I haven’t gone to a cozy café shop in a while. Been awfully busy with other stuff, loping off with some editing task on my books. And though I’ve gone quite a few times to oriental restaurants, I didn’t get a chance to drop by at any bistro for a warm cup of tea. Something I sorely missed.

Until lately.

Last Saturday, July 1st, I took off from writing to go elsewhere and spent time with a friend, moseying around, and just let moments passed by over conversation, laughter and food. It was a snug afternoon, though raining, but the atmosphere was perfectly comfy.

UP Town Center indeed is a perfect place to hang around. Surprisingly quiet! You can engage on a long, private conversation with someone without competing with the noise of blaring cars and raucous mall goers.

But before enjoying a cup of tea and coffee at CBTL, my friend brought me to Kumori, a Japanese bake shop with a wide selection of delectable pastries and mouth-watering desserts (a little strange because I always associated a Japanese food counter with Maki and Sashimi). Then bought a scrummy tart called, well simply, cheese tart (no trimming of overflowing descriptions lol!) for me to try.

The decadent Kumori Cheese Tart. Photo credit: www.looloo.com
Haven't taken a single photo of the cheese tart I gorged (maybe I was too excited to eat the concoction and Jeff did not bother taking one! 😄) but the above photo from looloo site is exactly the same as the one I've tried.


It was so insanely scrumptious!

Okay, I have no penchant over sweet food. I detested the sugary feel of cakes. And unlike other girls who yearned sweet desserts as badly as they longed for chocolates and roses during valentine’s day, I never crave for cakes and chocolate mousse.

There is something in it that made my appetite churn in repugnance. It’s the ugly spike of plain sugar in pastries perhaps. I find it revolting. But I love to devour cheese cake! I always love creamy and cheesy food and all the awesomeness of tarts and buttery fusion.

Kumori cheese tart is just so luscious! It perfectly suited my flimsy appetite over pastries. It has a very smooth texture. Cheesy but not overly greasy. Velvety but not watery. A fine balance of a creamy smoothness and the silky consistency of a cheese!

This custard tart variety is quite delicate. So don't rush (just like what I did haha!) when you take a bite. The moment you nibble the tart, the core easily slithers, maybe due to its very creamy texture, and the crust easily crumbles, so take it cautiously. 

To eat it without splintering the crispy tart shell, take a few, cautious nip of the milky part (the core itself) before nibbling the crust. It won’t spill a mess in your mouth, trust me. You can savor the creamy taste afterwards.

The downside? Quite pricey! Jeff (Thank you so much!) paid P60.00 for just a single piece (smaller than the size of a regular cupcake). And for a few seconds I gazed it like I’ve just seen a magical stuff laying beneath the cutie transparent wrap. Too transfixed (over the high price) to gobble it. Until he nudged me to eat it. 

I wolfed it within 10 seconds. And the P60.00 was gone. Nah! You’ll get the value of your money though. It’s no ordinary cheese tart. It’s incredibly different from those dull tarts crowding the bakeshops around the metro. It’s a decadent sweetie concoction you can indulge once in a while. A perfect treat for yourself after a tiring week. 

Photo credit: www.looloo.com


Kumori Japanese Bakery is located at the ground level of UP Town Center, Katipunan, Quezon City, with branches along SM Makati and SM North Edsa.

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