Worth the hype and wait, maybe the breakfast sandwich is overrated but the pastries are top-notch and the drinks are creative and delicious. I have my full review in a comment
Yes the line was long, maybe 50min wait and 10 min for food to come. Also I know we could’ve preordered online but we woke up too late and the expected wait times were ridiculous so we just walked over
by kmpham2013
8 Comments
Pastries:
First we had the citrus poppyseed poundcake. This season it tasted mostly like grapefruit. Usually I prefer grapefruit less than other citruses, but this time I really appreciated the slight bitterness and complex flavor it gave as opposed to a pure tart and sweet flavor profile. The poundcake was on the lighter end of most poundcakes I’ve had, leaning more towards a yellow cake texture instead. This means the crumb was more flexible and airy, and not dense like one expects with a poundcake. The end effect of this was that the cake felt really light in our stomachs and was sort of refreshing because of it, so maybe it was a good thing. The squirts of whipped cream and berry jam were great dipped into or scooped along with some of the cake, but I wonder if I’d have had a better time with the squirts as layers instead. A really balanced and refreshing pastry that surprised me because of its simplicity.
Black truffle croissant sounds insane, but eating it blew me away even through all my expectations. The white gems adorning the croissant are crunchy sugar pieces, and they were fantastic textural and flavorful additions to the croissant. The Delice de Bourgogne was an immaculate pairing with the truffle inside the cream. The triple cream cheese donated a bit of tang, a bit of sweetness, fatty luxuriousness, and a really complex “spicy” earthiness from the mold bloom that’s different from what you can get with pure black truffle. The truffle itself was great of course, I love the taste of black truffle even more than I love the smell, and it did me no wrong inside this croissant. The sugar gems gave pops of sweetness that cut through and mellowed the rich and creamy filling, and the buttery croissant provided a chewy and delicate backdrop to the profoundly colorful flavors of the cheesy truffle cream filling. This was one of the best savory pastries I’ve ever had, and my only complaint is that the exterior of the croissant itself was pretty dry, like they cooked it a little overdone.
I think when I ordered the ube huckleberry basque cake that I’d been having so much Instagram baking content floating in my head that I automatically read it as basque cheesecake, so I was confused when I received our pastry: a thinner, lighter, and drier cookie-like cake with no cream cheese to speak of. Through my puzzledness I ate the cake, peeking firstly at the layer of ube jam and huckleberry compote. What entered my mouth was something highly reminiscent of the old fashioned donut I’d had the day before; a crisp, lightly caramelized outside and a moist and delicate dcrumb that melted in your mouth as you chewed. This cake was so unimaginably weightless in the mouth, and the huckleberry which has become one of my favorite fruits – something like a blueberry’s more sophisticated and flavorful brother – was the predominant flavor, the ube being a provider of notes of nuttiness and secondary sweetness. I was really surprised by how delicious this cake was, and am very glad I ordered it despite it not being what I initially imagined.
Sandwich:
Breakfast sandwich was quite good. A bunch of different textures coming together at once, and when you bite through you can really get a sense of each individual component and you know exactly how it contributes to the sandwich. Custardy egg gives fat and body to the sandwich, and of course it wouldn’t be a breakfast sandwich without it. The crumbly and slightly chewy longanisa was a little sweet, a little smoky, and a little spicy and was good with the overall sandwich. I don’t know if I prefer it over a typical Italian or breakfast sausage though in the breakfast sandwich, just because the texture wasn’t as pronounced and thus not as complete. In terms of the hashbrown you pay extra for, I feel like it could’ve been fried harder or done better in general, as it was a basic premade hash brown that didn’t really feel up to par with the rest of the ingredients that are used at Kasama. It did its job though: a soft and somewhat crunchy addition to an already exciting sandwich. Finally of course the cheese and Martin’s potato roll were soft and chewy and unctuous and wrapped up the sandwich very well. I do wish the sandwich had more fat though, like double or triple the mayo to really bring everything together. As of right now the sandwich is at an 8.5, but if everything is executed perfectly and the changes are made it could easily be a 10/10 sandwich. I’ve since been on a breakfast sandwich kick at home, so I’ve gotta give it to them for that.
Drinks:
Maiz con leche was an off the cuff decision, and it paid off deliciously. A bit sweeter than non-dessert drinks that I’m used to, but the sweetness mostly had a nice corn flavor and not a purely sugary taste. A refreshing drink that had some balance from the miso saltiness, and a tea flavor that elevated the taste and made it feel less indulgent. This drink was really special and I loved the foam texture on top.
The hot yam latte was very good as well. Ube flavor was really pronounced, clean coffee taste, and the sweetener was interestingly coconut sap, which added some minerality and complexity to the latte. I won’t say it tastes much like coconut flesh or juice, and was a little disappointed on that end because I love the combination of ube and coconut flavors.
You can order online. You didn’t have to wait.
I’ve been there twice and both times I had the mushroom adobo. It is now on my top ten favorite dishes list. So, so good. I also love the pastries.
We go everytime we’re in town. Their Boston creme brioche is one of my favorite pastries ever.
Coming to Chicago next. Jotting this down as must do. Hope it’s worth it !!
It might just be the angle of the photo, but it seems the breakfast sandwich has gotten smaller? The egg especially looks thinner? Haven’t been in a few months, but remember it looking thicker
100%. So good!!