Origines Cacao: Tarte Marron

I owed Origines Cacao a cake from it's cake-off win Friday, so Tuesday I went to Ginza 6 and got the Tarte Marron and ran it home. It's a good butter tart base with a mont-blanc-type top, but with peanuts and cocoa powder sprinkled over it, I think. It was definitely good all around and I don't have any suggestion to improve it; also, the quality was high and I was not disappointed, but it isn't actually a cake that really interests me. I'll give it the rare semi-excellent rating.

Cake-off: Jean-Paul Hévin's Bergamot over Frédéric Cassel's Mille-feuille Finger Kaki

Saturday, was no running, but I did get to a café on my neighborhood running map, Janat in Jinguumae, south of Omotesandou road and had lunch with tea and cake. The cake doesn't really count as fresh cake, but rather is the hard cake served with sauce or whipped cream common in café. Pyramide Aztèque, which is chocolate with roasted bananas. It was good, which is better than it might have been, but it didn't convince me that bananas are a great idea.

The other cake is called Madagascar, and was the cake of the day, so cheap with lunch. I had last than half of this one, but thought it excellent. It's vanilla. The caramel sauce with peanuts was a good complement to this dessert inspired by a traditional cake.



As the year comes to a close, I'm trying to fit in more cake-offs. Sunday's was to squeeze in Cake-off: Jean-Paul Hévin's Bergamot, which is seasonal, so it might end Friday. I had planned to wait until Wednesday, but we were buying cake at JPH anyway, so I got the Bergamot and then, when I ran, did a short run over to Frédéric Cassel and home for the Mille-feuille Finger Kaki so I could do a second round. Still enjoying the mille-feuille, but JPH's standard design applied to orange definitely suits me, so it gets its first win.

Monday, I tried running down to Hiroo by the long way along my neighborhood course as a one-way to officially add/update some loops, but it was mostly a fail, not because I couldn't run but because my planned route was flawed. I picked up some information, though, so it's all good, though it took a couple hours. I didn't get cake, but went to Isetan to get a pastry from Arcachon, who visited until Tuesday. All that was on offer was a couple baked tarts, so I got the Tarte Agrume which is the greater citrus family, though it also featured pistachio. It was definitely good, but my interest in these types of tarts is limited.

Cake-off: Origines Cacao's Tarte Caramel Chocolat over Frédéric Cassel's Mille-feuille Finger Kaki

Friday, which was Labor Thanksgiving Day, I was free most of the day, so I took a long run, which ended up as 3.50 hours of running, which is the longest for a while. There was some walking and several photography stops, plus 4 snack, but most of it was a one-way neighborhood course run, so not a lot of waiting at lights until the end, when I headed from near the US Embassy to Ginza.

I did a lot of loops together, so it took so long. On the way, I headed down to Roppongi 7 again, because I had forgotten to verify a shrine. On the way back, I stopped at Mercedes Me, which is a café at the Mercedes dealer across from Tokyo Midtown, for the first snack. I got their Pain aux Raisins, which was good, though on the dry side.

Once  I got back to the main route, I could do the newly added Akasaka 8 loop, added to pick up a little park on the corner next to the elementary school. There is also a cake shop on the north end, but I think I went in too early (though the door was open), as there was nothing on display at all except samples of top designs. It's a place for decorator cakes, so I don't know yet whether they have anything ready to eat, though it's also a café, or whatever the guy there can manage, looked like. I also reconfirmed that I know the Akasaka 7 loop. Together they form a sort of shortcut across the main Akasaka-Azabudai-Roppongi-Toranomon loop, though that day I was doing the full loops back to where I started and didn't want to run twice over the same part of a loop, so I stuck to the main loop. I also reconfirmed the Motoaksaka loop and took the link up along the Akasaka Palace grounds to visit the Yotsuya East loop, though I was blocked by people directing traffic for people visiting the palace, so that part wouldn't be allowed by my rules if they were normally there. From there, I did the Akasaka 3 loop, and then over to the Nagatachou loop (though I had to double back to fix an error on the far side of the loop, since I turned to soon). From there, I went up north and did the Hirakawachou-Kioichou loop and took the long detour around Sophia University to get to my tiny Koujimachi loop, which is the farthest out on the course of the places I visited, so it's definitely out of order in terms of distance but was convenient to the other loops I was doing. After returning to Akasaka, I followed the main course down to the final loop to confirm, what I call the Akasaka east loop, which is just north of the U.S. Embassy Tokyo.

