Kelly ‘Spoon’ Chan never expected kue lapis—a traditional steamed pandan and coconut layer cake from Southeast Asia—to be the thread that tied her back to her Indonesian roots, and the spark behind her Hong Kong-based food brand, Rumah. But looking back, it all adds up.
“I didn’t expect it, but I wasn’t surprised,” claimed the Indonesian Chinese co-founder, who flew in from Hong Kong to Jakarta for the interview; she is also better known as lifestyle & beauty influencer, ‘Spoon’, with over 170k followers on Instagram. “My mom used to run an Indonesian restaurant. My dad was a food supplier. My brother’s a chef. The motivation behind this brand is, ultimately, my upbringing.”
Having moved to Hong Kong from Jakarta at the young age of 3, Kelly has long straddled the space between two cultures, often finding herself having to explain her hyphenated identity growing up. “Classmates would ask why I brought sayur asem to school. Even my lunch box looked different from everyone else’s,” she recalled.
“But I’ve always seen myself as Indonesian—that’s how I was raised. My traditions, my manners, growing up with Indonesian cooking. And I still speak Bahasa with my mom since she doesn’t speak Cantonese. So, to have that upbringing while living in Hong Kong sparked a fire in me.”
That ‘fire’ fueled Rumah, a platform for Kelly to celebrate her Indonesian heritage in Hong Kong and invite others to see the richness of a culture she calls “so vibrant, so colourful, and sadly, overlooked.” In many ways, it’s also Kelly’s way of embracing her identity and roots confidently beyond her online persona as a beauty and lifestyle influencer.
Together with her good friend and food consultant, Mel Ng—who also has a Malaysian mother and shares a familiarity with Southeast Asian flavours—they started Rumah by debuting its first item: the 18-layer Kue Lapis.
A traditional market snack—or jajanan pasar, as Indonesians call it—kue lapis has found variations across Asia as a shared delicacy enjoyed by various communities. In Peranakan cultures, it’s known as ‘kuih lapis’. In Indonesia, there’s a version called ‘kue pepe’. In Hong Kong, ‘nine-layer cake’. Typically sold by the slice and wrapped in plastic paper, the cake is usually found in small shops along Sugar Street, a popular district in Causeway Bay lined with Indonesian eateries, grocery stores, and markets.
“We weren’t sure how people would react,” said Mel, who was initially hesitant to introduce their take on kue lapis to the Hong Kong market. “But once we launched, it took us by surprise. Many of our customers said it reminded them of their childhood—even the Hong Kong locals. It’s interesting to learn that many have their own connection to kue lapis.”
Since its soft launch in early 2023, Rumah has continued to run on a pre-order system, and every time the drop is announced, their cap of 50 full-sized cakes would sell out almost instantly. Working and adjusting from Kelly’s mom’s recipe, Kelly and Mel spent three months in the kitchen fine-tuning the ratio of different flours to achieve the desired mochi-like texture, testing the right balance of coconut milk and pandan leaves, and adjusting the sugar ratio to ensure the cake isn’t overly sweet.
The signature colour gradient was no accident either. They settled on 18 layers to create a smooth colour transition, with each layer poured using a precise 70-gram ladle and steamed before the next was added—repeating the process 18 times. The final result is a smooth, seamless shift from rice white to emerald green—almost like a digital rendering—inviting the nostalgic habit of peeling the cake layer by layer, just as Indonesians like to enjoy it.
“Can I say this? But kue lapis was never my favourite market snack” Kelly laughed. “But I was headstrong to launch with kue lapis first, so I’m refining it to suit the Hong Kong palate. I also know people in Hong Kong love their desserts, and for us, it was the perfect way in.”
So far, Rumah has built its presence through creative activations and collaborations, offering kue lapis in flavours of Japanese black sesame, crafting a rainbow version to celebrate Pride Month, and even designing a custom blind box card holder filled with their signature lapis for the VIP guests at this year’s ComplexCon event in Hong Kong. In a collaboration with Oatside, Kelly also teamed up with her mother to create klepon, another well-loved traditional Indonesian sweet of glutinous rice balls with grated coconut and Indonesian palm sugar.
Of course, scepticism is present. Given that kue lapis is widely known as a humble market snack, Rumah’s pricing—HK$350 for a full 1kg cake, and HK$190 for 500 grams—has probably raised some eyebrows. But Mel is quick to point out that Rumah has always positioned itself in the premium space, something reflected in the precision and labour-intensive process they’ve put into each cake.
For Kelly, it rings more personal: a desire to lift up the perception of Indonesian food in Hong Kong, which she feels is often underappreciated.
“Growing up overseas and having a mother who could cook Indonesian dishes from scratch, I’ve always wondered—why is it so affordable when there are so many steps involved?” she questioned. “In Hong Kong, Indonesian food is so underrepresented, and there’s this assumption that Southeast Asian food should be cheap. That’s exactly what we want to push back on, by showing it can be premium, refined, and worth appreciating.”
Currently, Rumah is exploring other flavours for its signature kue lapis and other variations of Indonesian pastries to add to the lineup. And while the F&B climate in Hong Kong remains slow, as Kelly and Mel observed, they are taking it one step at a time. After all, Rumah was never just about business—for Kelly, specifically, it unveils like an unexpected homecoming.
“I’ve been very comfortable working in the content creator and influencer industry. I never imagined myself rolling up my sleeves in the kitchen and doing everything from scratch,” said Kelly. “But now, I’d find myself coming straight from an event still in dress and heels, and diving right into work. But I’m so glad I eventually embraced this. Because through Rumah, I got to rediscover myself and reconnect with my roots.”
