A la Bonne Heure, Strawberry Shortcake

Maybe due to little running, I haven't been as motivated to keep up, but I'll do one now. On Saturday, after a wasted morning, I went to Midtown to see what they might have for me. Still the same couple cakes from Ryoura, no surprise, but I'm now ready to work through the huge list of fine shops needing a second cake and it's convenient to get an A la Bonne Heure from there, even if the selection was only from two. I went with the Strawberry Shortcake, which I'm appreciating more these days. As it happens, I appreciated this one too: cream, strawberries, and some sponge to balance it and make it cake. Sometimes simple is best, and this seemed excellent, so I guess this shop will make the cut, which is only going to leave a minority but is going to take a long time to get around to. 

Pascal Le Gac, Chocolat Framboise

After finding that the current address for Schloss Backerei is a residence, so they don't even have a Tokyo shop (though they are selling packaged sweets online and as shop-up/visiting counters at department stores, so they haven't given up), I decided to visit Pascal Le Gac for a 4th cake from a maybe quite fine shop. I went with the Chocolat Framboise, as being reasonably priced while most cakish. On the way back, I looked at various places for scones without finding anything I was satisfied with. I have enough cake for today, so I should probably do scones tomorrow, when I want to go out to Omotesandou anyway, though I was hoping for something new from a bakery. Few bakeries deal with them, versus coffee shops. Speaking of both, the bakery next to Starbucks at Shinanomachi has cake. It's a pretty low-level bakery chain shop, but on the root local course (which I'm not running, but still using for reference) so it should be my next new cake shop visit.

I'm delaying saying that I wasn't into the Chocolat Framboise at all. The flavor is fine, but I don't like the gummy texture of the frosting (though not outside the normal for a certain kind of glazing) or having a gelatinous raspberry layer in the middle (but still a pretty standard cake thing, e.g., the mille-feuille of F. Cassel) and too much raspberry with the chocolate for me (with that much raspberry, I'd rather lose the chocolate completely). Still, objectively, it's completely reasonable, so I can say it's good, but not for me. This shop may not make the next cut, but only if I can find enough that can. 

Libertable, D'Or

Monday, working through bringing the exceptional shops up to 8 cakes, I paid a visit to Libertable at Akasaka. According to their homepage, they shut down their department store counters in March and now only have the main shop.  Glad they are still going, as they have very high-class cakes. Another nice point is that they are open late, so no problem visiting them. Was surprised that the huge selection compared to the past, though the space is the same as always, so maybe just I usually go when most things are sold-out. A relatively new cake for me, and a seasonal one, is the D'or, which is obviously in the mont-blanc family. Since my favorite from them (Charm, which they still have) also is, it seemed a reasonable choice. Besides the usual chestnut paste on the outside over whipped cream, this has an almond and chestnut center, red, rather than black, currant and fig as the fruit accent. It was definitely excellent, so I was satisfied. It's a pretty short run down there, though, and I walked back, but I'm rather lazy lately, I suppose.

Pierre Gagnaire, Tarte de Poire et Ganache de Groseille

Thursday, which I took the afternoon off and took care of some chores, also involved a short run to Pierre Gagnaire to bring their cake level up to quite exceptional shop category goal of 16 (not counting to cake-off wins), which had to be Tarte de Poire et Ganache de Groseille. So apparently groseille means red currant, versus cassis (black currant). The cake was good, as well as being stylish, as a hotel cake should be. 

 

Pierre Gagnaire, Mousse au Chocolat au Lait

Sunday, I didn't feel a need to get up early. Actually, I didn't get out until about 10 am. My goal was Pierre Gagnaire, but I started southwest rather than southeast because I wanted to try to get something from an unsampled shop over in the Omote-Sandou west area for bread. Went by Neko Neko Cheesecake, which I should sample for cake now that's not Neko Neko Shokupan, so maybe the gourmet sliced bread boom has faded. Actually, I had two targets for bread along Aoyama-doori, though I ended up getting a Croissant au Chocolat instead one of them, the bakery counter at a grocery store, Kinokuniya International, which has a super slow checkout line because of the extensive packing and general carefulness. The pastry was good, but it's a relief that it wasn't better, giving me a reason to go back. Some day I should see what the selection of chocolate bars is there.

