking in attention to detail. I would expect nothing less than a Michelin-rated restaurant.
Kasama is a no-brainer for breakfast if you have the time, patience, and willing to spend.
by Pwschwa