Patisserie Yamakawa  

Was planning to give my sister a surprise ( actually it's my bday coming up )
But ended up we hanged out at Central together before dinner with my friends at SOHO.

Got a macha pudding and Caramel mousse cake

Macha pudding is good but the mousse cake is way too sweeet...


Might be back again for the greentea pudding as greentea is always my sister's favorite <3

濃朱古力熱情果慕絲蛋糕 is very good!!
green tea roll cake and chestnut roll cake are not bad but i think Ceres is a lot better.

I will definitely try its other cakes in the future

I was hovering around upstairs near the Times Square atrium killing time...
All of a sudden I realised a really beautiful looking, what every men out there would have classified a super hot model look-a-like girl was checking out the same thing as I was.
Out of curiosity I glanced slightly sideways at her instead, trying to recognise whether she's one of those up-and-coming new models who are always skimpily cladded... She stared back for a second, before the look on her face began evolving ever so slowly over the next milli-seconds as it started from keeping a bit of oomph still before developing that attitude of 'what are you staring at boy', 'I'm too good for you, you know that', with a little sinister sneer happening on the corner of her lips before she finished it off by looking away with disdain. Like, it was out of my league to even set my eyes upon her just because I got curious as to who she might even be.
Not long after, her boyfriend came by and I realised why I was not of much interest to her. You see, the guy was as superfit as Mr. Hong Kong, even reminding me a little of a hybrid version of an Edison Chan just with more muscles, less of a wry smile and would have made the 黃長X 系 wannabe amateurish. Well, I made the vow to myself right there on the spot then - I will one day, train to become fit again. >o<
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Anyway right after that sad little episode, which obviously didn't gain me new found confidence as even though I'm not obese or anything, I'm definitely not as fit as I want or used to be! I probably eat too much for reviewing! SO I RETREATED DOWNSTAIRS AND WALKED ABOUT, HOPING FOR SOME CONDOLENCE OF SORTS, BUT WAIT... HOLD ON JUST A MINUTE....
- Yamakawa has just introduced a new Tiramisu Cup?
- Yama also advertises itself as using real authentic Italian alcohol rather than the more troublefree instant coffee liquor, together with real Espresso to make their new version?

TIRAMISU -
Well I began thinking. I am probably not as bad as what that very hot but superficial woman thinks I am, I don't think I'm that bad come on . I mean I probably only carry just a little bit of baby dolphin fat carried over from winter (u know, chu-toro at most....). Besides I really needed dessert to comfort myself & feel better again. Everybody needs to eat sometime arrrgh...
The Tiramisu is served in cup form, basically what I label as Les Verrines style, therefore I was expecting a more trifle like version than a cake version. The top layer of mascarpone cream was quite good for once, it really held a delectable cream cheese profile. Unlike my own preferred version however this one carried coffee or alcohol taste only at the bottom of the cup, rather than throughout the overall concoction. There's a round disc of spongy cake beneath rather than a savoiardi finger base, but it really carried lots of marsala wine influence, more so than a slightly nowhere to be seen espresso taste. There was so much of this liquid, it literally flooded the bottom of the cup as one can see from my close-up photo. I thought the sponge seemed a tad too wet. Anyway this was a pretty good Tiramisu definitely, one of the better ones around.
MANGO ROLL CAKE -
Whilst at it I figured I might as well eat another Roll cake - I haven't tried their famous version yet to compare it to say Ceres Boulangarie or a few other places. Its not like it'll make a big difference right, since I've pledged to exercise more tomorrow?
This is $29/piece and around $100 for a roll. If you ask my opinion, I think the recent fad of roll cakes is a little unjustified, possibly a bit overpriced, perhaps unsustainable... afterall a lot of them are being sold at over-inflated prices, when its basically a simple Cakes-101 level sponge layer rolled in with some cream and diced fruit, something traditional HK shops also have been selling at only $10-15 for a whole roll, some even tasting great and carry that attractive tiger stripes!! Well the one here at $29/piece was actually quite a thick cut, so compared to say Ceres which is $15/piece but much thinner in width - they are to be fair really priced the same. This was ok-good. The sponge did not had as much eggy taste as Okada Coffee's version, but the cream seems more natural, and the mangoes inside were pretty refreshing. I liked this version slightly more compared to the Chestnut version here which I was given FREE as a trial testing, as that was just a little sweet and canned in chestnut paste taste. I think this is quite a different version to Ceres' version to compare though, as that doesn't even had a skin layer and was way moister in execution! Each to their own.

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So anyway, here I was pretty satisfied again after eating 2 cakes at Yamakawa, and it was slightly more noteworthy than the last 2 cakes I ate from here.. I'd forgotten my woes just from a few minutes ago, and it was finally time for dinner! (the cakes were my entree)
(But yes, I think I need to stick to my vows, eat just a tad less and work out more for this summer, start puffing away on the treadmill! A balanced lifestyle is always the best one.. )

Caramel & Chocolate Mousse Gateau:
I actually didn't actually buy these as someone really nice decided to treat me with Yamakawa's cakes, knowing I'm a cake lover but weary of possible diabetes at the same time as I ain't so keen to thy legs amputated to knee level so soon! Anyway hope this cake is named correctly as I tasted mostly Caramel on the top layer with a bit of Chocolate mousse beneath. Was it good? It tastes good but seemed a bit too dense and uncreative. I expect more from Patisserie Yamakawa in terms of thought process and layering-wise, I suppose! 4/5

Chestnut Mont Blanc:
My benchmark for a Chestnut Mont Blanc is C'est Mieux, the predecessor which used to occupy the spaces now taken over by Yamakawa. The version here was really dense at first but luckily its the price you pay for its generous amount of chestnut paste taste. Compared to that fluffier C'est Mieux version which was softer and carried both tinned and fresh chestnut taste all in one, the Yamakawa version served here was mainly of the tinned chestnut variety. Topped with half a piece of very welcome sugarized Marron Glacé, it has both advantages and weaknesses compared to its competitor. Epoch's Mont Blanc might win over these two Japanese offerings in terms of looks, but in terms of natural taste, its C'est Mieux > Yamakawa > Epoch for now.

After dinner a friend and i decided to try their cakes. After looking at the pretty selection we decided on two:
Strawberry Cream Cake and a Greentea and red bean roll cake

The strawberry cream cake was very fresh even though we bought it at late night. The strawberries were juicy - they probably used the japanese variety.

The green tea cake was also very good. Very light.

We finished each easily as they were both really light and TINY in size.

For $40 ea i'm sure you could get something tastier and more fulfilling at Antique. But this place is a good quick fix if you're in IFC and feel like some western/japanese cakes....