Thu-Sat: Henri le Roux [Isetan]

Got a box of caramels from Henri le Roux Isetan basement, since I had someone to share them with and I've already had all four of their "cakes" and this is the shop of the only caramélier (since he made up the term and trademarked it, reportedly). These are 162 yen each, regardless of how how many you buy.

Caramels are no substitute for cake, but they were very good. I would say that the C.B.S (Caramel au Buerre Salé) is the best, but the Chocolat and Framboise (raspberry) are also excellent if you like those flavors, and I found that I did. The Orange Gingembre (ginger) was also good, but I was not as into it, so it just seemed like candy to me. They have other flavors for caramels, although I might try their chocolates next if I feel a need to visit here again to keep up with the other great shops.

22 km day off loop run.

The rain mostly stopped and I got in a long run with only a vague plan. I went by Avancons, but decided that my expectations were not that high, so why bother and continued on to Aigre-Douce. There I got the Caramel Chocolate Brownie. After I ordered it, I noticed that it had coffee (and why? Does the pistachio cake have tobacco mixed in, you know, for the flavor?), but didn't back out. After all, maybe the coffee makes it better. Well, it did not kill it, but it did not really make it good, so I'll just leave it as a cake for someone else (caramel and chocolate sounds good, but only if the caramel is fairly sweet, and no coffee, please). I don't remember how much it was, but probably around 500 yen plus tax. They have another chocolate, which I'll try another time. They were really busy for a Monday afternoon, though. Lots of people making big orders, so my cake was already melting by the time they got around to closing the box.

Next, I went to Fraoula, because I could, although I did not do much better. I got their chocolate, the Tomoe, for 453 yen. On the one hand, it was nice to have chocolate without the coffee. It has rum as well, apparently, although I could not taste it. I'm not sure what to call this type of cake. It's not baked, but it's more granular than a mousse but isn't fudge dense. It's kind of a standard texture, so there's probably a good name for it. Ultimately, it did not work for me, although whatever the rum was doing worked, as there was not a problem with too strong a chocolate taste, just its sort of a lot of one flavor that is not enough. It's pretty and I like the macrons, but I don't need it. It would be good to split with someone and have with tea or wine (although there is no space for a cafe there).

I looked around for a third cake, although I had not intended to visit anywhere else. I swung by Takagi and passed from not knowing what to get, went to Toshi Yoroizuka, but they did not have the cake that I had in mind, and so I ended up going to Henri le Roux, which like Toshi Y. is in Tokyo Midtown, but is actually a caramelier, if that is the right word for a master maker of caramels, the only one that I know. They have some little cakes too, which are also available at their Isetan counter, but the draw for the Midtown store is the Kouign Amann. I got the chocolate and C.B.S. (salt butter caramel). These are definitely great, especially the C.B.S. It's sort of croissant-like as far as being flaky and buttery, but of course there is caramel inside, so it's also chewy, not dry. Next time I'll maybe get the C.B.S. again and try the pineapple. These are 324 yen per, so like little cakes.