Oct 16, 2024
SINGAPORE — Dessert fans take note. Melbourne's popular Thai-style dessert cafe Homm opens at Raffles City Shopping Centre on Wednesday (Oct 16).
Established in Melbourne in February 2023, Homm has four outlets in the Australian city, and a growing fan base for its bingsu and shokupan (Japanese milk bread) desserts with an innovative Thai spin.
It is founded by Chiang Mai-born, Melbourne-based Chayathorn Sakdatorn — known as Bass — and his wife Praewthip Saithai, known as Proud.
Chayathorn, 31, who is in town for the cafe's soft opening, says Homm means "sweet-smelling" in Thai, and "to share" in northern Thailand.
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Its desserts are inspired by popular Thai cafe concepts, as well as the travels of Praewthip, 34, when she worked as Singapore Airlines cabin crew for three years.
Chayathorn says: "We adapted our inspirations with our uniqueness and flavours. We want to create an environment where people can come for dessert that can be elevated."
The meticulously plated desserts at the cosy 40-seat cafe are no run-of-the-mill sweet treats.
Its signature item is the Thai tea avalanche bingsu ($19.80), also the top-selling dessert in Melbourne.
A block of Thai milk tea "snow" — topped with cascading whipped cream cheese, crunchy crumble and Thai tea gelato — is served with grass jelly cubes, condensed milk and extra Thai tea sauce on the side for added flavour and texture.
Similarly, the taro bingsu ($19.80) is a party in the mouth. Smooth taro paste is piped into the centre of the taro "snow", and served with crunchy coconut flesh, chewy housemade pumpkin boba and a salted coconut sauce.
Other items showcase crisp shokupan caramelised in butter, such as the coconut pandan shokupan featuring Praewthip's housemade pandan kaya; and pain perdu (French toast, $13.80) stuffed with taro, pandan kaya, salted egg or Thai tea.
There are also gelato mochi ($6.80) and the Thai classic cubed bread (shokupan toasted with butter or steamed, $12.80 each) with a choice of three dips.
The selection of drinks includes Eclipse ($6.80), an espresso-based iced beverage with sparkling water and mango passionfruit puree; Twilight ($5.80), also with mango passionfruit puree and butterfly pea tea; and the quintessential Thai milk tea ($4.80).
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Chayathorn — who handles the company's human resources, public relations and social media — says: "A lot of scientific research was put into each dessert. We're looking at how fragrance can be released on the palate at different timings, as well as different textures and taste profiles, and how they can be combined. All this has to happen in your mouth in the first five to 10 seconds."
He also gave The Straits Times an early taste of Homm's Singapore-exclusive brunch dishes, slated to launch in early 2025 after operations stabilise here.
These include tomato tartare with shokupan sticks and smoked salmon risotto, among others that the couple did a month-long test run for in Melbourne.
The duo, who met in 2016 via a mutual friend, were inspired to dream up their own dessert concept after visiting a popular dessert outlet on a trip to Melbourne in 2022.
Prior to Homm, Chayathorn used to work front of house at the now-defunct fine-dining establishment The Bridge Room, as well as a people and culture system analyst for accounting firm PwC — both when he was previously based in Sydney.
Homm is not their first time working together. From 2018 to 2021, they worked at Praewthip's family's business, running a foreign worker employment agency in Thailand.
Homm's entrance into Singapore is via local F&B company SL Food Industries Holdings. SL Food is a shareholder of popular Malaysian noodle chain Go Noodle House and its new spin-off concept Go Unique, which also opens on Oct 16.
Go Unique shares the same unit — vacated by another cafe, The Coffee Academics — with Homm at Raffles City. In addition to the signature noodle dishes from Go Noodle House, Go Unique also offers several rice dishes.
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For Homm, its dessert dominance is just beginning.
It is opening in Sydney and Perth by end-2024, followed by a fifth Melbourne outlet in 2025.
Chayathorn and Praewthip are looking to expand to Brisbane and Canberra and, in the long run, turn Homm into a recognised global brand.
And it is not just on the food front. "I want to ensure my team can have the best life. The more Homm grows, the more opportunities there are for them to grow and learn. It's a long way to go for us," says Chayathorn.
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