Perfectly square "Kream bombs" are the highlight at the newly opened Le Kream.<\/p>\n
Anyone with a social media account and an internet connection is likely familiar with Steve and Sunny Hong. With their three Asiatown restaurants, Bing Su, Dookki, and the now-closed Captain Bbang, the Hongs have brought the hottest food trends to Houston, including tanghulu, Chinese sugar-coated fruit skewers, and dalgona, the Korean street candy made famous through the Netflix hit Squid Game. Now, the Hongs have added another internet-famous treat to their lineup: the TikTok-famous cube-shaped croissant, \u201cKream bombs,\u201d courtesy of their newest concept, Le Kream.<\/p>\n
The new caf\u00e9, situated in the bustling Bellaire Food Street plaza, specializes in flaky, cube-shaped croissants piped with a variety of flavored creams, ranging from yuzu to matcha. The Hongs first learned about the California-born Le Kream shop and its viral treats through a business partner. Leaning into the cream pastry trend, the Hongs began experimenting with homemade cream-stuffed doughnuts at Bing Su. They were a major hit, attracting the attention of several influencers, so when the sales for hotteok, Korean street pancakes, at Captain Bbang began to wane, the pair went all in on revamping the space to open Houston\u2019s first Le Kream.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe thought it was gonna be a big hit because there\u2019s nothing like it,\u201d Steve says. This new dessert blends two French classics\u2014cream puffs and croissants\u2014layered with Asian flavors, such as bright purple ube or pastel green pistachio cream, for maximum visual and viral appeal. Suddenly, you\u2019ve got yourself a stellar Instagram post that blends East and West.<\/p>\n
French-Asian and French-Korean recipes have amassed a major online fan base and a prominent presence throughout Korea\u2019s bakery-caf\u00e9 scene. Look to social media to find Korean food influencer Goh Ah-ra creating the famous \u201c2D\u201d croissant. Smooshed flat and toasted, the flat croissants are a crunchy, buttery DIY delight known in Korean as keuloonggi, a portmanteau of the Korean word for \u201ccroissant\u201d and \u201cnurungji,\u201d referencing crunchy, scorched rice. Other popular globetrotting trends include hits like the croffle (a combination of croissant and waffle) and the crookie (a croissant cookie), but Kream bombs add something different.<\/p>\n
Flavors like Earl Grey lean subtly bitter, while the yuzu option bursts with citrusy brightness. Tear into the thick, flaky crust to reveal a fluffy, custard-filled center. Diners at Le Kream can also pair croissants with any of the shop\u2019s signature coffees and drinks that are also trendy in South Korea. Highlights include the Guava Sunset\u2014a fizzy, fruity soda made with guava syrup and star-shaped jellies\u2014and a Korean twist on the Austrian Einsp\u00e4nner, a popular style of coffee from Vienna that\u2019s topped with sweet whipped cream and infused with Asian diasporic flavors like black sesame, ube, and matcha.<\/p>\n
Bringing the coolest, trendiest dishes to Houston has always been a part of the Hongs\u2019 playbook. The couple\u2019s first foray into Asiatown was with Bing Su, a shaved ice and Korean corn dog caf\u00e9 located in Sterling Plaza, just a block away from Le Kream. Next came Dookki, the popular Korean all-you-can-eat tteokbokki buffet restaurant, which the Hongs brought to the US for the first time, mere steps away from Bing Su. They also launched Captain Bbang, though it closed in March to make way for Le Kream, which has already been taking off, the Hongs say.<\/p>\n
On its opening day, the croissants sold out within a matter of hours. The next day, the Hongs restricted the number of pastries to two Kream bombs per diner. \u201cWe sold out for the past four days,\u201d Steve says. \u201cClose to 500!\u201d Customers Tracy Truong, Natalie Phung, and Nathan Phung say they specifically made a weekday trip to Le Kream after seeing the treats online. The trio regularly finds new restaurants and caf\u00e9s through social media. Truong and the Phungs originally planned to visit during opening weekend, but a sold-out message kept them at bay. \u201cWe saw it on TikTok and Instagram reels,\u201d Truong says, snapping pictures of the croissants. \u201cThe aesthetic,\u201d the Phungs chimed in, \u201cit looks so good!\u201d<\/p>\n
Just as the Truong and the Phungs say, Le Kream is blowing up on social media. Local influencer account @eatingwithcatherine showed off her Le Kream croissant haul on opening day to her 138,000 followers. Another account, @discover.vi, received more than 6,000 likes and over 1,000 comments on her review on July 8. The kids are right, Steve admits. The new caf\u00e9 has only been advertised via social media, and lines have been gangbusters ever since.<\/p>\n
The rise of Le Kream is a testament to the power of social media and the appeal of trendy, photogenic desserts. With its unique blend of French and Asian flavors, Le Kream is sure to continue to attract crowds and dominate social media feeds. Whether you’re a foodie, a social media influencer, or just someone who loves trying new things, Le Kream is a must-visit destination in Houston. So, be sure to get in line and try one of their famous Kream bombs \u2013 but be prepared to wait, and don’t forget to take a photo for Instagram!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Introduction to Le Kream Perfectly square "Kream bombs" are the highlight at the newly opened Le Kream. The Founders of Le Kream Anyone with a social media account and an internet connection is likely familiar with Steve and Sunny Hong. With their three Asiatown restaurants, Bing Su, Dookki, and the now-closed Captain Bbang, the Hongs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":6916,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6915","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dining"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/sagacity\/image\/upload\/c_crop,h_1385,w_2078,x_0,y_0\/c_limit,dpr_auto,f_auto,fl_lossy,q_80,w_1200\/HOU_Le_Kream_Desserts_2025_Marco_Torres-1003_h1kqqa.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6915"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6915"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6915\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6917,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6915\/revisions\/6917"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/houston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}