On the way there, I stopped at the Pierre Gagnaire shop and got a Pain au Chocolat. To be honest, I had eaten most of it before realizing it (because I was thinking of something else, not because I wolfed it down, which would have made quite a mess, since it had fairly delicate layering). But I'm fairly sure that it was excellent, which is why I wasn't thinking so much about it.

From there, I ran to Ginza, got my cakes, and returned home by train. I was tired, so after I organized them on the plate, my hands weren't too steady and there was an accident, so no pictures. Some caramel was lost, but I was still able to do the first-round cake-off for these too recently tried cakes and declare that I like the caramel chocolate tart best, though in my condition I was noticing that I could have used a higher drink-to-sugar ratio.

Paris S'éveille, Café Tonka

Despite the distance and difficulty, Tuesday I decided to run to Paris S'éveille at Jiyuugaoka (maybe some day they'll open a central Tokyo outlet, but so far they haven't felt the need), since they were next in priority on the list of places that might have something new. I arrived a little before 7:30 pm, which makes this perhaps my fastest run ever, though I wasn't going for a record. Resting from Monday probably really helped. It had been a while since I went there looking for new cake, since I've been occupied with other shops that I've promoted. They had six cakes available, but nothing new. However, rather than go with my backup Shuu (a café advertising cake that's on my neighborhood route for Shibuya but also has a shop in Jiyuugaoka and anyway is open quite late), I took the one cake I've long been deliberately avoiding: Café Tonka. I was optimistic that the coffee would not make me sick. They also let me eat in, though they had to ask someone in the back that was okay. No one else was eating in, though someone else seemed about to before I left. This is a thin, dense chocolate cake, a thick tonka chocolate cream/ganache (I think; I didn't actually check the card), and coffee flavored whipped cream on top, I figured in a worst cake, I could just scrape off the coffee whipped cream and tried a little corner without it first. As it happened, the whipped cream was no problem. Actually, though definitely coffee flavored, it was lighter than other things I've had recently and went fine with everything else. I don't have any difficult in saying that this was a definitely excellent cake.

On the way back, I stopped at Nikunohanamasa for chocolate, which I didn't buy, and mustard powder, which I bought more that I can imagine what I'll do with, but that was the size and it was cheap. I also bought a pack of nuts, so I had two items. I kept running, carrying them in a bag. Total, it was a 23.5 km run, which is pretty long for a mid-week run. With stops, I was out 3 hours.

Frédéric Cassel: Mille-feuille Finger Kaki

Tuesday, since the once-a-week applies only to new cakes, I went back to Frédéric Cassel and this time got the new mille-feuille, the Mille-feuille Finger Kaki. This was a full run both ways, and I used my eco cake bag from Ryoura. It's been a while since the Mille-feuille Finger has been part of the line-up. Previously, this was part of the regular monthly "Inspiration", but actually this month's inspiration has no individual cakes and this mille-feuille is separate with an unclear cutoff day.

The visible fruit is persimmon. Not sure what the gelatin cubes are. The main filling is yuzu cream, rather than mascarpone cheese, like in the old versions.  The whipped cream on top is flavored with houjicha (roasted green tea), so it's got lots of Japanese elements. Accordingly, I ate with green tea rather than the usual western/Indian tea. Bien E. has me used to different fruity mille-feuille, which is probably why I could appreciate this and consider it great. I guess it's going to be a Ginza first-round cake-off next.

