Opened in early 2024, Kuki Soft Serve & Cookies was a sister store to Duo Duo, known for its gelato and deep-fried ice cream. As its name suggested, this location focused on soft serve and cookies.
2024
Earl Grey Soft Serve ($6.50)
The soft serve had an exceptionally smooth and creamy consistency, with a robust Earl Grey flavour carrying soft floral bergamot notes throughout. There was no sharpness or bitterness from the tea, while the dairy remained subtle enough not to obscure the Earl Grey. The accompanying waffle cone added a crisp texture and subtle vanilla undertones, while being filled with soft serve down to the bottom.
The combination of pronounced tea flavour, restrained dairy and contrasting textures was well balanced.
Maple & Pecan Cookie ($6.50)
The cookie had a crisp base and edge that transitioned into a chewy centre with a fudgy consistency. Generous pecan pieces provided light crunch throughout. Maple contributed a fragrant, caramel-like depth to the sweetness, while a pronounced sprinkling of salt provided contrast and prevented the sweetness from becoming one-dimensional.
Triple Chocolate Cookie ($6.50)
The cookie followed the same crisp-edged, chewy-centred structure, with fudgy pockets throughout. A sprinkling of salt balanced the sweetness, while the milk and dark chocolate chips contributed rich chocolate flavour. The chips also melted into creamy, smooth pockets within the cookie.
Brown Sugar & Milk Chocolate Cookie ($6.50)
The cookie had the same crisp edges, chewy centre and fudgy pockets from the milk chocolate. However, the brown sugar provided less depth than the maple in the Maple & Pecan Cookie. Salt again provided effective contrast against the sweetness, although the flavour was less nuanced than the other cookies tried.
Apple Pie Cookie ($7.50) — seasonal special offered during the 2024 Mid-Autumn Festival events at Darling Square
The cookie had a spiced aroma, although the flavour was comparatively mild, with cinnamon and nutmeg remaining subtle in the background. The edge was crisp before transitioning to a chewy centre that was relatively light and fluffy. Occasional pieces of cooked-down apple provided bursts of fruity flavour and mellow sweetness without making the cookie overly moist.
There were fewer apple pieces than preferred, but the combination of spice, apple and cookie still evoked the flavour profile of apple pie.
Almond Honey Butter Cookie ($6.50).
The cookie was generously topped with roasted almond halves, which provided a pronounced roasted flavour and substantial crunch. Almond slivers within the batter added a softer, finer textural variation. The honey butter contributed floral sweetness with a rich savoury undertone, while a light sprinkling of sea salt provided contrast.
As with the other cookies, the exterior was crisp before giving way to a soft, chewy centre.
Roasted Macadamia and White Chocolate Cookie ($6.50)
The macadamias were roasted to a golden, toasty flavour and provided a satisfying crunch. White chocolate formed a delicate melted layer through the centre. We particularly appreciated the generous amount of macadamias on the surface, with the absence of white chocolate there leaving room for the nuts to remain prominent.
The cookie again combined a crisp exterior with a soft, chewy centre, with the roasted nuts and melted white chocolate providing contrasting textures and richness.
2025
Black Sesame and White Chocolate Cookie ($6.60)
The cookie featured a black sesame base with white chocolate chips, producing a more balanced flavour than the Butter Boy version, which leaned heavily towards sugar and butter.
The edge had a pleasant crunch, although it was less crisp than some of Kuki’s other cookies. Black sesame powder was distributed through the crumb, contributing a fine texture and warm nuttiness. The dough itself was only lightly sweetened, allowing the white chocolate chips to provide intermittent bursts of creamy sweetness. This kept the toasted, slightly savoury character of the sesame prominent without making the cookie overly sweet.
The centre was chewier than the exterior, creating a clear contrast without developing the doughy consistency noted in Butter Boy’s version.
2026
Kuki opened a second store in Burwood in September 2026.
Toasted Coconut Kaya Cookie ($7.80)
Toasted sesame provided the dominant aromatic nuttiness throughout the cookie, while also contributing a gentle crunch. Coconut within the cookie produced a looser crumb and supported the sesame without adding much additional sweetness.
The kaya centre was less convincing, coming through primarily as a gooey palm sugar filling without the expected pandan character. However, this sweetness was well controlled by the cookie itself, which was only lightly sweetened and contained a good level of salt. This allowed the kaya to provide the principal sweetness while the toasted sesame and coconut remained prominent.
Toasted Banana Bread ($7.80)
The edges captured the crispness of a banana bread crust, giving an even crisper, lighter crunch, while the interior mirrored the cakey texture of banana bread without the raw-cookie-dough quality noted in Butter Boy’s cookies. Vibrant banana flavour came through alongside a touch of savoury butter to balance the sweetness.
The toffee praline provided another source of crunch, as did the slice of dried banana, although the latter was rather lacking on the cookie tried.
Hazelnut Toffee Praline ($7.80)
The item featured a generous amount of whole and crushed hazelnuts on a brown sugar cookie base, alongside a crisp toffee praline shard for contrasting crunch. The edges had the same light crisp texture before giving way to a gooey, but not doughy, interior.
The cookie itself was relatively indistinct beyond its well-executed butter-cookie character, with the hazelnuts and praline providing most of the flavour and textural definition.
Jasmine Soft Serve ($7.30)
The soft serve melted relatively quickly but delivered vibrant floral jasmine tea character without becoming heady. Jersey milk provided a creamy texture without becoming overly milky, allowing the jasmine to remain prominent.
Overall, Kuki Soft Serve & Cookies was defined by strong textural contrast, particularly across its cookies, which consistently combined crisp or crunchy exteriors with softer, chewier or gooey centres and, in some cases, melted inclusions. Flavour balance was generally strong, with salt frequently used to control sweetness and richer ingredients given sufficient savoury or roasted counterpoints. The 2026 range continued this textural consistency, although flavour execution varied.
Kuki Soft Serve & Cookies is located at Darling Square, 9/18 Steam Mill La, Haymarket NSW 2000.