Paris S'éveille, Savarin Exotique

 Still trying to catch up, I can't even remember what flavor this was. Also, road vibration wasn't kind, so the topping is what I scrapped up from the sides. It's a fruity verrine (their instagram account says its Savarin, which I'll believe), so doubly not my thing, but it's the season of verrine and the new cakes are all fruity (which is reasonable to balance the standards, though there are a couple old fruity ones I'm missing). Still, good cake/verrine/savarin.

Here's what it's supposed to look like https://www.instagram.com/p/CDfV_wdpTUG/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

Tarte (Framboise Pistache)

This is the sad story of a cake that traveled by bicycle, though in my defense, it was a blog to begin with, just a round one instead of a square one, and maybe taller. This is a tart, in that there is a hard slab underneath. The flavors aren't terrible, and I don't to punish it for my hard handling, so I'll say it's good but still not post this to Twitter. With this case Au Bon Viex Temps looses it's chance to take over the superb cake shop spot temporarily held my Viron. Instead, it goes to Bien-Étre, which I've tried more cakes from than either of those.

Rue de Passy, Figue Fromage

Avoiding the one-cake surcharge, I had gotten two cakes from Rue de Passy (the second from the previous cake-off win): Figue Fromage. It's as named. Can't remember what type of cheese, though not one of the strong ones, so fig dominated. It was definitely good and was a nice change from other cakes earlier in the day. 

Cake-off: Frédéric Cassel's Framboisier over Rue de Passy's Mille-Feuille Praliné Citron

Still trying to catch up. This was the first cake-off of August. Having just been in Rue de Passy, I saw that they had their Mille-Feuille Praliné Citron back in the lineup, so I finally had something to do a first-round cake-off with Frédéric Cassel's Framboisier. I could confirm both these as great (always a big issue for the first round), but I can't resist massive amounts of pistachio cream, so I have to give it to the favorite's cake, Framboisier. However, the Framboisier is at the end of its run, so it's the loser that will get the next cake-off.

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Bien-être, Chiboust Earl Grey

First Thursday of the month, I completed a streak of four and scored an early cake for the next week by visiting Bien-être and finding a new cake at night, Chiboust Earl Grey (so no pistachio chiboust). I can't remember what fruit accent this had (and fruit accent is redundant with earl grey tea, but it wasn't anything strong), but it was excellent cake, which is what matters. 

Frédéric Cassel, Domestic Blueberry Tart

Last Wednesday August 5th, I jogged (?) to Frédéric Cassel, just on the off chance of getting their blueberry tart on it's first day of a couple-week run. I was rather surprised to snag the last one, which makes three days in row of such success for new cakes, though maybe Monday's wasn't the last one. 

It's a fairly solid tart base (with almond cream) and while blueberries aren't the flavorful fruit (not that I'm that into any fruit, really), I was also happily surprised to find it definitely excellent. The announcement left off the name, but probably Domestic Blueberry Tart, based on the mille-feuille name, which I wasn't trying to get. Since they used phonetic "blueberry" in describing it, I translated the name as English rather than French, though I'm not sure what was on the card, if they even use anything other the the Japanese. 

Jean-Paul Hévin, Verrine Rhubarbe Mangue

 Way back on Tuesday, after working late, I stopped in at the Isetan Jean-Paul Hévin and was able to get the last of the new item: Verrine Rhubarbe Mangue, which has the obvious ingredients. The top is probably mango gelatin, then white chocolate mousse, and finally rhubarb sauce cut with lime. It was the usual high quality of JPH, so I can say that it was excellent. 

I'll note at this point, I'm far enough ahead on FC that JPH deserves a second sample of an excellent cake, but I've already done that with those in the current line-up, so I'll have to wait. That leaves at least a couple non-cake items to try, maybe next weekend. I haven't tried any of their sauces.

Viron, Montélimar

I saw that Viron, which is nominally a superb shop (even though I hadn't had enough cakes from them, there was hole in the category when OC closed) had a new cake when I was out the Saturday before passing through Shibuya but decided not to get too greedy. It wasn't at (nor was there a card for it) in Marunouchi when I visited later (not that I was ready to buy then either), which might be a pattern for these two shops. So I did run to the Shibuya shop on Monday (not my usual pattern, but it's not farther) and late though it was, they still had plenty of cakes and I could get Montélimar. I was hoping it would be similar to a cake of the same name from L'A because that is great (almond mousse, I think) and this shop might make a better one. However, not the same kind of cake at all. It's been a while, but I think it was coconut cream honey mousse and fruit, which could still be okay, but this was not so exciting, though it seem appropriate as a bakery shop cake somehow. Unfortunately, I like more extravagant things, so this put the shop under threat from a couple shops in the quite exceptional category. 

