NY Gramercy: Depato (department store) Cakes, Anyone?

NY Gramercy does not refer to the famous street in NY but a Japanese-company-run cake shop that is located at some selected department stores like Takashimaya. I seldom patronize these kind of shops with many outlets as the quality is usually average. However, after giving this shop a try, I was impressed by the pillowy and moist texture of the sponge components and that was kept amazingly consistent across all the cakes.
 
Kept within the price range is between ¥500-¥700, these sweets won't really burn a hole too much as they are generally larger than the independent patisseries and not too heavy on mousse--appealing to those who prefer the traditional light Japanese cakes. 
Koicha (Matcha Cream, Black Beans, Matcha Sponge) 
Another of the memorable matcha cakes that is available without having to travel far to certain shops. My favourite item here as there is an almost full-bodied matcha taste that complemented the rest of the components. 
New York Brownie
This is unlike those dense fudged version but two cakey chocolate sponge studded with rum raisins. The concept is simple but to transform a rustic homemade treat into such elegant form is not definitely not in everyone's ability.

Anyone who walk passes the cake display would simply stop and stare in admiration. 
Melon Shower
The chef is simply too ambitious to shower the cake with so many chunks of honeydew and pineapple that cause that they fell apart before I could take this picture. Looked rather dishevelled but one can forgive the chef because the fruits are so sweet and fresh. It's a fruit + cake gateau and not a fruit cake (if you can understand the difference) so what consumers are paying is the fruits. 
The Mango Pudding is different from mango puddings elsewhere as the sweetness stemmed mostly from the tropical fruit itself and not artificial sugar. Even my picky mum who is a huge mango pudding fan herself enjoyed this tremendously.
 
Other seasonal creations include the Sakura Sponge (see top pic) and Okinawan Sweet Potato.

NY GRAMERCY グラマシーニューヨーク
Takashimaya Shinjuku, Nihonbashi
Daily 10am-8pm (except Fri/Sat until 8.30pm)
Tokyu Food Show Tokyu Department Store Shibuya
Daily 10am-9pm
Other outlets include Takashimaya Yokohama, Seibu Ikebukuro

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