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    Kemi Dessert Bar

    4.6 (40 reviews)
    Open 10:30 am - 6:00 pm
    Updated 3 weeks ago

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    Screenshot from their IG yesterday (5/10/26)
    Marie B.

    I'm late to the party, but decided to visit on Sunday morning for my Mother's Day treat and celebrate AANHPIHM* (5/10/26). Traffic bit on I-5S from Shoreline, but no problem detouring onto surface streets from the UDistrict to Capitol Hill. I managed to snag a nearby parking spot right at their 1030am opening, score! I had heard about the pastry chef/owner of Kemi Dessert Bar hailing from NY and opening her shop here last year. This weekend she & her team were celebrating their first year, so I wanted to purchase some items featured on their IG. Pocket retail & production kitchen featuring signature matcha beverages and a lovely pastry case. There's also other merch available for purchase. No onsite seating except a bench off to the left. Healthy foliage. I appreciated the welcoming counter person. Great demeanor and packaged the items nicely in a signature box. I ended up purchasing to go: two slices of their celebratory cake (vanilla cake, yuzu creameux, berry shiso compote, vanilla buttercream) and one Vietnamese Coffee Toffee cookie. Cake was a bit rich & decadent, but lovely composition. I would have preferred the compote to have gone through a fine mesh sieve due to the seeds, but that's just me. Cookie was definitely Viet coffee (robusta phin) forward. Terrific to see the surge of next gen bakers/pastry chefs/indie business owners (pop ups, farmers markets, brick & mortars) in the greater Seattle area. Distinctive evolution versus the baking scene 20-40 years ago. *AANHPIHM = Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Heritage Month

    Soy sauce caramel cookie
    Sophia W.

    Super interesting dessert concepts, but also a little pricy. I don't think I can justify myself buying a $6 cookie, though the caramel and crunchy texture was unique. I like that the desserts rotate each month, I'd be interested to see more of the cake and cream puff flavors another time!

    Sesame ball salt bread
    Hanna K.

    We love Kemi!! Kemi has lovely Asian-inspired desserts that change seasonally. The flavors are unique and the treats are not too sweet, which really lets the ingredients shine. The staff is super friendly, and street parking was very easy to find. So far, I've tried the mango sticky rice crispy treat (which was served at a different pop-up store) and the sesame ball salt bread, which was a Kemi's own pop-up item that they were also selling at their main store. I know they're known for the rice crispy treats, but I loved the sesame ball salt bread so much more - it was as if a red bean sesame ball like that ones you get at dim sum had a baby with salt bread, which I thought was super creative, and the salt bread itself was very well-executed. The mango sticky crispy treat was also great - light, airy, but still maintained strong flavors. I will definitely be back to try more of the menu!

    Inside
    Vince P.

    Kemi Dessert Bar is an awesome local bakeshop serving up some unique Asian-inspired pastries and drinks. Street parking will be your best bet to get here and there is a good amount of it around the area. Inside, they have a cozy interior with limited seating. Wifey and I ended up trying the Golden Hour drink and a Mango Sticky Rice Krispy. We really enjoyed all the flavors and supporting an AAPI-owned business. All of the staff here are very friendly and welcoming. Definitely come stop by to check them out if you are ever in the area!

    Pandan crumble cookie
    Vinh M.

    A friend kept telling me about this place, and it had since been on my list to try for the longest time. On a Friday afternoon I decided to power walk it here around 3:30pm before they close at 5pm... it was more like I didn't want to get there and not have anything be in stock. Thankfully, I came in to a view of this place's kitchen, and some bench seating and minimal decorations and merchandise to the immediate right-hand side. All kinds of cake and cookies were displayed up at the front counter, most of them being crumble cookies and cheesecake. Servers answered some of my questions regarding popular flavors and recommendations from others, and it was pretty hard to choose especially for someone with an insatiable sweet tooth. I eventually got their pandan crumble cookie and a slice of their black sesame mochi basque cheesecake: - The pandan crumble cookie had a nice crumble to it, and pandan taste was quite strong. Not too sweet, either. - The black sesame mochi cake was a little too much since I'm not a fan of cheesecake, but surprisingly the cheese didn't take over the black sesame mochi layer on top. This is one of their monthly flavors at the time of this writing, and it did not disappoint. They have a good handful of pastries they offer as a dessert bar, so I'll need to make a return trip here to give them a try!