Frédéric Cassel, Mille-Feuille Caramel Pomme

Still catching up, Sunday I went out reasonably early to do a one-way neighborhood course run. I had just found a neglected area, Roppongi 7, which is just across southwest from Tokyo Midtown, so relatively close. I had missed the crosswalk down near the National Art Center, Tokyo. There is not a whole lot there, but they have a park, a cake shop, a bakery, a shrine, a couple temples, and a couple shrines in a compact area. It's possible to cross over to the northeast end of Nishiazabu, but I can't find any sites there that I would visit.

From there, I left the course and went exploring for future runs.  On the way, I stopped for a pasty at Maison Landemaine. I went to the location at Azubudai, across from the southeast end of the Akasaka-Azabudai-Roppongi-Toranomon loop, there should be one already on that loop, further north that I haven't visted yet. I got their Kouign Amann, which was ribons of pastry folded into the usual hockey puck shape, with a hard caramelized layer on top. Very fancy, and good, but did not really work for me. In generally, their pastries are pretty expensive.

For future runs, first I went over to finish photographing sites on the Shibakouen--Toranomon west and east loops, and then moved on to Atago and Toranomon. These are all going to be small loops, since this is a really urban area surrounded by main streets, though there are enough pedestrian bridges and crosswalks without signals to get me just south of Hibiya Park to the north. To get east, I'll have to go south through Shiba Park, though it can't really advance very far, so this branch is going to come to and end unless I can turn south.

There was cake, but I screwed up sort of (I checked my list, but a hyphen through off my alphabetization) and got a repeat, Mille-feuille Caramel Pomme. Last time I rated it good, which is understandable, but this time I was more in a mille-feuille mood and would call it excellent, so I didn't mind the mistake so much.

Monday, I took a rest from running and cake, but went to Isetan and visited Hediards and got their Domestic Wheat Kouign Amann (if I've got the name right), which was a more conventional version, which I thought was excellent.

Cake-off: Sadaharu Aoki's Moelleux Chocolat over Toshi Yoroizuka's Monsieur Kitano

Saturday, ran to Tokyo Midtown to get a Moelleux for a second-round cake-off, and was surprised to see Monsieur Kitano (the cake) at Toshi Yoroizuka there. It's not convenient to take a train home from there, so I ran. I stopped at SweetsHolic, along the Minami-Aoyama south loop of my neighborhood course for the first time and got a Chocolate Chip Cookie. I put away the cake and ate lunch and cookie first. It was hard, as I was warned, but that was find with me, and a great improvement on the near-raw one I had recently in Harujuku.

Then I went out by bicycle to finish up photographing sites along the main Hiroo loop of my course, which actually didn't take long, relative to other projects. Then I went down to Jiyuugaoka to check what the line-up was at Dalloyau, but nothing I'm looking for. I would have checked out Paris S., but it was late on a Saturday and there was a huge line, so my expectation of useful information, as well as my patience, was insufficient for the wait and I went home, stopping at Bien E. to verify that they had nothing new this weekend.

The cake-off of chocolate versus chocolate went find. This time they gave me an explanation sheet, and I had already planned to microwave the Moelleux, so I was really comparing a different cake. It could have been warmer, but I'm not sure that I don't prefer it cold. I like moelleux but not so interested in fondant, maybe. However, though was still interesting, so excellent seems reasonable, I wasn't feeling the greatness from Monsieur Kitano, so it's getting retired from the list. The Moelleux will have to remain undefeated for now, unless they manage to hold it over until Friday, which is longer than the announced plan (but they aren't ones for wasting cake, so they will probably keep it going until they're all gone, so I'll try to check in before I get something else).

