Two Gen-Z founders strive to woo crowd with Japanese soft crepes at *Scape

When you think of Japanese crepes, Harajuku’s noisy, neon-soaked streets come to mind. Paper cones bursting with cream, strawberries and custard. Long queues under dangling plastic food models. If you’ve been there, you’d know what we are referring to. But luckily for us, we no longer need to travel to the Land of the Rising Sun for them. 

At *Scape, there is a small crepe kiosk that moves at a different pace from the otherwise bustling streets in the Somerset and Orchard shopping belt. Here, the kiosk’s single griddle sits at the centre of it all.

Batter is poured only when an order comes in, spread carefully, then left to set. Each soft crepe takes about seven minutes to make, and in a place that rarely slows down, that wait feels almost deliberate.

This is Kremi, the brainchild of two Gen-Z besties: Lia Lim, 23, and Tessa Foo, 27.

From cabin crew to crepe masters

Lia and Tessa run the small Japanese-inspired soft crepe kiosk from the second level of *Scape.

The two Gen-Z founders first met while working in the aviation industry, quickly becoming both work and real-life besties, and now, business partners. How Kremi came to be was nothing short of serendipity.

It was during one of those trips to Japan that crepes entered the picture. Walking past street stalls, they stopped often, ordering cones filled with cream, fruit, and custard. 

Tessa recalls: “We tried a lot of crepes in Japan and then we fell in love with it.” 

Back in Singapore, the craving lingered. “We realised there weren’t many options back then,” she adds. “Obviously, we can’t fly to Japan every other weekend.”

The idea of making their own did not arrive all at once. Lia left the aviation industry first and began experimenting at home. 

“I was researching and developing at home for around a year,” she recalls. 

Soft crepes proved more difficult than expected. Too much heat and they crisp. Too little and they lose structure. The margin for error was small, and the failures frequent. 

Flour became an obsession. “The flour is the body of the crepe,” Lia explains. She had gone through at least 15kg before finding a blend that worked. Even then, it behaved differently depending on where it was cooked. 

“The humidity at home and the humidity in the kiosk is totally different,” she says. “It affected the batter. We had to re-experiment.”

In late November, 2025, Tessa joined the team, bringing a second perspective and an instinct for structure. Today, their roles are clearly defined: Lia handles marketing, social media, and the matcha station, while Tessa leads R&D and crepe-making, overseeing everything produced in-house, from banana pudding to chocolate sauce. 

When orders stack up, the division softens. “We help each other,” Tessa says. “As time goes past, we know each of our roles.”

Challenges faced by the Gen-Z entrepreneurs

For Lia and Tessa, opening Kremi also meant stepping into a broader vision of what youth-led retail could look like in the city. 

“We had looked at other locations, but we really wanted to be in town,” Lia says. “This space showed promise.”

Their kiosk sits within *Scape, a recently relaunched youth-centric development with the ambition of building a creative, community-driven hub in the heart of the Orchard belt.

In January last year, Kremi became one of several concepts that signed on to join an enclave of up-and-coming entrepreneurs, curated by the team behind startup accelerator Innovate 360, on *Scape’s second floor. It was pitched as a space where young entrepreneurs could experiment, learn, and grow in a real-world setting.

The reality, however, came with its own timeline. Opening dates shifted — a promised May 2025 opening turned into a November one — and progress unfolded more slowly than expected. For first-time founders, this meant learning to operate within a larger ecosystem that was itself still taking shape.

Beyond that, they soon found themselves part of a growing cluster of dessert concepts. These include an acai parlour, a yoghurt store, a halal dessert kiosk, a popular Japanese cream-puff shop, and other bubble tea stores.

“We realised we were among many other stalls selling sweets and desserts,” Lia says. The concentration brought its own set of questions, about differentiation, pacing, and how a small crepe kiosk might carve out space within a crowded floor.

Kremi is part of L^ife at *Scape, a youth-oriented initiative supported by Innovate 360. According to Innovate 360 founder John Cheng, onboarding for the F&B concepts on the second storey progressed in phases as redevelopment works and tenant preparations evolved.

“We chose to align the opening with the November relaunch of *Scape rather than have vendors operate in a partially completed environment,” he says, in correspondence with HungryGoWhere. 