I'm two cakes behind on Pierre Gagnaire because their line-up is tiny and rarely changed, and actually didn't even include both posted cakes, at least not that I ever saw, and I even asked once. Now they had one different cake I've had before, a couple standards, and two cakes new to me. I went with the Mousse au Chocolat au Lait (can't guarantee the auxiliaries), which is milk chocolate mousse in a hard shell. I can tell from the beginning that it was definitely good, as good as any milk chocolate mousse I've had, as far as I can remember, but even with just one cake, a cup of tea wasn't sufficient to get me all the way through this. I know that I've saturated on plain chocolate mousse even years ago, so I should have prepared more. I guess I need to start buying milk for cake, instead of relying only on tea. As I said, it was definitely good, but there was more than enough for me, at least without something varying it. 

In the afternoon, I was back around JR Harajuku Sta. to see what Aux Bacchanales might be like on a weekday (no line), what's in Eataly (short line and a couple brands of chocolates, as well as cookies), and where the heck the elevator that gets you to the Shiseido Parlor (elevators on the lower floors only cover the lower floors). Also, Trip Port Sweets seems to be reorganizing itself (there were people in there discussing something and the upper floors of the building are closed now, though maybe they were always closed).

 

Toshi Yoroizuka, Tarte Myrtille

Back on August 25th, so still no memory of the running, but I was certainly on foot, and it was Toshi Yoruizuka's turn for a new cake. It's blueberry season and I went with Tarte Myrtille. It was definitely good, but not act the same level as FC's, though that was special domestic berries, versus berries from where I'm not sure.

Pierre Gagnaire: Green Tea and White Chocolate Cake

Leading text. Thursday was a holiday, as part of a four-day weekend prepared for the Olympics. I used it to visit Pierre Gagnaire and get their other new cake, Green Tea and White Chocolate Cake, which follows the same literal naming as the other cake; can't say that I mind. In fact, I started the next week's cakes early, but I expected to be busy two days, and did not actually have any cake then. White chocolate seems a much better pairing with matcha than blond chocolate, and this was excellent. There might have been some sort of custard in the middle, or maybe it was just cream. Anyway, excellent cake. It was raining, so I walked there and continued on for a second stop. This actually brings this shop level with quite exceptional shops, as far as new cake count, and it maintained its rating edge, so Lenôtre loses it's place, as expected.

Pierre Gagnaire, Green Tea Tart

Last Sunday, I found more cakes than I expected. First, I didn't expect Pierre Gagnaire's bakery and pastry shop in the ANA International Hotel to have any new cakes this month, but they had two among their small line-up, bumping their great chocolate and yuzu mousse cake, though they still had the large version. Everything is also still 20% off. More people over there, though the hotel is not crowded compared to the past. I went with what is easy to guess is the Green Tea Tart. They seem to stick to simple English for the main name; the Japanese description is matcha and blond blond chocolate, which is caramelized white chocolate. Can't say that blond chocolate seems like a good idea to me, even after this excellent tart.

Speaking of matcha, Sadaharu Aoki had another new pastry, and I keep trying them. This time it was Croissant Mâtcha aux Amonde. It was good, but too wet for my tastes in almond croissants. Let me also say, that Blogger updated their editor to some buggy thing hates images (won't let me move them next to text, and trying to makes mousse clicks into backspaces) and labels, which I'm going to have to add after publishing. 

Pierre Gagnaire, Éclair Fraise Pistache

I'm falling behind again, but last Saturday I visitied Pierre Gagnaire's pastry and bread shop again, which has a very limited selection, but apparently I hadn't had their Éclair Fraise Pistache yet, or any éclair from them. Not sure whether it's reasonable to want a harder/crispier pastry, but it was fine. The mixture of strawberry and pistachio was definitely nice, but what really did it for me was an abundance of honey/sugar pistachios. Really, it would be bad if I had a bag of those, because they would disappear really quickly.

