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.

Cake-off: Sadaharu Aoki's Saint-marc Praliné over Jean-Paul Hévin's Bergamot

Sugar Crunch from Danish Bar

No posts for a while because of no cake. Tuesday, I ran out to Bien-être where they told me there were no new cakes in the line-up this week. I wanted to practice the Kita-Aoyama--Jinguumae--Shibuya loop of my neighborhood course map, so for a snack, I tried the Danish Bar under the Jinguubashi (?) intersection, in the underground corridors for the Metro subway Harajuku Station. I got the Sugar Crunch, and it was definitely good, better than a donut and a mini cupcake I've gotten in the same area for 4 times and 2 times the price. I succeeded this time of the part of the course that I tried, but I failed on the Shibuya--Minami-Aoyama loop due to turning too early.

Having missed cake Tuesday, by Wednesday I had decided that I was going to do a cake-off Thursday, since I would be too business during the weekend (I had planned on Monday). The nearest new non-cake place I could hit then was SunnyHills Minami Aoyama Store, which fit with my plan to practice the recently modified course it was on, the Minami-Aoyama--Nishi-Azabu loop. I was successful in getting there before they closed at 7 p.m. It was my first time to go in and I found that on the first floor, they only sold the gift sets advertised online, not individual pineapple bars/cakes (and they have bottles of juice), so this really doesn't qualify as someplace to get a snack while jogging. A couple people were taken up to the second floor cafe, which surprised me, given how late it was, but anyway it looked a little too upscale for my state of dress (jogging stuff). Still, I would be interested in visiting the cafe sometime for tea-time for two.

However, I failed the Minami-Aoyama--Nishi-Azabu loop too (thought the correct place to turn might be farther ahead, but it's a long block), and then it turned out that the course itself was a failure, because of a traffic signal I hadn't known about. I've redone the map to loop past it and in the process SunnyHills is no longer on the course (despite the building being a distinctive landmark). For a snack, I stopped at the underground eating area below Omotesandou intersection, where I got an Egg Tart from Eggcellent Egg Tart, which has a quiche-type shell. It was definitely good. I did, at least, finally get the little Shibuya--Minami-Aoyama loop correct. On the way home, I also got some 100% rye bread from Breadworks, which is not pastry and also not in a neighborhood accessible from my course (can't reach it without a traffic signal), so no picture, but it was fine. I had it with low-sugar homemade jam and separately with olive oil.

Thursday morning, I was free, so I ran from about 8:45. After picking up a picture of the Yotsuya 3-choume Station Antendo bakery/cafe for the Samonchou loop, which I scouted but still missed the Garage Coffee shop, which has baked goods, supposedly, I went down to the northwest corner of the Akasaka-Azabudai-Roppongi-Toranomon loop and practiced it clockwise as far as United Church of Christ in Japan Akasaka Church, so including all the most recent south end. Also on the south end, out of order, since it's the first 13-level loop, I did a lap around the new Shibakouen--Toranomon loop without needing to check my map (it's basically one big block, though there is a walkway through the middle when I need shortcut). I didn't practice any of the other little 13-level loops coming from the Akasaka-Azabudai-Roppongi-Toranomon loop or finish it, because I ran out of time (10:05). I ran next to Ginza Mitsukoshi to get Jean-Paul Hévin's Bergamot and then (looping north to check out Viron and futilely going by the Marunouchi Building, where the foodcourt was not yet open) to get Sadaharu Aoki's Saint-marc Praliné. And I saw that I was correct about being wrong, that they did have their baba, so I need to get back there next Tuesday: if they don't have any left, I'll try to reserve one for Wednesday.

Finally to the cake-off: This time, the gelatinous layer on the top of the Bergamot bothered me a little, but there are several textures in it, so I should learn to live with it. Still, the mild Saint-marc Praliné seemed more deserving, so it gets the win. I'll probably try to get to second-rounds for both of them fairly soon, but the saint-marc has until the end of March and the Bergamot seems to be a replacement for the Bergam, so maybe it will stick around for a while. It's labeled as "new", not as "limited", at Ginza Mitsukoshi.