“The curation (of vendors) wasn’t based on a rigid formula, but it was shaped by the intention to build a space that resonates with young people and those who are youth at heart,” John says. He adds that many of the tenants are first-time founders who required additional time for licensing and renovation, and that support was provided to help them begin operations on a more stable footing.

“Our goal is to provide mentorship, testbeds, and go-to-market pathways so new brands can experiment, validate, and scale in the heart of Orchard Road,” John says. If anything, he hopes for young entrepreneurs to find footing, establish themselves, and succeed.

When Kremi first opened in November, business was slow. On some days, they sold on average about 20 crepes a day. According to the duo, the second-storey floor saw sparse foot traffic, and many shoppers did not yet know the kiosks were there. 

The duo, however, remain optimistic.

Seven is the magic number

According to the founders, the crepes are prepared a la minute. 

Once an order is placed, batter is poured onto the griddle and spread in a careful circular motion. After a few minutes, the crepe is left to cool slightly so the heat does not melt the filling. Only then is it filled, folded, and wrapped into a cone.

“Everything is made fresh upon order,” Tessa says. “It’s about seven minutes per crepe.”

Seven minutes can feel long. And when orders stack up, customers will have to wait. For Lia and Tessa, both of whom came from the aviation industry, the pressure is familiar, even if the setting is not.

“We now have some a few trained staff to help us out when the going gets tough,” Lia says, beaming.

What we tried at Kremi

The Japanese soft crepe shop boasts a gamut of sweet and savoury sweets, alongside a very modest beverage menu.

Mt Buldak (S$11.90) is Kremi’s most unconventional crepe, and easily the one that stops people in their tracks. Inspired by Tessa’s fondness for spicy Korean Buldak noodles, it wraps a generous portion of fiery noodles inside their signature soft crepe. Garnishes include egg rolls, cocktail sausages and a drizzle of mayonnaise.

The heat is immediate and unapologetic, but the crepe itself plays an important role. Soft, mildly sweet, and pliable, it tempers the spice without dulling it. This spicy number is more akin to a meal than a dessert, and is best approached when you are genuinely hungry. It looks excessive, and it leans into that. Among a menu dominated by sweets, Mt Buldak feels deliberately out of place, which is precisely why it works.

The mochi strawberry crepe (S$11.90) sits firmly on the sweeter end of Kremi’s menu, and it feels reasonably priced for what it delivers. The soft crepe is wrapped around a generous portion of fresh strawberry slices, with small, white globules of mochi and cornflakes encased within.

The appeal here lies in texture. The strawberries provide a sweet-tart bite that cuts through the richness, while the handmade mochi adds a gentle chew that slows things down. Beneath it all, the crepe stays warm, soft and pliable, held together by a compote-infused whipped cream that keeps the sweetness in check. Two wafer sticks add a light crunch on top, which makes this crepe satisfying and not too indulgent.

The banana pudding matcha brulee (S$14.90) makes a strong first impression. The caramelised brulee layer on top is first and foremost, fragrant and gently bitter, cracking under the spoon before giving way to the crepe beneath. Made with matcha, the crepe itself arrives in a deep, vivid green, with a noticeable aroma even before the first bite.

The matcha crepe leans creamy rather than vegetal, and pairs well with the rich and custardy banana filling. The daily limited special boasts an almost pudding-like bite but be warned, consuming it can be a messy affair.

The dark roast hojicha latte (S$6) drinks smooth and milky, with light roasted notes in the background. The tea itself is subtle, with the milk taking centrestage.

Like many stores offering matcha drinks in Singapore, the matcha latte (S$7.5) uses ceremonial-grade matcha powder that boasts a vibrant green hue. 

“The matcha is sourced from Shizuoka,” Lia says. It is smooth, leans vegetal, with a grassy edge, and less bitter than its culinary grade counterpart.

Between the two founders, Lia is the dedicated matcha drinker. Tessa, on the other hand, is still not a full convert. “The best I can go to is strawberry matcha lattes,” she laughs.

Japanese soft crepes, as they turn out, have a place here, even if that place is still finding its audience. For Lia and Tessa, the challenges of being new entrepreneurs remain very real, from uneven foot traffic at *Scape to the familiar pressures of rent and timing, made sharper during a school holiday season when much of the crowd is simply elsewhere.

For more ideas on what to eat, check out our Orchard Plaza guide, or our take on Hanco Coffee at *Scape.