Kinotoya Cheese tarts from Hokkaido

Last December when I went to Hokkaido with my parents, the one thing we were craving daily was the cheese tarts in Sapporo Station. Our hotel was near the station, so we would buy one each everyday on the way back haha. I quickly snapped a few photos of the shop so I could go back the next time :'D -bad excuse for bad photos w-

Me: -staring at the cheese tarts coming out of the oven- omgggg. omg ma, looks damn good! can we buy a few? hehe.

Mom: eh don't take so many pictures of that already! (I took like 10 or something w) Take the name of the shop then can come back next time!

Me: oh yeah hor!

The shop was called Kinotoya BAKE.

-takes one more just in case- #kiasusingaporean

I had it fresh out of the oven in front of the store the first day. The cream cheese filling inside was so fluffy and gooey!! You can see the top of the tart fluffing up there yum yum. 

Apparently, they make it with a blend of 3 kinds of cream cheese; from Hokkaido, Hakodate and France. -mindblown- Japanese people sure pay attention to detail.

Second day, I brought it back to the hotel before eating. Cooled down a bit but still good nonetheless. Yummy buttery crust :D

As you can tell from the pictures, these tarts are freshly baked while they are being sold. So nice and caramelised outside and soft and gooey inside! Imagine eating these toasty warm babies on a freezing day. Can see why they are so popular in Hokkaido. 

Since then, I have been recommending it to all my friends who visit Hokkaido, but sad because they weren't available in Tokyo. So imagine how happy I was when they opened a store in Tokyo march this year! (Shinjuku east exit for kabuki-cho, after you go up the stairs. It's in Lumine near the donuts! You can probably smell it after coming up)

Just a small kiosk with lots of freshly baked tarts.

But then I felt like the ones I had there were not as good D: I don't know if it's because it wasn't as cold as it was in Hokkaido, or because it was different, or because I had glorified it too much in my memory haha.

I wanted the ones fresh out of the oven but the girl at the counter was like,"the cooled ones are better" talk rubbish lah. The filling was also not as gooey though still delicious. Maybe it would have been better if I brought it back and microwaved it a bit.

A lot of people know about Pablo Cheesetarts in Shibuya. I've tried that too, but I like this one better because the crust is crispier and it comes in a smaller size. Pablo's cheese tarts are yummy also but I can't finish a whole 15 cm tart by myself! And also you can't eat those on the spot because it comes in a box and you have to cut it up and sit down and eat it. Both are good, but if you could only try one, I would say go for the Kinotoya tarts :3

Anyway, the point is these tarts are awesome so I tried to replicate them back in my kitchen hahaha. Will post tomorrow!

Kinotoya BAKE
Lumine Est Shinjuku 1F
〒160-0022 東京都新宿区新宿3－38－1

http://www.bake.co.jp/