Actually, I didn't take the shortest path and got a picture of the new Aoyama Grand, which would to be on the old neighborhood route, since it's going to have a bakery, which is not yet open. What is open (though maybe not actually at the time of night) was a tea shop. Still haven't visited after a couple weeks: it's more of a taking-a-walk kind of place, which it's too hot and mask-requiring now to do any of.

Cake-off: Rue de Passy's Opera Pistache over Toshi Yoroizuka's Annya

Going back two weeks (Aug. 2), I did a Sunday cake with Annya from Toshi Yoroizuka, in for the summer (they told me the day before that Saint-Marc was also in the line-up, though I didn't see it. I should check back. To match it, the recent winner Rue de Passy's Pistache Opera matched it, as another two wins to one loss cake. They are both old favorites: simple but great. In the end, I have to give it to nuts (Pistachio Opera) over fruit (Annya), which is also sort of vote for cake over pie, which is what the latter is like. That's two loss for Annya, but I might not get it's fifth round in for two years.

Let me also show some appreciation for Rue de Passy's Croissant, which was excellent: nice crust on the outside around a relatively soft inside.

Aigre-Douce, Mousse Chocolat Framboise

 This is going to be really short. I went for a new cake to Aigre-Douce because its caramel tart won a cake-off. I've had one other perhaps great cake from there, which I've never seen again, and a couple excellent cakes, and a couple good cakes. The other four were all just ok. I got the Mousse Chocolat Framboise, and this makes a fifth ok cake. The chocolate mousse is inside a sponge exterior, which is a terrible idea. Plus, too much raspberry for me. So soft cake which adds no texture other than to destroy the mousse effect, which is anyway already pretty destroyed by raspberry that includes seeds. And yet, I might be back there in another year if their great cake wins again. I should say, though, that their pastries seem pretty top class, even if I can't understand the appeal of most of their cakes.

 

Paris S'éveille: Tarte Matcha Mangue

Now I'm almost two weeks behind, so it's not clear when I'll catch up. I've gotten a little head of revising my new neighborhood course map, but mostly I've been wasting time on other obsessions are just exhausted from the heat. Way back on Aug. 1, I stopped in at Paris S'éveille on the way to ABVT (since it was their turn to try to enter the superb shop category, though they have the farthest to go) and happy to get this cake. Actually, it wasn't chance, as I had seen it posted online, so I suspected it was a new cake. The base is holding mango and mango cream, so it has to be pretty moisture resistant, thus it's a pretty hard tart, which it's great for texture but is necessary. The top is matcha, of course, but I forget in what, probably white chocolate, though coconut cream would fit with the theme. Sorry, I can't remember. The important thing is that it was excellent. Their new cakes are all fruity, whereas their classic great cakes are mostly nutty or chocolaty (their most fruity great cake has been out of the lineup for a while), but the new fruity cakes keep improving, so I'm actually looking forward to the next one. Still slightly behind on this one, because they don't have so many cakes and I don't have such a great way to keep up with them, plus they will a lot of cake-offs, so actually I've had more new cakes from them than any other superb shop, and two of those I'm ahead on because they got dropped down from quite superb and only gotten new cakes from cake-off wins for years.

Cake-off: Aigre-Douce's Tarte au Caramel Salé over Atelier Kohta's Classic Chocolat

Two Sunday's ago, I did a cake-off between the next cakes ready for fourth-round, both with two wins to one loss. That said, all their wins were against cakes that got bumped from the greats list. This holds true this time, as expected. While Atelier Kohta's Classic Chocolat is excellent, it doesn't really deserve such repeated attention. Aigre-Douce's Tarte au Caramel Sale I have more confidence in, so it doesn't just win by default but maintains its great position.

Frédéric Cassel, Framboisier

I'm so behind, and Blogger is now disabled the old editor, so I'm stuck with only the one with the broken label adder (unless you want to have just one label, and then it's just inconvenient). Anywa, at least my map updating is finally coming along for the first batch of neighborhoods. I'm not changing the route, just I'm tired over overlapping lines. For created new routes, I've done all three for top sites, cake shops, and major parks, which go from as far northeast as Yotsu Sta., as far west as Harajuku Sta. (only the subway station), as far south as Omote-Sandou Sta. and as far southeast as Gaienmae Sta. I'm updating the calculation, but they all time me about 2.5 hours, with standard stops.

This cake as from a visit to Ginza Mitsukoshi. This replaces an almost identical cake with mixed fruit, which replaced one with strawberries. It's equally great in any case and apparently this one is going to stick around a little longer, so I hope to get in a first-round weekend (the real next weekend). Starting tomorrow, I need to catch up on two weekends, though I was working ahead with this one and didn't try to do the full week in the weekend last (real) weekend, so it's less than a week behind.