Uncle Tetsu's Cheesecake

There are about 5 Uncle Tetsu Cheesecake restaurants in Taiwan, however the first one opened up just two weeks ago right in the heart of downtown Toronto.  This place specializes in a heavily guarded secret recipe of Japanese Cheesecakes and madeleines. I had been told that there are huge lineups in Taiwan and one could expect the exact same thing while here in Toronto.

The reason why there are huge lineups is the fact that each cheesecake takes about 45 minutes to make and since most of them are made from shops that are very small, only a certain number of them can be made any one given time.  Here in Toronto, there are only 12 ovens available in the new Bay street location.  Even though they have other items on the menu, the only thing they have sold in the past two weeks are madeleines and their signature cheesecakes.

While in between meetings, I had the opportunity to dash out of the first meeting and join the lineup shortly after 4 pm on a weekday afternoon.  My wait wasn't too long, roughly 75 minutes from start to finish, however I've been told that people have actually waited for up to three hours for them.  When one finally gets to the door, one could get a strong whiff of what is to come.

Japanese Cheesecake

Once one is in line, one is given a playing card.  This playing card guarantees you one 6 inch cheesecake.  It's one cheescake per person for $8.88 and one can get 4 madeleines for $6.66.  After a short wait in line I finally had a chance to see what this cheesecake was all about.  I was able to sneak a small piece while waiting in line and it tasted quite yummy indeed.  The cheesecake was soft, fluffy, flaky and not very cheesy nor was it very sweet.  Other than the eggs, the flour and the cheese in the cheesecake, one could not really taste anything else from this cake.  Certainly when one eats it at the spot, it creates a euphoria of wanting for more.  When I brought the cheesecake home three hours later, the cheesecake just wasn't as good.  The steam coming off the cheesecake had gotten back into the cake itself and made it a little bit soggier to eat.  It certainly was not as good as it first came out of the oven.

However, after letting the same cheesecake sit overnight in the fridge for about 24 hours, the cake actually tasted so much better.  It seemed like everything became more concentrated and the richness of the cake was all brought back together.  One actually felt like one was eating a cheesecake as opposed to a spongecake.  It even tasted slightly more sweeter quite possibly because everything was more concentrated.

The madeleines I found were exactly the same.  The best ones tasted when it first came out of the oven and after it had been sitting on my desk for about two days.  I watched them prepare it and for those who are extremely health conscious, one may want to bypass this specialty as it was loaded in honey and butter.  I must have counted 5 to 6 large rectangular chunks of butter in one mixing bowl and almost one jar of honey that went into the batter.

Overall, I thought they were good but not great.  I got asked a lot as to whether it was worth the wait.  Personally I would say it might have been worth about a 30 minute way, maybe an hour at the most but anything more than that and I would be weary.  I like flavored cheesecakes, better yet more sweeter cheesecakes and this one is much more blander than the traditional kinds.  I would probably recommend one to wait until the fad dies down a little bit or until another one opens up in the very near future so that one is not waiting for hours for one piece of cheesecake.  Having said that, the cake was good but not great.  Overall I give it a 3.75 out of 5.

Uncle Tetsu's Cheesecake
598 Bay Street
Toronto, Ontario

647-941-1806