Oh, how I love a food phenomenon.
I’m sure my brothers have asked me whether I’ve tried Uncle Tetsu’s and I hadn’t.
So, I’m very pleased to discover that one has opened up in Sydney. I stumbled across it on the way back from a meeting in the CBD. The area in front of the shop was stanchioned off so that customers could line up in a neat and orderly way. The open kitchen was a buzz of activity which reminded of the Din Tae Fung’s windows where you can watch their soup dumplings being made. Fun.
A sign says that there is currently a limit of one cheesecake per customer.
Dear reader, what could I do but join in the queue?
Apparently, it is a Sydney food phenomenon already… and also a global phenomenon (Toronto got its store over a year ago…)
I discovered that they sell their own version of a French madeleine pastry… and the famous (apparently) cheesecake. Oh, and they’re from Fukuoka, where my sister-in-law is from (Hi Kimiko).
I got my treasures home to split with the hubby. The madeleine, still warm from the oven, was light and crisp and not too sweet. It was, in fact, a perfect madeleine, though a different shape than the ones I’ve had from France (or Spain).
Now, the cheesecake!
I had no idea what to expect. It is wrapped in a light white cloth, and amusingly branded.
Cutting into it, it is super light and fluffy. It’s certainly not like a heavy, creamy Western cheesecake. It has an interesting texture, delicate and light, and is hardly sweet at all. We quite liked it. It tasted different the next day after being in the fridge, a bit denser, but also nice.
I’m not sure I’d want to wait a long time in a line up (apparently, waits can from 40 minutes to two hours in some locations) and $18 for the cheesecake was pricy (though $18 for an international phenomenon is perhaps cheap). Not something I’d crave, or was immediately taken with, but it would be amusing to take one of these to a dinner party and make it a conversation point.
In December 2017, I passed by and they had either a special promotion or a new menu item or something: Onigiri Crepes. A perfect crepe with a piece of cheesecake and whipped cream inside of it, wrapped up in a little package. I thought it was delightful.