Ogawaken: Marron Soufflé

Masuda-sei Pan

Friday, I went for a one-way neighborhood course run for some new loops, including ones that I needed to take more photos for. On the way, I finally found Masuda-sei Pan ("Masuda-made Bread") open, so I went in a bought a little French Toast. It is on the eggy side rather than the sweet side, which I'm fine with, and the bread was French breach like, though not hard (though if it is really old bread, then it should not be). It was good. Glad I could have a visit. In Harujuku, I visited Anywhere Door, which has "shots" in wafer-style flat-bottomed ice cream cones. They describe it was tiramisu, though they are different flavors. I decided that I wasn't interested, so I don't need to adjust my map to swing by their alley. I'm looking for solid food.

I had a little trouble with doing the Kita-Aoyama--Jinguumae--Shibuya loop clockwise. Even though I new I had to turn at the Ao Building, but I couldn't remember whether it was before or after before I had already overshot. I went back and ran it correctly, but I need to practice. I expect I'll need to come the same way again soon, so I don't have to make a special trip.

The main target was side loops from the Daikanyama-chou--Dougenzaka--Ebisunishi--Hachiyama-chou--Nanpeidai-chou--Sakuragaoka-chou--Sarugaku-chou--Shibuya--Uguisudani-chou loop. First is what I'm calling the Shibuya south loop, which is just temporary until they finish new pedestrian bridge south of Shibuya Station. The loop goes by the shrines and temples around the site of the former Shibuya Castle.

In another first of finding a shop open when I wanted something (though it was a little early after the French Toast, and I did have a proper lunch first), I stopped by Ogawaken "Western Confectioner" Daikanyama, which is next to their restaurant (versus their salon in Meguro), which seems to be most famous for raison sandwich cookies. Anyway, I tried their oddly named Marron Soufflé, which is a roll cake with chestnut bits inside. It was good and convenient finger food, so my respect for roll cake has increased somewhat as a result. I ate it in a park on the new Ebisuminami--Nakameguro north loop. I tried to do the Ebisunishi loop along the way, but I've had to revise it since then, so I'll need to redo it.

After that, I did the Aobadai--Kamimeguro loop, taking pictures in the fading light (at ~4 pm). Still not certain about the Happy Pudding Factory, but I suppose if I return the jar there, it could be okay.

On the way back, I discovered a basement cafe/bakery/patisserie near Café Le Cordon Bleu, which I was going to for a pastry. The new shop is Maison Ichi Daikanyama and I should have about there. I had previously had two excellent pastries from Café Le Cordon Bleu, so wanted to take advantage of being there when they were open. I got a Croissant Chocolat Amonde. It was good and I'm used to these being sugar and butter bombs and soft, but it was too much for be at the time, more on the sweet side than oily. Still, it's fair to say that it was good, just not the best I've had.

Sadaharu Aoki: Mille-Feuille Azuki

Thursday, I tried again going to Sadaharu Aoki, and this time I was successful at the first shop, Tokyo Midtown, and got the Mille-Feuille Azuki. I'm not that fond of azuki beans and was avoiding this, but it's the only new fresh cake there right now and I figured that I could trust them. I was right to, as there was none of the usual azuki bitterness or aftertaste, though it's hard to say how much of the real flavor was left behind the sugar. As assume so, since there was a flavor there, but anyway it was excellent, so I'm happy, and I had a short run, which met with my plan to have a long run on Friday.

Del'Immo, Othello

Wednesday, I ran down to Tokyo Midtown, looking for a cake at Sadaharu Aoki, and then continued looking by running to Marunouchi, a route I'm getting used to. Failed both times, so I went to the Del'Immo at the new Tokyo Midtown Hibiya and got the "Chef recommended" Othello, which is a chocolate mousse cake with crème brûlée flavored with vanilla, which is a pretty standard cake design that usually is quite disappointing, but this also included a layer of cinnamon streusel. This was definitely excellent. I'm still not that excited by the main cake design, but I wouldn't be surprised in someone rated this great.

As a result, Del'Immo get's promoted from the quite good to excellent shop category, where I had three openings, so I don't have to bump any of the underachievers yet.

