Shawn Yue Adores These Japanese Soufflé Pancakes From Riz Labo Kitchen, And So Do We
The star ate these pancakes two days in a row. Now you can too — the Tokyo import will serve its fluffy treats in a Singapore bar for three months.
Tokyo pancake cafe Riz Labo Kitchen has been around since 2016, but it still boasts long queues daily at its Omotesando shop (its only outlet) in Japan. Riz’s Japanese owner tells us Taiwanese star Shawn Yue “visited [the store] for two consecutive days”. What it’s famous for: its pillowy, fluffy soufflé pancakes made with gluten-free Japanese rice flour (‘riz’ means rice in French while Labo means laboratory), organic brown sugar, Kagoshima brown sugar and egg whites. It opened its three-month-long pop-up shop in Singapore last week in Wisma Atria, within food enclave Japan Food Town’s 20-seat cocktail joint Bar Nippon (the bar operates only at night while Riz Labo operates during the day). While Riz’s boss Kazu Tsurumura has no plans to extend the pop-up, she's in talks with online grocery and food delivery company Honestbee, among other F&B companies, to open a permanent standalone restaurant here. Nothing has been confirmed, though. She says: “It depends on whether Singaporeans like our pancakes.” Scroll on to find out what’s good to order there.
Photos: Chee Yan
The Riz Labo Kitchen team
Riz’s owner is Tokyo native Kazu Tsurumura (second from left), in her 50s, a former real estate advertising executive who found respite from her stressful job in making desserts. “I was always interested in sweets, but many young people are unfamiliar with rice flour as an ingredient. So I made [millennial-friendly] pancakes with rice flour to introduce it to them,” she explains. The mother of a 22-year-old uni undergrad daughter reckons she can travel more for her business now that her kid is all grown up. “Running a restaurant is just as busy as advertising, but it’s more interesting than writing about buildings and houses,” she laughs. At press time, she has returned to Tokyo, but has entrusted general manager Yuka Shibata (extreme left; from the Riz Labo HQ in Tokyo), 47, to cook and run the place in her stead.
Plain Gluten-Free Pancake, $15 for three pieces (feeds one pax)
The pop-up menu here is simple, just three types of Riz’s signature pancakes — Plain, Matcha and Premium Chocolate — plus a limited-edition Strawberry Pancake. Why so expensive for three dainty palm-sized pancakes? Riz’s owner, Kazu, says all the ingredients, save for eggs and fruits, are imported from Japan. Behind the cramped bar counter, the Riz staff whip up airy pancake batter using electric whisks and cook the puffy globs on a hot griddle. The inch-thick jiggly soufflé pancakes topped with an airy blob of freshly-whipped cream and pure maple syrup are wonderfully soft and eggy with a delicate bite (almost like good castella cake!), and light enough that you will inhale three in no time. It’s not chewy like mochi nor does it taste anything like rice flour, but it's so delicate and delish.
Matcha Pancake, $18 (8 DAYS PICK!)
The plain pancakes are jazzed up here with a liberal dusting of matcha powder, confectioners’ sugar, and a scoop of gooey stewed adzuki beans. The earthy matcha powder makes eating all that fresh cream less jelak, while the red beans give the pillowy pancakes a bit more bite. Very yummy, even for this writer who, gasp, dislikes anything with green tea.
Strawberry Pancake, $20
Avid Instagrammers will go for this pretty confection — a trio of fat plain pancakes topped with fresh cream, strawberries from a local supplier and freeze-dried raspberries. The strawberries aren't the sweetest we’ve had, but the accompanying scoop of berry sorbet is sugary enough. Quite yummy, with the bouncy pancakes as an elegant dessert.
Premium Chocolate, $18
This plain pancake stack comes drizzled with dark chocolate syrup, a smattering of sliced macadamia nuts and a side of milky chocolate ice cream. Out of the four offerings on the menu here, this one is the least ‘Japanese’ — if not for the fabulous pancakes, it would be pretty standard fare found in any hipster cafe. A tad dull.
Matcha Soy Milk Latte, $6
Other than pancakes, there is also a small selection of healthy-ish drinks such as organic ginger lemonade and matcha soy milk latte. The latter, which we tried, consists of soy milk mixed with matcha powder. It lacked the satisfying, full-bodied creaminess that comes with sinfully fattening full-cream milk, but at least you don’t feel guilty drinking this.
The decor
The dimly-lit, suave bar setting is an odd choice of location to serve cheerful, pretty pancakes. We almost missed the obscure spot, until we saw the big yellow Riz Kitchen Labo banners at the entrance. We awkwardly cram ourselves around a high table to dig into our pancakes; it doesn’t do the good nosh justice. Here is hoping Riz Kitchen Labo will open a more spacious permanent, standalone cafe, like its elegant space in Omotesando, Tokyo, which is tucked inside a traditional Japanese house.
Bottom Line
Divinely fluffy, airy pancakes that barely feel like calories rushing into your body. It ain’t the cheapest pancake joint in town, but the quality here is superior to its more affordable rivals’. We hope they set up a permanent standalone store soon 'cos the current dimly-lit location is odd: Riz Labo closes at 5pm daily and transforms back into its original space — Bar Nippon — in the evening.
#04-49 Japan Food Town, Wisma Atria Shopping Centre, 435 Orchard Rd, S328877. Open daily 11am to 5pm (till Oct 21). Last orders at 4.30pm. Tel: 6262-3425. www,facebook.com/rizlabo.