Pierre Gagnaire, Short Cake

Sunday, I started with a run down to Pierre Gagnaire's, getting a couple missing missing photos for sites on revised parts of the neighborhood running course that I haven't confirmed yet. I walked back with the last new cake I expect to get from them this month, though I should check in on their webpage, such as it is, since Tokyo is loosening up (for good or bad), so they might expand or revise their line-up earlier rather than later, though I'm thinking their original idea was to do the strawberry cakes through the end of May anyway.

I went back out almost immediately, this time by bicycle (which ended up being about 2.5 hours total). I first went over to B-E, where their was a line and I decided I didn't want to spend time finding out that they didn't have anything new when there were other places to go. Not sure whether I'll feel differently next weekend, but I'll trying going their first and get their a little earlier (plus be satisfied with other places on that side of town). Next I doubled back and went to Sadaharu Aoki in Marunouchi again. Their cake selection is limited, but they were featuring a wide variety of pastries, so I got the Croissant d'Amonde, I'll guess, since I'd had the other three types of croissant, and they were excellent to great. This one was not soggy, which was good, and there was liberal use of almond liquor, I think. I can say was excellent.

From there I went to two shops, which I could get new cakes at, so success. At home, I finally had the first cake after lunch, which was the (strawberry) Short Cake. I struggle with this, because it's not a type of cake I've very interested in, so I'm not sure what make it better or worse. There are hundreds of varieties of strawberries, and I have no idea which goes best on this kind of cake, so I can't really take that into consideration. In the end, I decided that this was excellent: I could recommend it myself and would would enjoy having it again, but it's not a goal.

Pierre Gagnaire, Crème de Fraises et Citron

The midweek cake for the midweek holiday was Crème de Fraises et Citron from Pierre Gagnaire, where everything was 20% off. Hope they're still in business for my next cake-off. As the name implies, this is basically just cream flavored with lemon and strawberry, with a thin sablé cookie underneath and some sheet chocolate to fence it in. But again, its a collection of good stuff that works together, so I'm happy to call it an excellent cake.

I ran in the afternoon on neighborhood courses around Omote-Sandou, where I've had to revise the loops to the north, east, and south loops due to finding additional sites. I decided to dump a park site that's attached to a public housing area that's now fenced off, probably about to be torn down, now that they're done with the south half, in order to simply the north loop somewhat. Looking ahead, the next Saturday, I finally got them all sorted out and confirmed clockwise and counterclockwise, so I can move on to other things. I'm mention, that I decided I shouldn't discriminate against the fast food places if they have takeout desserts, so I added McDonald's (okay syrupy apple pie), Freshness Burger (okay poundcake), and Mos Burger (frozen mini cheesecakes). I'm adding a couple cafes as well, if I can ever catch them open (if they are open during the state of emergency).

Pierre Gagnaire, Cheese Cake à la Fraise

Last weekend, as well as a getting a cake for the cake-off, I got one new cake for Pierre Gagnaire, which is challenging the bottom of the quite exceptional shops for a position there. I got Cheesecake (or maybe it was Fromage) aux Fraises, I'll say, but I should check next weekend. I ate this after some running down around Minami-Aoyama on neighborhood course loops. I added a couple sites in the process, a cafe with a sign for take-out cake (as well as closed for the declaration of emergency) and a vegan shop/restaurant with ads for vegan sweets that might have just been closed but it was night during an emergency. As cheesecake goes, this cake is very mild, to the point that I wasn't sure there was going to be any cheese taste at all, but then it cake. Still, pretty minimal. However, there is a lot of strawberry compote in the little ball and I decided in the end that I could credit for being excellent.

Pierre Gagnaire, La Fraise

Get up early due to not getting back to sleep and wet off to do the National Art Center clump of my neighborhood running course, which stretches from Aoyama 1 Stn. to the east and west most exits of Roppongi Stn. From the last, I made a side trip to Pierre Gagnaire, so it was a gentler trip home, which I reached a little before 09:00. I was success at the clump, which is 5.452 km by itself. I still have to do the farthest (but smallest) loops clockwise again.

