I’ve heard so much about BAKE’s cheese tarts, and never actually thought I’d have a chance to visit them in where they originated from – JAPAN. But okay, I did. HAHA!
These delectable cheese tarts are SO popular, they have 6 outlets in Tokyo, 1 in Kansai, 1 in Kyushu, and 3 outlets overseas – Hong Kong, Bangkok and Korea! You will definitely know that you’re near BAKE because there will definitely be a long, snaking queue. Even in Hong Kong SOGO. My mum actually attempted to join the queue without knowing what it is in Hong Kong, but gave up after half an hour!
I honestly didn’t know that BAKE had an outlet at Osaka until I saw someone walking around with its bag, and decided to google its outlet. Hankyu Umeda it is!
The Place
Located at B1 of Hankyu Umeda, like all the other departmental stores in Japan, it’s a gourmet haven. All kinds of foods you can ever imagine, you’ll find them at the basement of their departmental stores, commonly known as the Depachika – from fresh sushis to French pastries, and BAKE was one of them at Hankyu Umeda.
We wrestled through the crazy crowds on Christmas Eve and finally saw BAKE with a surprisingly short line. I rushed over and stood at the back of the line, before the lady holding up a sign board asked me to GTFO. HAHA! Okay no, she said “Queue behind, outside”. WHAT?
So off I went, and saw this after a good 50m. Okayyyyyy….
Then in 10m, I saw this..
Well… Not too bad of a queue.
30 minutes was reasonable but I was still in shock at how the system works, and how they had to split the queue up because it’s long, and the fact that the entire basement was SO packed. I believe if I let my dog out in the basement, it’d be trampled to death kind of packed.
Here’s how the booth looks like – freshly made cheese tarts. No need to stress over what flavors you want, because there’s only one. You just have to worry about not over-ordering because each person is only limited to 12 tarts.
Here’s how long you can keep it: 4 days.
And here are the prices for the tarts.
1 for 216 yen is approximately S$1.50, and it’s 12 for 1242 yen (S$14.50). GET 6 LAH. CONFIRM CAN FINISH ONE.
They are all freshly baked too!
The Food
I got 6, obviously. I didn’t know what to expect from these cheese tarts and I didn’t want to get my hopes up too high and end up disappointing myself.
So after taking pictures of them, I sank my teeth into one of these babies. OH GOD. OH GOD. I felt the crisp tart shell collapsing between my teeth, and the semi-molten cheese flowing unto my tongue. OH MY.
The texture has already took my breath away. Taste wise? It was a cheese tart THROUGH AND THROUGH. That smooth cheesy taste was distinct, unlike those we get from random stores where you don’t really taste a tinge of cheese. I reckon these tarts are not for those who are lactose intolerant or simply hate the taste of dairy and cheese.
But for all you cheese lovers, THIS IS THE BOMB. I haven’t tasted anything quite like it, so if you’ve had the chance, please DO TRY them.
I wanted to do a taste comparison between these and Pablo cheese tarts, yet another popular cheese tart place, however we didn’t have the chance to have our hands on their mini tarts throughout the trip as those were constantly sold out in both Osaka and Tokyo!
Do let me know which is better if you’ve ever tried both of them! If you’re already salivating as you read this post, do head on to their various outlets when you can here.
I got these at their only store at Osaka:
HANSHIN UMEDA
〒530-8224
1-13-13UMEDA KITAKU OSAKA
HANSHIN DEPARTMENT STORE B1F FOOD SECTION
OPEN / 10:00-20:00(SUN/MON/TUE) 10:00~21:00(WED-SAT)
You can get there by train and alighting at Osaka Station – 3 minutes walk, or Umeda Station – 4 minutes walk.
Stay tuned for my Japan travelogue!
Bake is DEFINITELY better than Pablo. The pastry base is much nicer. Pablo’s were a bit sweet for my liking too, Bake has the perfect balance. I’m eating a Bake tart from the Shinjuku store as I write this! 🙂 I’m obsessed with them.
LUCKY YOU! I wish I am having the cheese tarts from Bake right now!!!!!