Cake-off: Origines Cacao's Printemps over Coffee Parlor Hilltop's Pistache Chocolat

Thursday, I took the afternoon off and first went to Isetan early enough that their Croissant Chocolat was not sold out. It was excellent. It is not sweet, but more a burnt (maybe literally) chocolate taste, which I approve of. Definitely better than average as a croissant. In news, there is a cake and a "parfait" that has cake elements enough that I'm interested, more than the average verrine, which I've grouped with fresh cakes. They limited to through Golden Week (and the parfait is only after 2 pm), so I'll have to act fast. No cake planned for tomorrow, saving it for Saturday. Since I've busy over golden week, I might try to fit in two cake-offs over the weekend to deal with seasonal cakes/shops. It depends on how the first cake-off goes. My bicycling for the day confirmed availability from the cake I wanted for take-out from the Coffee Parlor Hilltop and then I briefly tried to do the Akasaka--Azabudai--Roppongi--Toranomon loop but failed almost immediately. I didn't realize immediately, but I failed again later on more obviously, so I went hope to review.

Friday, I got another pastry, this time Croissant d'Almonde from Christa. It was definitely good but not really so different from most. I tried the Akasaka--Azabudai--Roppongi--Toranomon loop again but got confused once I had to cross the Roppongi-doori, since I guessed incorrectly whether I would stay on the bridge (if I had been on foot instead on a bicycle) and continue on to cross Azabu-doori, which I should have. It's coming back around that I need to cross in stages.

Saturday, I finally got cake again, making up for the two previous days by getting two for a cake-off. For the first one, I tried walking to Coffee Parlor Hilltop, and my feet seem okay, so that's huge progress. I'll maybe try running longer than enough to make the light next week. I was there at opening time (no line, but someone came in immediately after me). I got the Pistache Chocolat to go. Then I used Marunouchi Line to go to Ginza 6 to get Printemps from Origines Cacao and then I went home by train. I still found that the raspberry rolled off the Printemps, but it was in better shape generally than last time by bicycle.

These are both recent cakes that I worried I might have labeled as great without sufficient cause, but the first result of this first-round cake-off is that I still feel that both bring something special, so they pass that hurtle. I felt like Printemps brought slightly more complexity, or maybe I was just enjoying the white chocolate more, so it gets the win. Printemps is obviously a seasonal cake, but it's relatively recent, so I hope it can stick around a couple weeks to get in a second-round at least. I know Pistache Chocolat, and anyway F Cassel has a cake that has been waiting for an opponent and it lost its first-round, so I'm planning to do another cake-off tomorrow (so no cake-off next Saturday) for those two. I'm sure Hilltop will think it same to see me again for the same cake, but so it goes. I might manage fourth new cake them before they close, but really, except for that, three other shops would be my priority, and I wouldn't get back there next week in time.

For further exercise, I made my third attempt at the Akasaka--Azabudai--Roppongi--Toranomon loop and finally got it (as well as reviewing after two previous attempt, the sun up was probably helpful, though it still took a long time to find a way of crossing by bicycle as easily as the main bridge. A couple coffee shops are gone, but I added a couple Japanese confectionery shops.

Cake-off: Bien-être's Chocolat Cuit over Jean-Paul Hévin's Victoria

First, let me mention that I ran to Christa Friday evening and got a Pain au Chocolat. I stopped and ate it nearby rather than make it travel a long time, so the photo is not very flattering due to the lighting, but it was great: lots of crispy layers with good chocolate, completely different from the previous pastry that I had claiming that name. Although this was my first pastry from them, I was expecting something pretty good, just because I had an excellent bread sample and they seen pretty serious about their breads while also making fancy cakes. There had a few other pastries there, so I should go back there so. The rest of the run was going to Roppongi Link and Loop. I had to move the connection to agree with the open crosswalk, but otherwise the route seems good. Other steps are to visit in the daytime for photographs and confirmation that things are where they are supposed to be and actually running over the course in a full continuous neighborhood run. It's not the most attractive place, so I might slip in on larger runs (or need to anyway, to get the far without cheating), but I shouldn't judge to quickly. On the way back I stopped at Tokyo Mid-town and remembered all the things I wanted from there. Probably I'll go at least once next Tuesday and Wednesday.

