First Look: Kuki, the Spin-Off From Deep-Fried Ice-Creamery Duo Duo, Is Churning Soft Serve and Baking Cookies in Darling Square

For the last six years, Duo Duo owners Chris Duong and Dylan Duong (a happy last-name coincidence; they’re not related) have thrown their efforts behind growing their deep-fried ice-cream house. They started in 2017 with a food truck before opening a retail counter at their Roselands factory a few years later. Then, in 2023, they welcomed a flagship store in Strathfield.

While they’re always tweaking (read: perfecting) the recipes for their classic crispy, creamy treats, their eyes are set on the future. “Our larger goal has always been to expand into a hospitality group,” Chris tells Broadsheet. “We look at guys like Merivale – every concept they come up with and everything they do is really topnotch. That’s essentially where we want to be in terms of the dessert world.”

The pair are making a start on this vision with the opening of Kuki, their first spin-off venue, in Darling Square’s Steam Mill Lane dining precinct. Like Duo Duo, Kuki is focused on just a few things done well. Here, it’s soft serve and cookies.

“At the moment [in hospitality] everything is super fancy, super extravagant … What we wanted to do was just strip everything back,” Chris says. “We thought, ‘What are some things that really take us back to times that were a lot more simple?’ For us, it’s the classic soft serve you get from McDonald’s and a really good cookie.”

The Duongs called on Sydney interior design studio Inco to help fit out their 21-square-metre, kiosk-style hole-in-the-wall, which now boasts a blushing marble walk-up counter, natural-timber seating and tables, and a peach-coloured awning. In this pocket-sized spot, you’ll find five soft-serve flavours – choc-hazelnut, Earl Grey, mango, vanilla and vanilla-choc swirl – ready to be whirled into a crisp waffle cone. Traditionally, Chris explains, soft serves “have a lot of overrun [from the] air that’s put into the mix that generally leaves them more fluffy” – while Kuki’s are “silky, shiny and full-bodied”.

If a simple cone isn’t enough, there’s a duo of very tempting sundaes, too. The Kuki Classic sees house-made salted caramel dress up a mash of brown-butter-choc-chip-cookie and vanilla soft serve. And the Soft Tiramisu Sundae layers the choc-hazelnut swirl with coffee-soaked sponge and mascarpone.

Cookie lovers will always find a crispy-outside, chewy-inside at Kuki. There’s brown-butter choc chip, roasted macadamia, taro mochi, Earl Grey white chocolate, triple choc and maple pecan – always served warm. In addition to the regular menu, look out for a rotating list of specials.

Kuki
Shop 9, 18 Steam Mill Lane, Haymarket

Hours:
Daily midday–10pm

@kuki.syd