Origines Cacao, Tarte Caramel Chocolat

I'm so behind on blogging because the giant loop in the west end of my neighborhood running map has be completely reorganizing it, which has taken days. I've at least done enough to make it usable for picking out targets, at least, though I'm still also way behind on uploading photos.

Way back on Tuesday, because all the higher priority shops either did not have anything new or I had visited within the last month, I went ran out to Origines Cacao at Ginza 6 for new cake. The Tarte Caramel Chocolat is at least temporarily back in the line-up, so I got that. I've never had it before, but it seemed similar to more than one great cakes I've gotten there (and not seen since). I was rewarded by a great cake, well balanced against caramel and chocolate, which harmonized well together. The fact that I wanted a new great cake for the next cake-off might have affected my judgement, but I hope not. I should say that I haven't confirmed yet whether I have the name correct, or it's actually Tarte Chocolat Caramel, not that that matters.

Cake-off: Sadaharu Aoki's Noisette Chocolat over Éclat des Jours' Cheminée

I'm way behind blogging. Sunday, I cycled to Éclat des Jours and got the Cheminée, which is perhaps my favorite raspberry cake, though actually it's also chocolate cake. Then I went to Sadaharu Aoki at Isetan and got the Noisette Chocolat for a second-round cake-off before the latter leaves the line-up at the end of the month.

Floto: Blueberry and Almond Tart

Before that, I went out and did some recon, including visiting Floto for the first time, which is a sister store to Bien-être. They mostly don't have cake, being focused on gelato (which I'm not interested in) and baked goods, so I got a blueberry and almond tart. I didn't eat it under the best conditions, but it seemed quite good, so I'm going to say that it was excellent, giving them the benefit of the doubt. Certainly they are good enough for me to shift my course to go by them. Note a very good picture, but mosquitoes were a problem in that (and most) parks.

Cake-off: Noisette Chocolat over Cheminée

For the cake off, both cakes are chocolate, one fruit and one nuts. Predictably, I'm going with the nuts, though as far as I know they are both the best of their type that I've had. Certainly both are rich but have good harmonization between the chocolate and compliment flavor.

Cookie Time: Chocolate Chip Cookie

Just to pack more into this post, Monday I did a short run along with some indoor exercise. It's out of order because I originally planned to go to Nikunohanamasu but changed my mind and went to Takashibiya. Anyway, picking off minor non-cake places on my neighborhood course, I visited Cookie Time near the Harajuku Station and got a chocolate chip cookie. This was an extremely soft cookie, which I suppose is not that unusual, and is fine for a quick calorie fix, but just okay as a treat.

Various non-cake

Saturday, I made my first real attack on the (as currently constituted) Daita--Daizawa--Hatagaya--Kamiyamachou--Kitazawa--Komaba--Motoyoyogichou--Nishihara--Oohara--Ooyamachou--Shouto--Tomigaya--Uehara loop. This is 30+ km. I had hoped that I would be able to run about 3 hours, but with the walking for taking photos of the majority of landmarks that I hadn't already visited, I was on my feet for more than 4 hours after under 2.5 hours of running. Also, I did a bad job of planning provisions, so I was out of physical energy, as well as low on phone battery and losing the light. My course had me running to the point by the Honmachi 1 intersection and I ended around Ikenoue Station, which I used to return, as my feet were sore (but in a normal way that I recovered from by the next day).

Croissant (Asterisque)

Had a few snacks and saw some interesting things. Near the beginning, in the part that I had already checked and photographed, I got a croissant from Asterisque, which was busy, like other similar places in Uehara, so it took a while. As appropriate for a quite good cake shop, they had an excellent croissant, which was suitably flaky on the outside and sufficiently baked on the inside: best of the recent ones I've had.

Auro Chocolate Japan

I need to adjust my course around there, but by chance I went by a building with a new chocolate store. I've yet to sample local beans-to-bar shops for chocolate, since that's not my focus, but I wanted to add it to my map, so I went in. It's deep in the back of the second floor, where no one else was going, so while the coffee and donut shop around the corner had a long line, this place was empty. I felt sorry for them, but not enough to buy chocolate, which I wasn't ready to eat (I hadn't eaten the croissant yet) and didn't want to run with. Their name is Auro Chocolate Japan, so I'll give them this shout out. I was certainly attracted to some items and regretted not buying later, when all I was visiting was park after park.