After a carrot (as something to hold down a spike in blood sugar), I had La Fraise, which is a shape cake. This is obviously a solid shell. Inside is mostly very light strawberry mousse, with a little bit of custard and strawberry (I'm not sure whether the custard is needed to project the mousse from the strawberry). The "leaf" is pretty gummy, so probably best to eat it separately, unless you like that kind of thing. It was very nice, if light and a little hard to each, since the shell breaks apart (I assume it's white chocolate based). Still, a definitely good cake. 

Pierre Gagnaire, La Panthère Rose

Thursday late afternoon, I ran down to Pierre Gagnaire's shop for a 9th cake, as a detour from the neighborhood running course Roppongi 7 loop, which I just thought I had, but found a flaw (due to allowing the taiyaki place, since they have custard-filled ones now). I took a chance and lost, but it was educational. There were actually only 3 cake types left, one of which is great but I was looking for something new. I went with La Panthère Rose, on the grounds that there is always a panther and the "verte" wasn't that impressive, but that might be more a fault of the variation. This is a mascarpone cheese cake flavored with strawberry, the flavor of the season (ending this month, according to the original plan I saw). I had trouble with the texture of this until the very end. It might have to do with how much gelatin was in it (i.e., too much), or maybe just mascarpone cheese needs to warmed up even longer than whipped cream when taken from the refrigerator, so longer than 5 minutes, according to one authority. I'll try that next time I deal with this kind of cake.

Pierre Gagnaire, Mousse au Chocolat Rubis et aux Fraises

The last cake of last Thursday was from an exceptional shop that is challenging for a position in the quite exceptional shop group. They've shorted their hours to closing at 19:00, is now it requires a holiday to get there. I've had an excellent ruby chocolate cake from them previously, so I went with the Mousse au Chocolat Rubis et aux Fraises, which I ate after dinner. It was good, and maybe ruby chocolate goes better with strawberries than other forms, but I wasn't feeling that any kind of special harmony was going on.

Toshi Yoroizuka: Mémorial

Sunday night, I ran first to Ginza, where FC was sold out of what I wanted, not sure whether I checked in at Pierre G, but they would have been closed by the time I could have gotten there under current hours, but went to Tokyo Midtown, which also was closing early, but has later base hours, so I could get a 21st cake from this quite exceptional shop. I went with Mémorial, which was memorializing probably 10 years at Tokyo Midtown. It's chocolate, yuzu, and nuts, or at least that's what I can remember, and what was obvious. It was good, but the flavor combination wasn't really working for me as anything special.

Pierre Gagnaire: Mousse aux Chocolat et Yuzu

Hard week at work. I ran the Minami-Motomachi--Samon-chou--Suga-chou--Shinanomachi--Wakaba--Yotsuya loop of the neighborhood course (successfully, but I'm revising it again) Tuesday late (ending about 10 pm). Wednesday, I was slightly less late and tried to go to Pierre Gagnaire, but arrived after 8 pm and they were sold out of all cakes. I'm still sampling snack places along the neighborhood course, so this time I hit NewDays and tried their little Baumkuchen Vanilla, which as the shown price indicates isn't the top of even their baumkuchen offerings. Actually, though, this was definitely good, better than either of the recent coffee shop baumkuchens.

At home, I also tried something from the organic grocery store Bio c' Bon. They actually have a fresh cake in the form of Benten-dou Cookie Choux from their "Gateau de nature du coeur" line. "Cookie", probably because it's a harder pastry than the soft ones usually found in convenience stores and the like, and maybe a little harder/less crisp than regular choux pasty, though not so different from Oyashiya Utchii's. The custard was a little different from that one, though it's not obvious that one was better than the other except that this one was sweeter, probably than it needed to me, whereas maybe the other would have been better sweeter. Anyway, this one was less than half the price for the same size, so I'm more satisfied with it.

