Petite Merveille [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Patisserie Petite Merveille
Address: 11-5 Toyokawacho, Hakodate, Hokkaido 
Website: https://www.petite-merveille.jp/
Style: Japanese
Price: $$

This Hakodate patisserie specializing in their miniature "mel cheese" cakes (clearly in direct competition with Hakodate's other premier patisserie, Snaffles, though I'm not sure who is copying who; my instinct tells me Petite Merveille isn't by any means a trailblazer) is located inside one the brick warehouses along Hakodate's famed waterfront. More pastry shop than bakery, they have a display case of pretty individual cakes and tarts - some adorably animal-shaped - along with a fridge filled with those famous melty cheesecakes and some sort of pudding cups.

I'm always a sucker for cute things with a silly face, so my top pick was one of those above-mentioned animal pastries, especially when I saw how small the cheesecakes were. However, I'm also a sucker for free samples... and they knew who to pick when they were handing out those cheesecake samples. The idea of melt cheese does not conjure up anything delectable in my mind; personally, the first thing I think of cheesy sauce. Nasty liquefied grossness. I was almost expecting this thing to have a molten cheese centre.

Luckily, "mel cheese" (3 x 160 yen = 480 yen) refers to the fact that the cheesecake melts in your mouth. And does it ever - some flavours better than others, rather. I had the seasonal pumpkin, strawberry and plain cheese. My least favourite was the strawberry; it was too sweet. Perhaps the problem was that it also tasted the least fresh and, as such, didn't melt on the tongue as well. Surprisingly for me, because I had the least hopes for it, the best was the pumpkin. So soft, so flavourful... this was good!

Rating: ***1/2