Of course, some parks are more distinctive than others. 

Egg Tart (Toyonchinotomago)

My next food was at an egg store, which was not on my map, so I added it. They also had some (packed) cake, but I bought an egg tart. I should not have been surprised about how eggy it was. Still, it was good. I think the crust was fairly solid, versus a flaky crust. This was from Toyonchinotamago (Toyonchi's Eggs). 

Soon afterward, I encountered a complex that had a bakery cafe (Tolo) and Shiro-Hige's Cream Puff Factory, which makes Totoro-shaped cream puffs. It's in a dark little relatively wooded nook where, if you're not looking for it, it would be hard to find, but the fans come. 

It was not long (or maybe it was, as there were a lot of photo-stops in between) before I was very hungry again, so I got a donut at a shop that also I think was not on the original map, Captain's Donuts. These are extremely lightly fried, so pretty moist, though not raw. Not very modern. I think this was just called Donut. Doesn't really need much else, though I should check when I next go by.

The most interesting place I saw was The Setagaya Catholic Church. Note what I expected to find near Shimo-Kitazawa Station, which is packed with old shops and young people. This is a theatre area, so lots of artists, I suppose.

I was still really hungry at this point, having only had breakfast about 8 hours before. So I visited the local cake shop on the way to the station. I thought about getting actual cake, but wasn't very confident about them, so I went with their Croissant. This small croissant turned out to be the soft, hotel-type breakfast croissant, which is okay with jelly or something, but doesn't belong elsewhere. Still, it was okay for what it was. The shop was P. Pierre, its typical of little traditional neighborhood cake shops. I'll consider the croissant a suitable sample and not feel very compelled to try their cake.

Frédéric Cassel, Pistache Griotte

I decided late to switch my next neighborhood run to Thursday, since I want to test doing a really long run (maybe on the scale of what started my foot problems last time, though I seem to be better, and wiser, now) Saturday. So I went down to try out the recently modified again Daikanyama-chou--Dougenzaka--Ebisunishi--Hachiyama-chou--Nanpeidai-chou--Sakuragaoka-chou--Sarugaku-chou--Shibuya--Uguisudani-chou loop. No surprise, but it needs further modification, again due to recent construction. I was fine until near the end, where I wasn't sure whether I need to run down a side alley before heading to the main road, so I scouted ahead before doubling back. Also, they've finished constructing a sort of park/pedestiran walk along Shibuya River, so I want to incorporate that into my course, though the last bit seems overly private/commercial to count, being more part of a food court than a park. Long run, almost 2 hours of actual running and I was feeling it in my muscles, which is rare, and yet still running strong at the end.

For a snack, I stopped at Hikarie, thinking that I would try again to get quiche from Quiche Yoroizuka, but they were gone, so no more Quiche Yoroizuka, as far as I know. I respect their effort, and there is no lack of other little tart places with people lining up, so it was not a ridiculous idea. Anyway, they were replaced by Stone Cold Creamery Sand, which are buttercream between cookies. I considered getting one, but they gave me a little sample of the mango (which I wouldn't have picked) and decided no, I don't need any more again. Instead, I visited Bagel & Bagel and was ready to get a chocolate bagel with white chocolate chunks, or something like that, but then I saw the brownies. I took the straight chocolate. I ate it in a park and it was fudgy and high energy, but it took frustratingly long to unwrap and was just ok, so I regret not getting something fresh.

Friday I again deviated from my initial plan and decided I'd do Frédéric Cassel instead, and got the new Pistache Griotte. I walked home, to save my feet for tomorrow, but I took an unnecessarily long path, swinging by Del'Immo and then through Hibiya Park and the long way back way down to Akazaka-Mitsuke. Fortunately, the rain did not return.

