Hokkaido seems to be synonymous with delicious and high quality food/ingredients.  The island of Hokkaido in the northern part of Japan boasts a renowned reputation for its seafood and dairy products.  Croquant Chou Zaku Zaku in Japan uses dairy products from Hokkaido farms, and if you remember I was totally smitten by the sweet cream filled treats here.  We stumbled across Bake Cheese Tart, just as we stumbled across Zaku Zaku.  Unlike Zaku Zaku, which hasn’t left the tiny confines of Japan, Bake has locations throughout Asia.  The lone outpost in Busan (2 in Seoul), is located in the food basement of the Shinsegae shopping center.

The long line piqued my interest, but my laziness almost got the better of me.  It just looked like a mini cheesecake.  How good could it really be?  Fortunately, The Annoyer felt we should check it out since we were here anyways.  The line moved swiftly within 10-15 minutes. 

To our surprise, the tarts are pre made, frozen, and shipped.  The workers here simply defrost, prep, and pop in the oven.  Being a bit of a snob when it comes to baked goods, I felt a bit bothered that I was going to pay $3 for a non fresh, non house made item.  It simply goes against the hipster foodie in me!

The long line results in high turnover of the tarts, so you’re pretty much guaranteed a freshly baked and still warm cheese tart.

Cheese Tart
The company uses 3 types of cheese to make a cheese mousse; cheese from Hokodate, Betsukai, and a saltier cheese from France.  Certainly, cheese mousse is a better description than cheesecake.  

The result is this incredibly smooth, milky, creamy cheese center.  It’s more jiggly than your typical cheesecake, but firmer texture than a true mousse.  The crust is crumbly and buttery.  I’d say it was slightly burned on one side, but this did not detract from the incredible rich flavor of high quality dairy.  The Annoyer and I only shared one because we were pretty stuffed from lunch, but one could easily eat 2 or 3.  They’re not too heavy or sweet.

If you like cheesecakes of any variety, you should surely check out Bake Cheese Tart.  There’s nothing like it.  If you don’t like cheesecakes, this might be the one to change your opinion.

10 – You NEED to eat here (if your LOVE cheesecakes)
9 – Awesome
8 – Very good
7 – Good
6 – OK
5 – Average
4 – Not bad
3 – Not good
2 – Terrible
1 – Do NOT eat here