Burpple Blog Inside Scoop KL: Miru Dessert Cafe

We can always count on Miru Dessert Cafe for an epic Shibuya Honey Toast that will satiate the sweetest of sweet tooths. Here, we interview one-half of Miru, Jolyn, about the unconventional method that makes their toasts different, the perfect drink and dessert pairing, as well as some of her favourite places to eat in KL.1. Hi Jolyn! Tell us a little bit about yourself and Miru Dessert Cafe, and what inspired you to serve the popular Shibuya Honey Toast?Hi there! I used to be a business consultant while Rodney (co-founder) used to be an investment analyst. Miru Dessert Cafe was formed simply from our love for food. After travelling to many countries, we realised that there was a shortage of specialty dessert shops in Malaysia (back when we started, the only dessert shops were ice cream shops). We thus decided to start a shop based on our favourite dessert from our travels - the Shibuya Honey Toast, and we have been adding more and more desserts to our menu ever since!2. In your opinion, what sets Miru apart from other cafes serving Shibuya Toast?Our Shibuya Toast is different from other cafes as most serve the brick version (meaning the inside parts of the bread are cut out and toasted with butter before rearranged back into the bread). Our entire bread is toasted with butter in the oven so this ensures that the crust is more crunchy. As to which version is better, it really depends on the consumers - some prefer the crunchy crust, while others prefer a chewier version.3. Your cafe's aesthetic and branding are spot-on. What is it inspired by?Our cafe theme and branding is based on Japanese minimalism. As most of our desserts were inspired by food we had eaten in Japan, we thought it would be more appropriate to brand ourselves as a Japanese dessert cafe. We also decided to add a mascot to our brand as we thought that it would look cuter and complement the sweet nature of our desserts.4. Is there a process you go through to create a new dessert/flavour?Yes, we actually discuss and brainstorm new dessert ideas/flavours with our R&D team beforehand. After we finalise the dessert items that we want to launch, we then get the R&D team to try out the recipes. During recipe testing, we not only test the quantity of each ingredient multiple times, we also test different brands of every individual ingredient to make sure that our desserts are as good as we think they can be. 5. What's your idea of the perfect dessert and drink pairing?We think that all our desserts will go well with any of our iced or hot tea drinks. Our menu is generally made up of more Iced Fruit Teas as we feel that the refreshing nature of the fruit teas will cleanse the palate after indulging in our sweet desserts.6. Miru remains a crowd favourite till today. Are there any secrets to your success?There is no secret at all! The only thing we do is make sure that we use good ingredients and also that we maintain the consistency of our products.7. Describe your personal culinary philosophy and approach to desserts in three words.Pretty. Fresh. Consistent.8. Share with us some of your favorite places to eat and drink in KL. Lucky Bo, BangsarHong Kong Hotpot, BangsarVillage Park Nasi Lemak, Damansara Utama9. What is your perspective on the city's food community?We feel that the F&B environment is growing at a very high speed, and that there are many exciting new F&B ventures coming to Malaysia. At the moment, Malaysians still do not regard dessert as a staple, as the dessert culture here is not as mature and developed as countries such as Japan, Korea and Taiwan. However, we can see that acceptance of dessert is growing and we are happy to play our part in this evolution.10. What can our community expect from Miru in the new year?Miru will likely open another one or two more new outlets in the new year. However, we are still discussing potential locations and cannot confirm where these are just yet. One thing for sure is that we will definitely be adding more sweet treats to our menu too!Thanks for accommodating to our questions, Jolyn!Keep up with Miru Dessert Bar here and check out what our community recommends on Burpple. If you like what you read and know someone you'd like us to interview, keep in touch with us at community.kl@burpple.com.