Continuing the series of food in Osaka, I was glad to know that Pablo is available in several prefectures in Japan, including Osaka! There are 8 stores in the Kansai region, translate their shop page here - the English translation is pretty accurate - so use the addresses they've provided and hunt down the shop!
(By interpreting a sketchy English translation of Pablo's story, it would seem that...) Pablo Cheese Tarts were inspired by the medium cooked rareness of steak. With the choice of 'melting delicious rare' and 'perfectly baked medium', the Pablo cheese pie is as good as a cheese tart can get.
You have choices of original cheese tarts or chocolate tarts. Now there is a green tea variety available with mochi and red bean in the filling, in the large and mini sizes.
With a crisp and buttery tart shell, the mini cheese tarts (200 yen each) had a rich molten center guaranteed to melt in your mouth.
The filling may look really creamy and possibly jelak but cheese lovers will tell you otherwise! Not cloyingly sweet, this could just be the most perfect cheese tart I've ever eaten.
The chocolate tart (230 yen each) and its marbled surface may pale in comparison at first glance but you'll be surprised by the equally rich and molten center. The chocolate filling was made of a divine milk chocolate which resembles a lava cake being baked into a tart shell.
The queue for the takeaways was not too bad when we were there in the evening. 15 minutes is definitely worth the wait.
We were so impressed by the mini tarts that we made a second visit when there was an opportunity for afternoon tea amidst our busy eating schedule.
The Pablo outlet at Dotonbori houses a cafe upstairs which you access through a staircase near the takeaway counter.
The 4 page menu (click to zoom in) is of course cheese-centric, offering full-sized whole cheese tarts on it's own or with additional toppings. They also offer a premium cheese tart which is very different from the melty standard cheese tarts. For those who don't want something cheesy, indulge in their sandwiches or a fancy blended drink.
The cafe was surprisingly not full house when we visited them on a late Saturday evening.
The premium tarts have less of a tart shell but instead have a thin crust and no half baked molten center. The green tea tart had a nice bittersweet flavor but LC didn't like it. I have to admit there was something strange tasting about it but we couldn't determine what it was.
The orange chocolate tart was better with a thick, dense mousse filling and a touch of orange. But sadly, it couldn't compare to the mini chocolate tart we had previously.
The highlight of our visit to the Pablo cafe was the Honey Cheese Toast. Chunks of cheese (gouda?) melts nicely on a slab of thick toast which they sprinkle with coarse black pepper. You get a sweet and savoury combination which is cheesy-ly satisfying.
Pablo is set to open in 1-Utama real soon. I hope they will be bringing all of their menu items along!