South Korean inspired cafe in Burlingame

“While we were in a cafe there, I remember thinking, I wish there was this type of place in the Bay Area,” Ramirez said. “In Korea, cafes are much more of a destination place, where you go and enjoy the space rather than grab and go.”

Ramirez came home and, without any cafe or restaurant experience, brought her vision to life when Cafe Siete opened its doors last July. It offers croffles, matcha, bubblies, espresso drinks and soju based cocktails.

After walking in, it doesn’t take long to notice it is different from any other cafe. The cafe plays movies and music videos on a projector and the music is as eclectic as the art hanging from the walls. Ramirez boasted the art and trinkets are all from her personal collection.

“I had a specific vision for how I wanted everything to look,” Ramirez said.

A toy slot machine, gumball dispenser, a wall lamp shaped to look like a French bread roll are all part of the quirkiness that emulates Ramirez’s vision of a funky cafe. The name, Cafe Siete, became the name because it is her favorite number and it is ambiguous, she said.

The cafe’s specialty is the croffles. It is croissant dough pressed in a waffle iron, Ramirez said. The Korean-inspired treat is dressed with toppings and the flaky texture is as good as it looks, she added. Cafe Siete offers four options of toppings, berries and cream, Nutella banana, s’mores, churro and plain. The plain croffle is $6 and with toppings it’s $10.

“There were croffle stores in Korea and I thought it was super good and wanted to bring it here,” Ramirez said.

The cafe also serves three kinds of toast for $10. The ava toast comes with avocado, bacon jam, pickled red onion and everything bagel seasoning. The other savory toast is named the side piece and comes with hummus, cucumber, tomato and greens. The bread is a Texas toast distributed from Boudin Bakery.

Another Korean inspired treat is bubblies. In Korea, it’s called ade but Ramirez changed it to bubblies because she didn’t want people thinking it was lemonade. It’s like refreshing sparkling water with muddled fresh fruit at the bottom and costs $4.85, she said.

The matcha tea is very popular, Ramirez said. She is a huge matcha drinker and wanted to ensure the matcha the cafe offered was the best quality.

“I am a big matcha drinker, I want it to taste good, be high quality and made correctly,” Ramirez said.

The matcha drinks come in melon, lavender, strawberry and coconut. Original matcha flavor costs $5.50 and the flavored options are $5.80.

The cafe has its beer and wine license and on the Friday and Saturday nights Ramirez hosts different themed events and uses Soju, a rice wine, to create mixed cocktails.

“People are really excited to come in after dinner for desserts and drinks,” Ramirez said. “This is more to chill, have a drink and hang out.”

The cafe is located at 341 Primrose Road and is open 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday. And it’s open 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

Visit @cafesiete_ on Instagram for more information.

nick@smdailyjournal.com

(650) 344-5200 ext. 105