Today, I walked first to Jean-Paul Hévin around 11:30 and got get to the cake counter within a few minutes to purchase the Victoria, which is available through Valentine's Day. Except for the top biscuit, it seems to be the same cake as their two-person special seasonal cake. The website has been updated to reflect this and says that it will be replaced by Violet, which, reviewing old posts, I've never reviewed, so I have that to look forward to.

Next I went to Bien-être's by the long way to stop and take a few pictures of Tougou Shrine. Didn't realize that I hadn't done the Seichou no Ie complex to the northwest, or I would have picked that up to. Takeshita Street to Harajuku Stn. was packed, so no running around here. I've reverted my course over there to a single loop, but it's not practical on weekends except really early in the morning. I went to Bien-être for their baked (flour-less?) chocolate cake, Chocolat Cuit. It's simple but works, which is pretty much the shop's overall strength. On the way back, I confirmed that I could connect them up to my neighborhood map, via big detour north to get the crosswalk over the continuation north of Inokashira-dori avenue (which takes a east/left at the Yoyogi Public Park Police Box intersection). I also confirmed that you can cross through the north end of Meiji Shrine, when it's open (daylight), though you're not supposed to run, of course, as it's not a public park.

Did the cake-off, another chocolate match-up that finishes off the first round for Jan. 2018 great cakes. Actually, though it was excellent, wasn't remembering what I thought was great about Victoria this time around, which isn't too surprising given the number of similar cakes that I've liked from JPH. Still, the Chocolat Cuit was great, so I don't have any problem giving them the win. Maybe I'll test it against Viron's similar cake in the second round.

Christa; Chocolate Crunch?

Friday, continuing on Thursday's work, I worked on doing reverse-direction runs of Naitoumachi, Sadagaya 5, and Shinjuku 4 loops. I also checked out the Kitasandofureai Public Park in case I wanted to change to route to coming in through the back rather than loop around on the main roads to just run by the front and decided that the back stairs were too dark to run at night (there is a drive next to them, but that seems too private). It was short run, just a little over 40 minutes, but it was a run without cake and I did not want to get too tired before Saturday.

Saturday, I planned a cake-off, starting with a run out to 14 Juillet in the Shin Marunouchi Bld., but they did not have the cake and I wanted, instead having a lot of Christmas-themed cakes, which did not surprise me. I verified that Toshi Yoroizuka was the same, finished 1 hour of running and then walked another two or three hours, getting pictures for landmarks on my planned maps and confirming some parts of the routes. I hadn't planned to be out long, so I didn't have any snacks with me. Since cake-offs seem to off for the rest of the year, I decided to try Christa in Koujimachi. I got Chocolate something, which I'm going to call Chocolate Crunch, since which might be correct, since "crunch" was the word used on the card. This also was a special Christmas cake, so may not be representative, although was a pretty standard chocolate mousse with crème brûlée center and a layer of "crunch" above a thin cake base. It was simple but the chocolate (a blend of Colombian, Brazilian, and I can't remember where's) was good. Not sure why the cake left a sort of smokey aftertaste. Might not have been it's fault, since I passed people smoking to get out of the park. Still in the process of adding photos, but my impression is that the course through Akasaka is going to take time to learn.

Later, I also got an Escargot Chocolate Pistache from Ritual at Isetan, where Origines Cacao had stopped selling individual cakes. I stop by the 26th to see whether those cakes return for the last day at Isetan, but I'm not excepting so. The pastry was just good and I'm thinking that pastries are more sensitive to time of purchase than most cakes, so I'll have an excuse to experiment with timing.