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.

Cake-off: L'Abricotier's Sicilien Figue over Libertable's Charm

Continuing the trend, I did my traveling with 10 intervals of 4-min running, starting from about 10 am. First I went to L'Abricotier to get their Sicilien Figue (Cicilien Figue? For some reason my spelling notes from the shop are especially irregular). The rain was light to none, so I could pick up a couple pictures of not very interesting parks for my map and verify that what Google thought was a cake shop was an empty lot. The construction plan posted showed mixed commercial and housing on the shopping street, so it's possible Google is ahead of itself. I came back by train, but making connections from shop to station and station to home, I still used up all 10 running intervals, so after a half-lunch, I went out again walking to Libertable and back. Since I'm reviewing my neighborhood running course through the Harajuku area, I went to the counter in Shibuya Hikarie ShinQs, which was still well stocked at 1:30 pm. Along the way, I verified the nonexistence of a shop but added a couple cafés that marginally expand the proposed new loop for southern Cat Street. On the way back, I popped into one of the chain coffee shops I was considering adding and decided not: the baked goods were plastic wrapped.

This week's cake-off cakes were both zero for two going into the third round and were marked as questionable for staying on the greats list. Against each other though, I'm happy to keep them both on it. Charm is a very creamy and sweet mont-blanc, but I'm choosing the fruity flavor of the Sicilien Figue. Looks like I'm back to owing L'Abricotier a cake. Well, I've never had their cream puff, so I'm sure I'll be able to find something new, but it's going to take a couple weeks, as I'm busy next weekend. Also probably no cake-off, but maybe a visit to new fancy tea salon.

Cake-off: Jean-Paul Hévin's La Figue over Libertable's Charm

First, let me mention Friday night's run, which was another long run that brought me to the most north and most east parts that I've done yet on any kind of neighborhood course run, reaching to Nakano Ward, not so far away from a neighborhood I spent part of one summer. This time it took about 80 minutes to reach the new loop on the neighborhood course and another 50+ minutes to run the 8 km loop. That was the Hatagaya--Honmachi--Minami-Dai--Nishi-Shinjuku loop. It was a new loop, and I was in a hurry to run it before I really knew the course or the neighborhood. I almost immediately found a flaw and had to improvise and missed on of the known parks. Also, I ran most of it with Google Map displayed, which isn't really how I want to be doing these, so I've rethought how I want to continue. Besides wanting to actually learn individual loops in the course before moving on to others, I want to do in full the pedestrian/green ways, which this course and the actually the course leading to it both have. Any I've found another public park that should be on the map, so I've added that, split the loop leading to it into two loops, and also had to slip off a couple slivers into mini-terminal loop leaves to pick up landmarks that otherwise would require even longer convolutions (I won't combine two loops if that increases the total running length).

For fuel, I had hoped to get something from a bakery cafe in Harajuku, but it had transformed into something else in the last couple days. It's really hard to keep up with Harajuku. Everything after that was long closed (the new loop and one below it are pretty heavily residential), even leaving home before seven in the evening, but I walked home and passed by Shinjuku Station, so I picked up a Sheraton Chocolat from Hakuo for 20% off. It's sort of like a pain au chocolat, with layers, but very thick layers and not very baked (or they absorbed back a lot of moisture by that time of night) and the filling was milk chocolate cream rather than just chocolate (so it was refrigerated). It was just ok as a pastry but appreciated as energy, though I didn't eat it until I reached home (no cake for Friday).

New Number Sugar

Saturday, I got a late start on running to Akasaka and then Tokyo Midtown to get cakes for a cake-off: first Charm from Libertable and then La Figue from Jean-Paul Hévin. Then  I went back out and scouted what I thought was going to be the next level 12 loop (it still is, but running it is no long my next priority). I got a sample from Candy Show Time (the one on Cat Street) and decided that even though I've added chocolate shops to my map, I didn't need hard candy shops. It's just sugar in a different shape, and it's unclear what advantage handmade has. I expect a machine could do a good job, though maybe it wouldn't be as pretty. Not sure yet whether Number Sugar, which has a shop just off Cat Street nearby, will stay on the map. They just opened (or are preparing to open: they were taking opening pictures when I went past, though I didn't see any customers) a big shop much closer on the southeast end of Sendagaya, which isn't really a tourist or shopping area, so I'm not sure what the idea is. Are they going to do cooking lessons there, and need the space?

Saturday was a second-round cake-off between first-round losers, but I'm happy with both as great. They both take fairly standard flavor and add something unusual to give a distinct accent. It was difficult to choose in the end, but the mont-blanc (Charm) is a really sweet cake that one could start getting tired of toward the end (at least when eating it along with another piece of cake, but only one small cup of tea), whereas I could have kept eating La Figue. Sorry Libertable guy (who I just noticed on an NHK special as I was setting up whatever recording I was actually going to watch during lunch today).

Cake-off: Bien-être's Pistachio and American Cherry Chiboust over Libertable's Charm

Got a virus and went a week without cake.

Felt well enough to go out and get cake. I prepared to go by bicycle and got as far as the exit and decided leaning on the bars was too painful and instead half ran and half walk (because it's maximum-warning hot right now) to Libertable at Shibuya ShinQ to get their mont-blanc, Charm, for a cake-off. I had gotten to four untested great cakes, so I decided to do a first round. Also, I didn't trust Bien-être to keep their Pistachio and American Cherry Chiboust around, though they've had it for a few weeks. These cakes are similar in that they are perfect realizations of in some ways simple types of cakes. Since I have limited access to dependable chiboust, the chiboust is the more important on my great list, so I'll give the nod to it. At some point, I'll want to compare mont-blanc to each other to see which ones are redundant.

Libertable: Charm

Before the rain got worse again, I cycled to Akasaka to bring the last of the excellent shops up to 5 cakes blogged. Since the Grace was not available (I wonder whether they alternate, since it was yesterday, though it could have sold out, of course), I went with Charm, which is a fairly standard mont-blanc with a fairly nonstandard ingredient for other ships, porcini (mushroom). I couldn't really identify the porcini (though it is supposed to be nutty, so, used correctly, I probably shouldn't detect it in chestnut without a lot more experience with porcini) and it was fairly standard in construction, meringue base under whipped cream, under chestnut paste, but it was perfect for me as far as what I like in a mont-blanc, so I'll say that it was great.

In other happy news, although I remain committed to no running this month, my commute walk was pain-free (I might have felt a ghost sensation at the end of one pass, but not pain). I might start doing some basic training to build up my ankles starting this weekend and soon try farther walking. My hands will be happy to get away from bicycling, as my wrists and fingers aren't that strong).