Yellow Stage

A stone’s throw from Eastwood station, Yellow Stage stands out on Railway Parade with its warm, intimate lighting and crowded cake display. Open early in the morning and until well after dinnertime, co-owners In Gyun Lee and Kayla Kim have created a space that’s designed for lingering.

They met while Kim was running a baking school out of her house. Lee’s wife was one of her students.

Kim’s pastries are colourful and designed with Instagram in mind. Their top seller is the ciel (“sky” in French): a cloud-shaped, white chocolate mousse cake filled with pistachio praline for texture and raspberry paste. It’s finished with a blue dust.

The cabinet is full of other pristine desserts that rely on traditionally Asian flavours and interesting textures. The delicate looking Snow Matcha layer cake combines white chocolate and green tea sponge. The Yellow Stage is another mousse cake – it comes topped with an edible flower and is filled with pineapple and yuzu. The Sweet Dream is one of the few that can be bought in sizes larger than a single serve. It’s light, delicate and made using sweet potato. Kim also makes a selection of madelines flavoured with matcha and yuzu.

Yellow Stage serves Danes coffee and has a dedicated tap for nitro coffee. Customers can also order taro, chai and matcha lattes. To cool down, they also offer a taro frappe and gelato shakes (chocolate, strawberry, green tea or taro).

Coffees and teas come served in hearty, colourful mugs and single-serve desserts arrive with delicate, gold cutlery. During the day, customers can watch the team at work through a small window at the shop’s rear.