    Carolyn D.

    I absolutely adore this dessert bar! Their use of Asian flavors in their desserts is so unique and very well executed. I believe their menu is rotating so I would love to come back to try other desserts that they have. It was already so hard to decide what to order this time. For pastries I got the pandan cookie crumble, Vietnamese coffee cookie, and the Japanese sweet potato basque cheesecake. All of them were not too sweet -- the best compliment an Asian person can give for a dessert. All the cookies were very soft! Pandan cookie crumble - so delicious!!! I love a good pandan dessert and the flavor really comes through. Usually when I've had pandan desserts it is more vanilla or coconut forward, but this cookie was so pandan forward. The coconut flakes are a nice touch. Vietnamese coffee cookie - you can taste the espresso grounds in this one. It's very strong on the coffee, however it wasn't giving Vietnamese coffee to me. Maybe some condensed milk somehow? It was still good though. Japanese sweet potato basque cheesecake - I'm not an expert on basque cheesecake but this was good. I liked the subtle sweet potato addition to it. My friends got their drinks and I got to sip on a few of them. I found their flavored matcha drinks to be light and refreshing, yet the syrups did not overpower the matcha. The group of people behind us did not following the limit of 5 people in the store unfortunately. It is a very small space and my friends noticed that when the group came in and ordered after them, the workers were getting orders confused. Not their fault at all! Please follow the instructions written outside. I can't wait to come back to try their other desserts and get myself more pandan cookies.

    Angela V.

    Such a cute little Place for some sweet treats! We parked to go to lunch around Cap Hill and randomly saw a sign for this place. We recently just saw an episode on Evening Magazine about it! So when we saw the sign, we're like "let's try it out!" And we're so glad we did! We were immediately greeted with smiles! Everything looks super yummy! They have a cool twist on rice krispy treats, such as ube, black sesame and mango flavors!! And each one of them are sooooo good! The black sesame was our favorite...usually black sesame flavored things are so subtle you can't taste it, or it's just not that good. But this, was exceptional! And oh my, I loved their classic salt bread!! Crunchy on the outside and savory gooey-ness on the inside! It was such a pleasant surprise how yummy that was. I will be coming back, for sure!

    Wasn't much of a selection. The mango sago box cake was decent, but I didn't care for the black sesame Rice Krispy treat. Pandan cookie was just okay. Cool fusion concept but execution didn't deliver.

    Miso sesame cookie
    Yen D.

    Quick service. Only take away. Miso sesame cookie was good and $5. It was very good. Black sesame rice Krispy treat was excellent. Only street parking. Would come again.

    Alexa Z.

    Friendly and fast service. Street parking only. Slim to no space to sit and enjoy your treats but a short walk to Cal Anderson so you can have a little picnic. Everything here is unique and delicious! Love the rotating menu and the interesting flavor combinations. Highly recommend the blueberry jasmine matcha drink if they still have it.

    Merchandise case
    Wendy K.

    Have been to Kemi pop ups leading up to the opening of the shop. i actually first heard about Kelly on a trip to NYC a few years ago before she moved to Seattle. I was on the wrong side of town during her NYC pop up so was excited when she started doing pop ups in Seattle. And here we are today! So happy to see how far she's come. I actually had been here when the space was Coping Cookies is so wonderful to see how she has made it her own. Bright cute shop with lovely live plants and merchandise shelving. Service was friendly and quick. Most people probably come for her bakes but the beverages are unique and delicious. I had the Golden Hour a refreshing and delicious beverage,Mandarin Osmanthus Honey Yakult Sparkling water. I was going to get the get the special Peach Matcha but my friend ordered before me and got the last one. Actually glad it happened cause I wouldn't have got to experience this drink. My friend also got the last mango sticky rice crispy. I went with the black sesame rice crispy, vegan yuzu crinkle cookie and the Vietnamese coffee cookie. The black sesame was everything I wanted salty nutty and roasty how can you go wrong with brown butter? The cookies were on the softer side but not cakey I'm not a fan of the sweet cakey cookies that seem to be popular in other shops. I enjoyed the yuzu crinkle I love anything yuzu the candied yuzu peel really brightens it. Well I definitely need to go earlier next time. I was a little worried getting there a few hours before closing that some items would be out and that's what happened but that's a good thing for the shop. Congratulations Kelly! Glad I finally got to visit.