The cake was excellent, as mostly expected. I haven't appreciated pistachio and cherry cake much, or cherry cake in general, but this was a deep/dark cherry in some sense, with the cherry on top soaked in cherry liquor. There was also some crunch in a layer of the cake, as well as cherry gelatin, which was all fine. This is definitely on the sweet side, which suits me, but still high quality.

Bien-être, Mille-Feuille au Poire

I ran to Bien-être, where I had pre-ordered and prepaid for a Mille-Feuille au Poire (or whatever they were calling it; no card out and they just wrote down mille-feuille on the order, since they only have one type at a time). I took a long way to get there and practiced some of the mega-loop that includes the shop and that I want to practice on Saturday.

The cake is a tough call, but I'm going with excellent, same as all their other mille-feuille. The pear didn't impress me much, so this is maybe my least favorite of theirs, but I still enjoyed the cake plenty and on reflection maybe the pear was doing its job, just it is subtle with the custard. Still need two more new cakes to catch them up as a superb shop.

Sadaharu Aoki: Moelleux Chocolat

Tuesday, I thought I would get a Moelleux Chocolat from Sadaharu Aoki and maybe workout inside, out of the rain, but they were sold out. Also, the rain mostly stopped, so not a big deal to run. After some other quick shopping, I went home, changed clothes, and (after stretching of course) went running to the Marunouchi Sadaharu Aoki looking for the same thing, though I was reluctantly willing to settle for the mille-feuille azuki, or whatever it's called, which sounds terrible, but is probably at least good if they make it. However, both were sold out, so I ran to Tokyo Midtown, which is open until 9 pm and it had (only) the Moelleux Chocolat. I walked it home.

Moelleux Chocolat (Sadaharu Aoki)

Even though the online advertising mentions microwaving it and shows the inside melted, they didn't make any recommendation at the shop, so I just ate it cold from the refrigerator. It was still soft (moelleux), just not fondant-like. It was not dramatic, but it really seemed like a perfect chocolate cake, great cake. There is a visible core that obviously would melt first if warmed up, so I'm curious how they make it. In fact, I'm curious enough to look for it in a Sadaharu Aoki cookbook, if I can find one.

Atelier de Mar: Fig and Blueberry Tart

Did yet another run of (most of) the Hatagaya--Honmachi--Nishi-Shinjuku loop and finally got it right, so that's another area that I can consider part of the running neighborhood. Along the way, I stopped at the Hatagaya Atelier de Mar (despite the receipt having a different branch's address on it) and got a Fig and Blueberry Tart. It was good, but I guess I'm already tired of this type of tart, as it isn't that much different from the previous one, which I rated excellent.

In other neighborhood running news, though I still have another loop needing practice, I figured that would be done this week and I'd get to the next 12th level loop. However, I've realized that under my current rules it should be merged with a few of it's neighboring loops (like soap bubbles merging), making it on the order of 30 km long, which is longer than I've run recently, so I'm going to have to reconsider how I approach the order I run new parts. Of course, first I suddenly have a lot of new landmarks that I need pictures for, so that alone is going to slow me down. I hope that Saturday afternoon is clear enough that I can make some progress on that.

Anniversaire Café: Anniversaire Chocolat and Rocolte

Went to Anniversaire Café for the first time. On one hand, this is definitely Tokyo cake, but no take-out, so technically its Tokyo café items. I got Anniversaire Chocolat, their chocolate cake. It's more traditional than I go for, so I'm saying its excellent partially on technical grounds, but it was certainly very good. One interesting aspect is that it is a layer cake, but the middle layers don't go all the way through, so the ganache (I would call it, mostly ignorantly) on the outside is uninterrupted by sponge cake.

The other cake is Rocolte, which looks like a mont-blanc, but there's no actual "Blanc" (whipped cream). The chestnut paste/cream is fairly thick. Inside, beside most chestnut, is a light (in terms of the amount of fruit/color) cassis cream, I think. This is definitely excellent. I'd like to get back here, but there are four other places in the area that I haven't visited/posted on.

