Uncle Tetsu's, Sydney CBD

The Japanese cheesecake craze hit fever heights when Uncle Tetsu's opened the doors of its first store in Australia and people reported wait times of over an hour just to grab their hands on one of these babies.

Fast forward several weeks, the store is still super popular, especially among Asians. On this particular night, the lines were surprisingly rather short (perhaps up to a dozen people in the queue, compared the hundred or so that I saw the last time I was in the city) so as a last-minute surprise for PapaBear on his birthday, I decided to bite the bullet and line up.

Cheesecake Sign

Uncle Tetsu's sell two different types of Japanese cheesecakes - a warm cheesecake that has a distinct egg flavour, as well as a cold cheesecake that has a strong cheese flavour. Along with cheesecakes, they also sell madeleines, which resemble a mini sponge cake. I decided to opt for the classic warm Japanese cheesecake.

Top Left: Outside of Store
Bottom Left: Inside of Store
Above: Staff Making Madeleines

I had previously been told that the queue moved pretty quickly but I was still surprised when I was in and out of the store within 10 min of lining up:

Top Left: Wall Decor
Bottom Left: Japanese Cheesecake
Above: Purchases in Bag

To be honest, my cheesecake wasn't eaten until the following morning, so by the time of initial consumption, it had cooled down but still smelt just as mouth-watering as the day before.

Close-up of the Imprint on the Cheesecake

The cheesecake was delightfully light and fluffy (like a sponge cake) with a strong egg-y, but subtle cheese, flavour - definitely unlike the dense Western cheesecakes, which I am actually not a fan of so this is much more up my alley.

Serving of Cheesecake

The entire cheesecake was demolished within a day so I would say it was a hit with PapaBear and MamaBear. I think it's worth a try but I wouldn't wait an hour to get this - try visiting at night as the lines seem to be shorter then than during the daytime. Apparently in Japan, Uncle Tetsu's also stock a matcha version of the Japanese cheesecake so it would be interesting to see if that will be released here as well.

For me, I'm going to hold out until my next visit to Japan to try the real deal from Hokkaido, the home of the Japanese Cheesecake.