Royji Nishimura 西村良集 (Hangzhou, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

Continuing my journey through Xiaohe Historic Cultural District (Xiaohe Zhijie 小河直街), a preserved waterside neighborhood along the Beijing–Hangzhou Grand Canal, I took a series of staircases beneath a bridge and eventually reached a street lined with cafés and restaurants.

This part of the historic district retains the traditional layout of a late-Qing and early-Republic canal town, with white-walled, dark-tiled two-story houses, shops on the ground floor, and residences above. It was a shame it was too dark to take any meaningful photos.

I headed straight to Royji Nishimura (西村良集), a Basque cheesecake specialist known for its innovative takes on the Spanish burnt cheesecake.

Original Basque cheesecake — Judging by the Japanese name, I was expecting some kind of Japanese twist. The first thing I noticed was that the texture was a little more custardy than I’d prefer. It was still reasonably soft and fluffy, but the cheese flavor didn’t really stand out.

Pistachio Basque cheesecake — While the texture remained slightly custardy, this was much than the original flavor in the sense that there was the rich pistachio nuttiness to complement the light cheesiness. Not bad.

The texture was again slightly custardy, but this was much better than the original flavor with the rich pistachio nuttiness complementing the light cheesiness nicely. Not bad.

I was hoping to try the salted egg yolk and pork floss flavored cheesecake tonight, but unfortunately, it was all sold out. The staff member was very friendly and told me about a bargain deal on Dianping (大眾點評) — two slices for ¥27.9, with a choice of seven selected flavors. Great deal!

Food Rating: 5.4/10

Price: ¥

Address: No. 46 Xiaohe Road, Xiaohe Subdistrict, Gongshu District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China 

浙江省杭州市拱墅区小河街道小河路46号

Tel: +86 19526218584

Opening Hours: 10:00am - 10:00pm daily

Map: https://j.map.baidu.com/26/HMNM