Asterisque, Montmorency

Last weekend when I was nearby getting Chocolat Cuit for a cake-off, I stopped also at Asterisque I got a fourth cake from them as I work through the list of quite fine shops alphabetically. The top got messed up, so this was a reconstruction from the best side. The outside is obviously pistachio and this layer is fairly thick and drying than a paste but similar. In the middle is a balanced about of griotte cherry, not withstanding the top decoration. Definitely a sophisticated place and a cake along the lines of what I lick, so it's getting an excellent and they'll make the next cut to stay in this category.

Jean-Paul Hévin, Longchamp Chocolat

Sunday, I finally did it, I ran, as a one-way neighborhood course run, the giant Daita--Daizawa--Hatagaya--Kamiyama-chou--Kitazawa--Komaba--Motoyoyogi-chou--Nishihara--Oohara--Ooyama-chou--Shouto--Tomigaya--Uehara loop, which was 35.2 km long, plus enough lead up to make it a marathon+ distance, so a massive addition to the route, though I'm not confident that I'll ever get it memorized. Along the way, I verified some new sites, so already I've split off part, but the loops are always evolving. No problem with my feet, by keeping it pretty slow, though it was so slow, and my knowledge of the route is so poor, that I almost wore out my battery (also I took about dozen pictures), so next time I do this kind of route, it better either be simpler or I should memorize more of it.

Besides some candies from Iwate and Calorie Balance cookies, I had one Pain au Chocolat from Asterisque. As usual quite a wait, though not enough to explain the 6 km/h average time. Better that that body damage, though. Still, I'll rest tomorrow from running, I hope, and get caught up on cleaning and email.

For cake, I finally got the Longchamp Chocolat from Jean-Paul Hévin at Isetan. Even around 2 pm when I got there (I started at 6:20 for the running), they had several. Hope the same is true tomorrow, because I want to do a quick turnaround on cake-offs, because this was great, as expected, totally decadent, with chocolate, meringue, both almond and just pure sugar and egg, I think. It's hard chocolate, but I don't know how it compares to the Longchamp Chocolat Noir.

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.

Asterisque: Oar

Oar (from Asterisque)

Did a fairly uneventful daytime run to Asterisque and back. It basically was around 9.5 km/h, though going out was just shy of that and coming back was greater, despite carrying cake. I was trying to deliberately run 10 km/h, but the route has some steep slopes. I should say its an over 10 km round trip.

The cake was Oar (オール; 580), which is apricot with a hazelnut biscuit. The somewhat course dark biscuit did not really go well with the apricot gelatin, as far as the texture, and the flavors were not harmonizing either. I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and call it good, as it was not that disappointing, but Asterisque gets demoted down to just good, which is not such a bad thing. Next I expect a first post on Isetan's current visiting shop, which is probably not better, based on previous experience, but is worth giving another try, just like Asterisque was.

Asterisque: Gabrielle

Today's run was to Asterisque again. This time I got Gabrielle (ガブリエル), although I might be misremembering "Gabriel": I should really write these down when I'm in the shop. This is a dome of cassis (blackcurrant) flavored meringue, with some cassis mousse and cassis compote in the center/bottom. I think I've had this before (pre-blog), but I suspect that I didn't appreciate it as much. Now, I don't need everything to be nuts and chocolate, plus I brought it home, so I could eat it in a relaxed environment. Even though fruity cakes aren't my favorite, this was not too strong or weak, and it's unusually light: you could easily eat it with a spoon, except for the hard base.



Running was slightly more than last time, so still 10 km, with half 9 km/h and coming back cake-running 8 km/h. I'd run again tomorrow, but I really am not getting much else done and I need to do some cleanly by tomorrow night. Probably get something worth blogging Saturday/Sunday, but no running: I'm planning to get a flu shot instead.

Asterisque: Rubio

Was back at Isetan today, for Asterisque, who is visiting from not that far away. I got their Rubio　(ルビオ, 590 yen), which is hazelnut mousse under chocolate glazing, accented with rum and raisin. Not that it is alcoholic tasting at all, but has a slight fruity flavor that I could not identify (sure, I read that it was rum raisin when I bought it, but after running, I couldn't remember one description from another, so I was half convinced there was a little orange in there instead, although I couldn't believe in the passion fruit that I remembered being paired with orange). The hazelnut as a mousse is not very strong, but definitely good, and it's not trying to be a kid's cake, although the decoration is a little over the top for me. Still, I'll say it's excellent and try to follow up on Asterisque soon. From what I remember, it's an elegant shop and it has a fairly good reputation online among Tokyo cake shops.



The run was 1 2/3 laps around Akasaka Palace and then to Lawson's 100 for groceries, for 6.4 km at 9 km/h (which is actually a floor rather than a ceiling value today, despite the hills), plus a kilometer or so at 8 km/h to get there to begin with. They were saying rain for tomorrow, and certainly cold, but I'll probably do a run down to Tokyo Midtown, just as something different, and then come home and bake, since I already got cake at Midtown Saturday without running.