Soufflés Aren’t Just French: Kumo Cafe’s Fluffy Pancakes

Don’t be turned away by the sign that reads “Melissa’s Cafe” at the address of Kumo Cafe, because it’s there, tucked into a back cranny of Salt Lake’s Chinatown. Located at 3432 S. State St., Kumo Cafe has more than what a “cafe” bills it as.

The space, once owned by the eponymous Melissa Wang of Melissa’s Crepes and Coffee House, is now operated by Irie Cao of Doki Doki Cafe. When Irie’s famous Japanese sweet crepes had to come off Doki Doki’s menu, despite being a fan favorite, Irie brought them over to her new Japanese Crepes Cafe, Kumo. Founded in July 2023, Kumo serves specialty drinks with homemade chocolate sauces, creamers, crepe cakes and, the point of my mission, fluffy pancakes.

The middle feels like a hot marshmallow oozing out of golden crusted flapjacks—a texture worth the wait, unmatched by any mouth feel.

Make sure to get there early enough, because these crepes are a hot topic. I arrived around 12:30 p.m. and most of the crepe cakes and menu items besides the fluffy pancakes were sold out, much less a 45-minute wait. But their cafe style comes in handy, strapped with Wi-Fi to hang out over a specialty drink while waiting for your food.

I ordered an Ube Latte ($5.99) with coconut milk and an espresso shot. Ube is purple yam, a starchy tuber delicacy. It is boiled, puréed and cooked down into a gelatinous, bright purple paste. There were flecks of the ube in the latte, which felt like their authenticity shining bright. While the quality of the espresso was not enough to take this drink to the next level, I appreciated how it mellowed out the sweetness.

They disclose on their digital menu (in capital red letters) that fluffy pancakes take a minimum of 25 minutes to prepare, ensuring that everyone is on the same page and respects the process—because the product is worth it. “Kumo’s mission is to bring you the best tea time experience ever with all high-quality crepes, drinks and ice cream,” their website reads.

“The sweetness was full enough that the dish would be perfect for sharing, but even as a savory-leaning person, I could appreciate the delicacy of these fluffy pancakes.”

I ordered the Matcha Fluffy Pancakes ($14.99)—every cake delicately fluffy and moist in the middle of golden faces from the griddle tops behind the cashier. The cakes are technically soufflés—egg whipped with air to create a light and delicate meringue-like batter that cannot be prepared ahead of time, or else too many air bubbles will deflate from the batter and the fluffy pancakes will no longer be fluffy. The batter is whipped from scratch to order, hence the 25-minute wait time disclaimer. The middle feels like a hot marshmallow oozing out of golden crusted flapjacks—a texture worth the wait, unmatched by any mouth feel. The stack is doused in a thick, dark green matcha sauce—rich in its earthy umami flavor and sweetened by their house Kumo Cream sauce that is draped on top of most of the fluffy pancakes on the menu, perfectly cutting the bite from the matcha.

Their presentation was stunning: three wobbly bubble cakes swaying in their buoyancy, steaming next to your choice of ice cream—I chose ube. The ice cream melted from its proximity to the freshly griddled hot cakes, congealing with the matcha green, making for a tasteful Barney-colored palette on my plate. The vivid purple with a bold kelly green could read Mardi Gras.

The plate was finished with whipped cream and a plating of fresh fruit to cut the richness of the cake and ice cream. I almost wish there had been more fruit to cut it further. The sweetness was full enough that the dish would be perfect for sharing, but even as a savory-leaning person, I could appreciate the delicacy of these fluffy pancakes.

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