OPS [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: OPS [옵스]
Address: 698-1 Jungang-daero, Bujeon 2(i)-dong, Busanjin-gu, Busan
Website: http://ops.co.kr/index.html
Style: Korean 
Price: $$ 

I was initially under the impression that OPS is a Busan-based bakery and patisserie, so I was a little disappointed that they do have locations elsewhere. Maybe it's originally from Busan? Oh well... Nevertheless, I'd reached my bakery quota for the day and yet walking past the swanky exterior and poking my head through the window at the large assortment of baked goods, pastries and cakes laid out amid the elegant interior, I simply had to give OPS a try then and there. Inside, admittedly, you realize that there really isn't as much variety and it's not as fancy as you first think: many items are repeated two or even three times over. Among that, a lot is savoury and in some ways I wasn't the only one actually having a hard time finding something that looked really good: two other groups were also circling the table and returned quite a few items before making up their minds. Is it that there's too much? Does doubling up items create an overwhelming, confusing atmosphere? Not sure.

All I knew was that I had a hard time picking something and finally abandoned the table in the middle outright and went with the "pine tree cheesecake" (4,300 won) available by the cash. Now, I'm not quite sure why it was called a pine tree cheesecake. It definitely didn't have to do with the flavour - it might have even been a mistranslation. Basically, it was a classic baked cheesecake. Taste was good: just a hint of cheese, not too heavy, though I found the texture was a little too dense and foamy. It needed to be more fluffy, spongy. I almost want to say I was expecting it to taste better quality than it was, which could be said of OPS as a whole: all glitz, not so much substance.

Rating: **1/2