Mille feuille, which translates to “a thousand sheets,” is a delicate dessert comprising alternating layers of puffy pastry and fillings; the “thousand sheets” refer to its many layers.
Mille Fête, whose name is a play on the dessert, opens Feb. 20 in Chinatown (in the former space of Little Village Noodle House). The bakery and wine bar is headed by James Beard award-winning chef Robynne Maii and her husband, Chuck Bussler, in partnership with pastry chef Katherine Yang.
“Fête is our restaurant; we wanted it to be tied to that,” says Chuck Bussler, Mille Fête managing partner. “Mille feuille is a layered pastry — a lot of desserts riff on it, but it’s kind of like a wafer pastry. We’re playing off mille feuille with Mille Fête.”
Sweets only scratch the surface when it comes to Mille Fête’s selection. Fête restaurant regulars will recognize the bakery’s assortment of breads, which include Fête’s sourdough loaves, kopitiam and Okinawan sweet potato rolls. Customers can get full unsliced loaves of the bakery’s house sourdough, while Kopitiam breads will be available in sliced half-loaves, according to Bussler.
At the time of this article, prices have not been finalized yet but will be set by Thursday for the bakery’s opening.
“Our Kopi is most similar to a Japanese milk bread,” Bussler says. “The house sourdough is the one that we’ve had at Fête since day one.”
As you look through the bakery display cake, the POG cake is especially eye-catching. The vibrant dessert — layers of vanilla cake, guava diplomat cream, mandarin oranges and passion fruit gelee, topped with vanilla whipped cream, more passion fruit gelee and edible flowers — is expected to be one of the signature desserts. Slices will be available daily, and whole cakes will require a 72-hour advanced notice, according to Bussler.
“We’re going to be making three cakes,” he says. “(In addition to the POG) we’ll have our version of the classic coconut cake, and a chocolate espresso layered cake.”
Mini cakes are dangerous because it’s hard to stop at just one (in terms of both buying and eating). Choose from round-shaped bells — moist, dark chocolate-covered cakes with assorted fillings; ours had vanilla whipped cream — and square-shaped whistles. The latter are probably my favorite treat from the bakery thus far. These squares boast layers of chocolate cake, peanut butter cake, salted caramel and peanut butter crunch encased in dark chocolate.
“Think peanut butter Twix dipped in dark chocolate, but with real flavors,” Bussler says. “The bells will have other fillings. We will also have Robynne’s cake, which is like a take on a chocolate rum raisin cake, but it’s using ‘ulu flour, so it’s technically gluten free.”
Sweet tooths can also look forward to an assortment of cookies, ranging from crispy chocolate chip and black & liliko‘i — a local twist on the black and white cookie, a New York staple — to crispy rice cookies and spritz sandwiches. The latter feature little cookies dipped in chocolate with a calamansi jam in the middle.
If you’re a fan of Fête’s ice creams, good news — you can also get them here. Mille Fête will have 24-ounce containers of flavors like rocky road, vanilla, raspberry lychee rose, kulolo and Honoka‘a coco sorbet. The latter is a new flavor, according to Bussler.
“We’re making a vegan sorbet out of Honoka‘a’s new chocolate bars,” he says. “It’s really good, very rich; you would not know it’s vegan.”
If you prefer savory treats, Mille Fête has a smorgasbord to choose from. To start, go for the Spam baked bao — filled with shredded cheddar cheese, spicy mustard-naise and Spam — and kimchi reuben hand pie, which launches on opening day. The latter is filled with kimchi bechamel, cheddar cheese and corned beef, and it comes with kochu remoulade on the side.
“The Spam bao is a personal favorite,” Bussler says. “We’ll have way more savory items coming soon.
“(Our menu is) a collection of things that we feel should be in the same space together,” he adds.
Customers can look forward to other savory treats like cake salé — smoked mozzarella, sun-dried tomatoes, scallions and roasted garlic — and a variety of sandwiches, according to Bussler.
“We will have Japanese sandos that we’re making with the milk bread; we’ll have Ludovico curry chicken, like a diced curry chicken sandwich,” he says.
Bussler explains that Mille Fête is more than a bakery or pastry shop because it also offers gourmandises, or an assortment of items that enhance a meal. For instance, customers can find herb butter, tomato jam and lilikoi butter, along with wholesale items like Lāʻie vanilla beans, Tolentino honey and Honoka‘a chocolate bars.
Mille Fête will also have beverages like cold brew, iced teas and house sodas. House soda flavors include POG, hibiscus (seasonal flavor) and Manhattan. The latter is a combo of cold brew coffee syrup, soda and simple syrup, and it will also be available as a float.
To start, Mille Fête will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursdays to Mondays, but when the bakery gets its liquor license, its hours will extend to 9 p.m. Eventually, Mille Fête will be open daily from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
“Robynne and I are excited to partner with our really good friend, Katherine Yang,” Bussler says. “It took a decade for us to convince her to move out here. She worked in New York for a long time, and we’re lucky to have her out here with us.”
CONTACT
Mille Fête
1113 Smith St., Honolulu
Instagram: @millefete
Open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursdays-Mondays
Closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays
Kelli Shiroma Braiotta can be reached at kelli@alohastatedaily.com.