    Salted chocolate chip cookie
    Diana C.

    They have so many delicious dessert and drink options! They also have a few vegan items and the drinks can be made dairy free too. There were so many yummy things to choose from, including discounted day old cookies. The server was very knowledgeable about the ingredients too. There's only a small bench to sit and wait so it's mostly set up for to go but I will definitely be back. Especially for the vegan ube rice krispy treat and the hojichas.

    Drink Menu - November 2025
    Erin K.

    Great service! The black sesame rice krispy treat was delicious; not too sweet and the black sesame flavor really shined through. I also love seeing so many vegan options available! Will definitely have to return next time I'm in Seattle.

    Matcha drinks

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    Ask the Community - Kemi Dessert Bar

    Does anyone know what kind of gelatin is used in the rice crispy treats?

    It’s pork based!

    Don’t See Your Question? Ask Away!

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    Love love love!! When we arrived 30 mins before closing and…read morethere's about 40-50 ppl here with a line out the door, you know it's going to be good!!! We got a matcha float with mochi and a hojicha float with mochi. We love the hojicha better. The matcha is prob one of the better I've tasted, but not often you can find hojicha ice cream and milk tea. It was creamy and mildly sweet. So good, refreshing and satisfying! The mochi were ok. It was very bland and not sweet at all. I do prefer my mochi to have a little sweetness to them, like a sweet bite. This was like chewing a bigger non sweet boba ball. So I'd pass on the mochi here and maybe do all ice cream. If ever we're in Seattle would visit again. Update: we came here a few yrs later. The drinks were still good as ever. My husband got a frappe and loved it. We had a salmon bowl which was decent. Not something I would order again here but we were so hungry from traveling and meeting friends, we needed some food. This time no line out the door. We got a seat inside. We came in June this yr, nice weather outside but inside was super hot as they did not run the AC. They had the windows/doors open but no breeze and mosquitos were inside attacking. I can't imagine a good breeze when the cafe is wedged btw two huge buildings. It made our visit this time very stifling.

    I've had the soft serve from here before, which was pretty good, so I got the matcha parfait this…read moretime. It seems to be what they're known for. This comes in a very large cup, with layers of matcha ice cream, cornflakes, vanilla whippedd cream, and mochi at the bottom. I'll be honest that the matcha ice cream wasn't my favorite. I'm not a huge fan of matcha in general, but I have had examples where the sweetness balances with the earthiness better - and this felt like it leaned too much into the earthiness side of it. It just tasted off when mixed with everything else. What was exceptional, though, was the second and third layers. Mixing the cornflakes with the vanilla whipped cream/yogurt layer was awesome. The crunchy texture provided with the creamy vanilla flavor really worked - and it felt like what the essence of a parfait is with the textural and flavor contrast. I think I would've liked this a lot more if the top had been vanilla ice cream instead - submitting a request to have that as an option on the menu. This was pretty expensive. It cost 14 dollars for a single parfait. That's just a crazy amount. I know it's pretty big, but it's simply overpriced. Overall, it's a decent but not very practical dessert. 5.5/10

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    After hearing about Milk Drunk from several people in the last few weeks, we are so glad we checked…read morethis place out! It 100% lives up to the hype- amazing double fried chicken sandwiches and even more amazing ice cream! I love the different variations of chicken sandwiches they have. We tried the original which had their delicious herbaceous green sauce/aioli and the Homer which tasted so fresh with the veggies and whipped garlic sauce that accompany the fried chicken. The curly fries are a must if you're here & looking for a savory snack. The ice cream is a must, too! We particularly loved the seasonal miso caramel and wish it wasn't only seasonal. There was a line out the door when we went on a weeknight, so I imagine a line is to be expected when you come by, but it moves very quickly as you order at the counter. You'll wait for the ice cream at the counter but if dining in, they'll bring the food when it's ready. I personally didn't mind having dessert first! There's some indoor seating and some outdoor seating. Super casual vibes. Service is pretty quick overall. And we love the convenience that it's right by the light rail station.

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    Fries are best when theyre curly
    Fries are best when theyre curly
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    Kemi Dessert Bar - desserts - Updated August 2026

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