Jean-Paul Hévin: Gaufrette Chocolat

Saturday, my morning opened up somewhat and I could have done a cake-off but decided to stick to a long run instead. First, I went to try to practice the Hatagaya--Honmachi--Nishi-Shinjuku loop of my neighborhood course map. Actually I initially ignored the Nishi-Shinjuku part, since it's super simple. The rest of it is a big rectangle with six deviations, three on the north and three on the south. I managed to get the first two (counterclockwise) of each and overran the other two turns (realizing before reaching where to rejoin the path along the main road), so I still need to keep practicing to consider this part of my neighborhood.

Along the south leg, I got something from B. Rue de Berri for the first time, a Pain au Chocolat. They seemed nice enough as a small shop but unfortunately I don't have much nice to say about this pastry. It's sort of a blob, so they aren't much interested in artistry; I'm sympathetic to avoiding unnecessary decoration, although it does affect the texture. For me, it was under-baked, which means thick layers that haven't been made into leaves. Also, the chocolate left an unpleasant aftertaste, although that's a more common problem with pain au chocolat. I'll say it was ok and probably avoid them for pastries, unless its a donut.

Since it was on the way to my next loop to practice, I stopped at Le Pain Quotidien for a first pastry. They had much fancier/heavier things, but I had just had a pastry (though a small one), so I just got a Croissant. It was good, no complaints. And it was effective at canceling the test of the previous Pain au Chocolat.

Next, I practiced the west part of the Hatsudai--Tomigaya--Yoyogi loop, this time successfully. After, I cut back to the as-yet untried Hatagaya-Motoyoyogichou-Nishihara-Tomigaya-Uehara loop. Mostly, I was just making a third attempt to take pictures of Unshouji, but the gate was still shut and, looking in, there did not seem to be any other interesting buildings, so I'm finalizing that landmark on the map. On on that loop, which I modified slightly where it confused me, I stopped for a first and (unintentionally) final pastry, another Croissant, from Boulangerie et Cafe Main Mano there near Yoyogi-Uehara Stn. It was good, better even than Le Pain Quotidien's, having slightly more of the flaky layer. I noticed that this too had an inner layer that wasn't as baked as I would like, but at least that was within a thick enough pastry that it didn't bother me. I attempted again to visit Masuda Seipan for a baked good, and even though it was within the newly posted 11-17 hours, they were again closed, so it's mystery when they're open. I can't remember whether I've tried during a weekday.

In the afternoon, I went out to the Jean-Paul Hévin Chocolate Bar in Marunouchi for a Gaufrette Chocolat, a chocolate waffle which I shared along with JPH's Mont-Blanc. It was definitely good. It was sort of like eating a large soft chocolate chip cookie. As a drink, I had Chocolat Chaud au Rhum for the first time and it was excellent.

Frédéric Cassel: Turin Chocolat

Thursday, I did a run to Bien-être for cake. Not sure what I got. It was not cake. I suggested "tart" and they countered something like "baked good", so the counter person didn't seem sure what it was either. It's a tart in shape. The crust is more like a quiche shell than a typical tart shell or sweet pastry shell, however, it was more like hard ribbon than flaky. The anme is Figue Pistache, which pretty much explains it. Except for the crust, which obviously wasn't working for me, it was definitely good, so I'll stick with good for a rating.

Friday, I ran to the Ginza Mitsukoshi for a third weekday cake (I'm counting Monday as cake, despite being a café dessert). There, I went for the older seasonal cake, the Turin Chocolat. This is also pretty self-explanatory: a chestnut and chocolate cake. Under the chocolated coating are two layers of mousse for chestnut and chocolate and a cake base which is fairly dense for this type of cake, like pound cake. It was satisfying. Chocolate and fig and fine together, tending to smooth out each other's flavors and produce a mild cake, which still was excellent.