Thursday, I managed to leave work by 7 pm and get to Pierre Gagnaire before 8 pm and they had a good selection. Since it was the end of the month, I figured the chances of a changeover Sunday is large (though maybe after White Day, March 14, is more reasonable; I can't remember the trend last year, but I'll maybe look around March 1 beyond just getting cake for that day). I went with a cake I've seen around for a while, the Mousse aux Chocolat et Yuzu. I keep avoiding it because it's easy to become tired of chocolate mousse and I've been disappointed by (usually dome) mousse cakes repeatedly. There is yuzu gelatine inside as well, so this really doesn't seem like something I should like, but the chef patisserie is not incompetent: the chocolate and yuzu are balanced: it's a true chocolate mousse taste with yuzu for flavor and it prevents one from getting overpowered by the mousse. This cake is fairly firm for mousse, but not gelatinous, which is why it's not trying to a dome, just lets gravity do it's thing. My complaint is they tape the bottom of the box and the bottom of the cake, so I'm in serious danger of destroying it when trying to pull it out, once I managed to cut the clear tape holding the paper cylinder around it and raise it exactly vertically to free it. I suppose a hot wire slid under the plastic try might cut the tape safely but there should be a better way. I decided that this cake was perfect and I had not substitute for it, so I can say its great. Looks like I'm going to be making regular trips to Pierre Gagnaire for at least a little while.

Pierre Gagnaire: Chocolat au Praliné Noisette

Went down to Pierre Gaganaire, since its two great cakes out of six made it top of the exceptional category and a challenger for the bottom of the quite exceptional category. It a relative near run, but I did the other half of my indoor workout afterward. Also, on the way I could do the tiny Yotsuya loop counterclockwise and check it off as the last of the Moto-Akasaka clump, which includes the southeast side of Meiji Gaien and the Akasaka Palace environs. I choose Chocolat au Praliné Noisette, which has a great name. Unfortunately, it's pretty dry, like a hard brownie (though more tasty, but now it gives me the idea of trying to heat it (after removing the cream and sheet chocolate). Anyway, good but not exciting, so the quite exceptional category can proceed. Found a bakery cafe down there in Akasaka 1 as well, or at least a listing of it on a building, but I'll have to look in detail later. I'm already down with the Akasaka 1 loop, but there are neighboring loops that I've only done one direction.

Pierre Gagnaire: Finger Ruby Fig Framboise

I'm behind visiting exceptional cake shops as I was dealing with challengers from below (some of whom are now part of the problem with the exceptional group). This time, I went to Pierre Gagnaire, another hotel shop like yesterday's, but the best I've found. Since I've never had ruby chocolate before, I resisted the yuzu chocolate mousse and got the Finger Ruby Fig Framboise. Of course, I still don't know what ruby chocolate tastes like, just this cake, so setting aside whether ruby chocolate is essentially a chemically created hoax, fig and raspberries is not a combination I've had a lot of, so whatever ruby chocolate brings (not cacao taste, apparently), it goes with it and harmonizes this well. Or at least, the fig taste was really strong at first, and then the raspberry came to the forefront, and then it just what what it was. I also had a solidness that I liked, and stood up well to being cut into small pieces with a plastic utensil, as I braved the strong wind and ate it outside at the tables around the adjacent building to the hotel. I'm calling this cake great. Not sure when fig season ends, so this may not see it's way to a cake-off, as that isn't likely to happen any earlier than mid-October.

I ran to Pierre Gagnaire, by way of Tokyo Midtown rather than the shortest way, and after cake went and did some neighborhood run loops nearby, 3 really small loops. I also tried the new Hirakawa-chou--Kioi-chou loop, but didn't know where to turn to get to the road circling the temple to bypass the intersection next to the Prime Minister's residence. Now I should be able to remember to look for the wide stairs between the two hotels.

The Ritz-Carlton Café and Deli, Caramelia Pineapple Hazelnut

Ran down to the renovated The Ritz-Carlton Café and Deli for a third cake, working in some 1-min dashing spurts. They don't seem to have pastries and bread any more and very modern looking (and dark). It looks nice. As my third cake, I went with the Caramelia Pineapple Hazelnut, whose name speaks for itself. I walked it back. It was definitely a good cake, but that's not enough to keep me trying there, so this shop gets shifted to the fine shop category. Only one more 2-cake shop in the quite fine group, which I've at least gotten down below 48, even if no where near the target 32 shops.