I love desserts, and I love Japanese food, and I love Japanese Desserts even more! HARBS is one of our favorite spot for Japanese cakes, and we returned multiple times, and also visited their HARBS Chelsea location as well. There is a little shop in Chinatown that focuses on fluffy Japanese baked cheese tarts, and they looked so good, we just had to go try some! We visited during the summer, and we got their one table that was placed right outside the shop. This is a pickup only place, so no indoor seating or “real” outdoor seating. Since we wanted to eat them right away, we were lucky to get that table.
They had six flavors when we visited, so we decided to get them all…why not??? The Six Cheese Tarts ($15.25/six) were placed in a cute, bright yellow package with handles, making it easy to carry it around. Since the size of the tarts are on a small side, you can think of them as “tarts on the go!”
The flavors were: Matcha, Black Sesame, Original, Original with Blueberry Filling, Chocolate, and Ube (Purple Yam). Don’t they look like adorable, delicious, pretty little jewels??? Their cheese mousse is made with three types of rich cheese and cream. Their crusts are double baked for the crispy texture. No soggy bottoms here!
There are four ways to enjoy these tasty cheese tarts. 1) Hot, which will be like having an “oozy molten lava cheese” (sounds delicious!). 2) Room Temperature, which will be like flurry cheese mousse. 3) Cold, which will be like a cheesecake. 4) Reheat in an oven/toaster to make them as fresh as new. We had them room temperature to enjoy them as they should…fluffy mousse! They were oozy, creamy, and velvety, totally melt in your mouth!
Each tart had distinctive flavor, without being too overpowering. The cheese was perfectly balanced with natural sweetness and saltiness. The Original Cheese Tart was, indeed, the best of the best. Even without the additional flavor like Matcha or Black Sesame, it was totally with the winner of them all.
The Original with Blueberry Filling was amazing too, like blueberry cheesecake, but much lighter and creamier. The oozy filling was nestled in the fluffy pillow… So delicious!
The chocolate and Ube ones were great too. And just look at the vivid purple! The tartlet was nice and firm, didn’t crumble nor fall apart as we were enjoying them. It tasted like a delicious shortbread cookie, we loved them!
We enjoyed all the different cheese tarts from Pinklady Cheese Tart. So fluffy and oozy… I would love to try them hot too. The next time I get some, I might put them in the toaster oven for few minutes to enjoy the lava action!
Pinklady Cheese Tart – 11 Mott Street, New York, NY 10013