Out & About #395 | Supermoon Cheesecakes

With Love Me Sweet, Lindt, Tory Burch, and more making their foray into Square One, the heart of Mississauga's retail services, one can only anticipate that more exciting ventures are on their way. (Looking at you UNIQLO; we need to fill the void in west GTA.)

​An unexpected debut in the homey neighbourhood of Streetsville was Supermoon Cheesecakes. Specializing in Japanese-style cheesecakes, the shop can be found two doors down from Enzo's Two Guys in Italy - which also means that ample parking in the private lot.

​On a rather murky Saturday morning, I decided to undertake this brisk adventure. Having exhausted the entirety of Love Me Sweet's menu, it was time to delve towards other destinations. The fact that the area was less likely to be populated with aimless holiday shoppers and slow-moving families with small children was another appealing aspect.

The interior of the shop is quite spacious, with half of the front allocated towards waiting space and the other half a cashier and exposed preparation area. A long, narrow bench was also available for customers to rest while orders were being processed.

​I entered the premises to find only three other customers before me. The wait was assumed to be minimal, as tables were non-existent and the shop appeared to mainly operate as a grab-and-go establishment. However, the entire visit extended almost past twenty minutes.
​From being acknowledged by any single member of staff to inquiring the availability of their product range to placing and receiving my order, efficiency was essentially absent in all forms.

There appeared to be a main member of management staff - a relatively petite, middle-aged lady - that displayed experience in the baking and packaging processes, but the staff member behind the cashier seemed to be just learning the responsibilities of the position and had no training whatsoever in packing the fragile cakes. I winced at the sight of fingers pressing and shoving the soft specimens into the box with little to no delicacy; one of the cakes were even skinned by an interior fold due to carelessness.

​Boxes had already been folded beforehand and cheesecakes had been already been laid out to rest, but neither of these factors aided to improve the efficiency of the shop's operations. The single member of front-line staff was friendly, but unfortunately much too slow to handle the gradually accumulating lineup. Given that Supermoon is still considered a new opening, these hiccups will hopefully be rectified over time.

​To be frank, expectations were low from the get-go. It wasn't that the inclusion of cheese tarts wasn't interesting, nor that were the additional options of Chocolate and Red Velvet cheesecakes not intriguing. It wasn't even the tacky-looking, artificially flavoured bubble tea mixes that had me skeptical. Overall, the packaging and details were attractive, but the vibe was unstable.

​I opted for an Original Cheesecake, which was priced steeper than both Uncle Tetsu and Love Me Sweet at $12, along with a 4-pack of cheese tarts for $10 (that I had to remind the cashier member about packing). Both items were packed in dedicated boxes adorned with either a graphic rendition of a moon or UFO. An amusing aspect was that the craters of the moon were actually openings to prevent the contained cake from becoming soggy.

​Along the side of the cheesecake box were suggested consumption periods of six hours while fresh and forty-eight hours while refrigerated. I took to sampling the cake at both of these recommended periods, though the conclusion was more or less identical. Meringue content of the cake was too heavy, resulting in a foamy and excessively eggy taste when warm. The frothy aftertaste was a little less noticeable after chilling, but its crinkled, deflated sides proved evident. Chilling the cake contributed texture and a boost of cheesy flavour, though the supposed inclusion of "three different types of cheeses" remained unapparent. Put simply, it satisfied neither the cheese nor aroma requirements for a solid Japanese-style cheesecake.

​At the opposite end of the consistency spectrum were the Cheese Tarts. Sold individually for three dollar each, the rounds were offered in one flavour only and dissipated a ridiculously greasy scent. The surfaces were sadly crinkled with a sticky, dried film of charred filling on top, while the filling was much too rich and heavy. A single cheese tart was sufficient in evoking feelings of sickness and satiation.
The tart base was also extremely heavy on the ratio of butter to flour, which made for a flaky, but extremely rigid foundation. On the bright side, the filling was cheesy, though thoroughly lacking in terms of aroma and depth. I wasn't too impressed either when the box merely reeked of butter and grease for the entire return journey.

​One can only hope that improvements shall take place with feedback from customers and experience gain in employees. The location of the shop is ideal - a private parking lot and close proximity to Enzo's for a post-dessert trip - so it would be a shame if the aforementioned issues persist.