Choosing Cheese Tarts

When I flew down to Sydney for a long weekend about four years ago, I discovered a little Japanese cheese tart shop in an arcade in George Street. I’d never tried one before but as I love eggy, sweet, custardy cheese tarts, I bought one. It was luscious. Unfortunately I was on my way to the airport and had a mountain of bags and parcels from all the shopping I’d done, so I didn’t have the opportunity to buy more. 

Fast forward four years and I’m still talking about the cheese tart. I love that it was subtle and mildly sweet, and so decadent. When it comes to desserts, if it’s not melted chocolate, it has to be a sweet cheese tart or cheesecake. Actually I’m lying. It just has to contain sugar and I love it. I had gone back to Sydney a couple of months ago but I couldn’t find the arcade again, and I was only there for a day. 

Last week I was in Brisbane city doing some shopping in Queen Street, and on the way out of an arcade I was confronted with a cheese tart store. I stopped dead in my tracks. I had to check that I hadn’t time travelled back to Sydney as this cheese tart store was new. My loving daughter was delighted as she’s put up with my moaning about the cheese tarts for four long years. She grabbed all of the shopping bags from me and physically pushed me into the store. “Buy a whole box of them”, she insisted. I bought two tarts. They were still warm. 

The first bite was a reliving of the Sydney experience. Blissful. It’s funny that food memories can be so powerful. I saved the second one for the next day, and even cold, it was delicious. The downside is that I was so excited I cannot remember which arcade it was in. I’m now going to have to hop on the river cat and get back to Queen Street soon, and pop into every arcade until I find it. It’s worth it!

If you want to enjoy this experience but don’t have a Cheese Tart store near you, here’s a copy cat recipe for you to try at home.