A Full Review of the Various Sweets At Katsute 100
aka a strawberry cake review from the strawberry gazette (6号室 - Lamp)
Katsute 100 is my favourite cafe in London, because they don’t kick you out, they’re open until 8pm, and they have legitimately phenomenal sweets. Over the course of the past year or so, I’ve eaten their entire catalogue of sweets over at least three times (recently I’ve been there at least once a week, which is kind of embarrassing since it’s technically in the North and I live in the South so it’s a 40 minute journey). Granted, I haven’t tried their more elusive / expensive sweets — 4 pounds for a yuzu financier is seriously where I draw the line — but I’ve compiled a rating list for the cakes / sweets that are usually out on rotation for your easy reference. Of course, a disclaimer is that these is all my personal preferences, but I’m usually right.
Matcha Ice Cream Croffle
★★★★☆
The interesting thing about this matcha croffle is that it gets everything right — the flakiness of the croissant/waffle Frankenstein is perfect. It’s soft, crunchy, warm, which is delectable especially when its paired with a matcha ice cream that has the Maccha-House soft serve consistency that I adore — a certain sorbet-esque iciness that beats out creamy ice cream for me every day. In spite of this, strangely I don’t find myself reaching for this croffle — I’ve only had this croffle once even though its rather good by any standard. Unless you are really into croissants, waffles, or croffles, this is the kind of pastry that’s worth a try but not something you will get an insatiable hankering for. Good, but not something I obsess over.
Strawberry Shortcake
★★★★★ (GOAT)
Katsute’s strawberry shortcake (SSC, in the Japanese sense as opposed to the British sense) is, hands down, the very best strawberry shortcake I’ve had in my life and I am a huge strawberry shortcake enthusiast (obviously).
The main distinction between Katsute’s SSC, compared with Kova (LDN) or Chateraise (SG)’s SSC is that the first layer of cream is more solid, which creates a better texture overall. The sponge layers in Kova’s SSC itself has a stronger, eggier taste, but I enjoy the lightness of Katsute’s sponge layers better because I am of the opinion that the main focus of a strawberry shortcake should always be the cream and not the cake. In fact, I would go so far as to say that a strawberry shortcake with flavours of cake that detract from the cream is missing the point entirely.
Speaking of the cream, Katsute’s cream is also phenomenal — light, fluffy, and the ideal texture, without being too soft and lacking in structural integrity (which Chateraise’s SSC tends to unfortunately be). The SSC is a must-order at Katsute 100 if you see it, which, recently, is getting fewer and more far between for me.
(Just scrolled through my camera roll and I saw this cake in it on at least 5-10 separate occasions, which is just embarrassing at this point.)
Matcha Basque Cheesecake
★★★☆☆
The issue with the Matcha Basque Cheesecake is that it is disproportionately more Basque than Matcha Cheesecake. There’s two dimensions to this issue — firstly 1) the basque taste is a bit overboard b) it fundamentally doesn’t really work well with the flavour of Matcha — sort of invokes the imagery of a teahouse on fire more so than anything else. The cake is still creamy and tasty, but it’s my least favourite sweet out of all that Katsute has to offer.
Matcha Crepe Cake
★★★★★
The Matcha Crepe Cake blows Lady M’s Matcha Crepe Cake out of the water. Maybe it’s something about the matcha powder dusted on top, maybe it’s the fact that the cream between the crepe layers is somehow the most intensely delicious matcha thing I’ve had in a hot minute (and I visited Kyoto last July). The layers of the crepe cake were gooey, gao, and straight up melt-in-your-mouth. In fact, I would go so far as to liken it to the Royce nama chocolates (which is to say it is pretty much ganache texture). The only problem was that the cake didn’t have much structural integrity because it was so creamy, and some people might not enjoy a cake so intense / strong in flavour, but for me (and Aulia too) it’s quite perfect.
Ichigo Daifuku (4 stars)
★★★★☆
The Ichigo Daifuku is a fat, chewy mochi stuffed with red bean (anko) paste, topped with a strawberry. This daifuku is on the pricier side (4 pounds ish if I recall correctly), but I find that it is worth it not because of the mochi itself — which is pretty good, by the way, just not anything phenomenal — but because of the strawberry. The strawberry is consistently one of the most delicious strawberries I’ve ever had - it’s fresh, vibrant in colour, and it even smells sweet (you can smell it from like 30cm away).
Of course, it’s perfectly sweet as well. It is literally the exemplification of what a perfect strawberry should look/smell/taste like, and I think that in a Battle of the Best Fruit this particular strawberry will win every time. Also, the price isn’t that unjustifiable when you consider the fact that one really good strawberry has a similar price tag in Japan/Korea.
However, one limitation to this mochi is that the red bean paste doesn’t actually have the sort of fragrant taste you expect from freshly cooked red bean paste, and so the rest of the mochi is, while not bad by any measure, lacklustre compared to the jewel of the crown.
Mont Blanc Cake
★★★☆☆
What is a Mont Blanc cake? In the Japanese version, it is a refined, individual tart with the signature chestnut puree vermicelli squeezed in an orderly, methodological pattern, topped with a chestnut. The sponge cake and cream is usually lighter and less sweet than the European versions. This particular Mont Blanc tart ticked all the boxes, with a perfectly constructed structure that emphasised the natural flavours and sweetness of the chestnut, rather than any artificial sweetening. However, maybe because I’m not the biggest fan of chestnuts, this particular cake didn’t stand out to me both in general as a Mont Blanc cake, and in Katsute’s cake catalogue.
Black Sesame Souffle Cheesecake
★★★★★
I reached for this cake in a moment of weakness (I think it was during exam season), and it answered my call. Before this cake, I really wouldn’t have said that I was a big fan of black sesame (other than black sesame tangyuan), but this expanded the limits of my mind (frfr, I inhaled this). The soft whipped cream paired with the earthly tones of black sesame and the lightness of the cheesecake was life-changing and the mix of white and black sesame seeds provide a much-needed crunch and variation in texture to the rest of the cake. This is Katsute 100 at its best — a perfect balancing act of delicate flavours.
There are three outlets of Katsute 100 in London — at Brick Lane, Islington, and Covent Garden. I frequent the Brick Lane outlet on weekdays the most often because that’s when it’s the least crowded. My personal recommendations for drinks to pair with your cakes are as follows: iced Americano for a bitterness that counters the sweetness of the cakes, hojicha hot chocolate simply because it’s the best drink on the menu (especially when you’re coming in from the cold!), and the sakura-cha for a salty, light tea completely different from anything you’ve ever had. Let me know if you guys try the cakes, and please pray for my glucose intake levels!
looks so good!! I would love to try these delectable desserts!!