Criollo by Antoine Santos (Tokyo, JAPAN) ★★★☆☆

I knew it's going to be a very aggressive schedule to squeeze Shirokanedai, Nakameguro, Hiroo and Roppongi all into an afternoon's activities but beggars can't be choosers. This is my only time slot away from my family so I had to make the most of it. And getting the most of it I did. After a quick stop at Shirokanedai, it was time to check out Criollo by Antoine Santos and Johann Cheesecake (closed!), both of which were just steps away from Nakameguro Station.

Cricollo started off as a pastry school in March 2000 under the name "Ecole Criollo" but gradually shifted its business to an authentic French patisserie that utilizes the best locally sourced ingredients from different parts of Japan.

The bread and butter of Criollo by Antoine Santos these days is their "phantom cheesecake". There's been report that once 2,000 pieces of these hugely popular Japanese-style cheesecakes were sold in just 10 minutes. Imagine that.

One important point to note, their phantom cheesecake doesn't come in small slices. Only in a whole loaf! There are two different flavors, Gateaux Fromage (1,400 yen) which is the actual phantom cheesecake (their best seller) and Premium Gateaux Fromage (1,500 yen) which is thicker and richer thanks to the added Comté cheese (and some Camembert).

Needless to say, I didn't come away empty-handed without my phantom cheesecake (the lighter version).

This was very light and fluffy almost like a piece of marshmallow.

But I thought the cheese flavors weren't nearly strong enough for me. In fact, it tasted more like a piece of butter sponge cake at times.

I have never been a big fan of Japanese-style cheesecakes so do take my words with a grain of salt.

Food Rating: 5.5/10

Price: ￥￥￥
Address: 1-23-1 Kamimeguro, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-0051, Japan
Closest Metro Station: Nakameguro
Tel: +81 3-5724-3530
Website: www.ecolecriollo.com
Opening Hours: 11:00am - 8:00pm (Sun - Thu), 11:00am - 9:00pm (Fri - Sat)