Cake-off: Paris S'éveille's Gateau Vanille over En Vedette's En Vedette

In the name of completion, I'll mention that I did a quick weights workout on Friday night, but that Saturday I was busy. Had some time to kill in the afternoon near Tokyo Midtown Hibiya. I saw that the Starbucks there was listed as "Reserve", so I was hoping that it had some of the fancy baked goods, like the Starbucks Reserve in Aobadai or the Princi on the other side of the river and the old Yamanote Road in Sarugaku-chou, but no, just the usual Starbucks stuff, except for a fancy coffee bar with their reserve brand. I shared the New York Cheese Cake, which is good, and The Chocolat by P. Libre's Ichiei Taguma, which has chestnut and caramel, besides the obvious chocolate, and ultimately didn't work for me, though it was okay.

Sunday, there was running, cake from proper shops, a pastry, a neighborhood course run, and indoor muscle training: a full day. I wrote a pastry, but on the run I started off with a pastry from Excelsior Caffé, because they are convenient, and higher priority targets along my route were closed. It was okay as a pastry (maybe good as bread), but better than that. By the time I left, they had Pain au Chocolat, which would have been a better test.

I went first to Bien-être, where I expected to get Cuit Chocolat for a fourth-round 1st runner's up cake-off. I had just been thinking that they hadn't had a new cake for a year, but they proved me wrong: the chocolate cake had evolved, though now I'm confused about into what. Maybe it was Anzu Frais Chocolat, which would be fresh Japanese apricot chocolate cake, which I could deal with, but at the time the topping looked like but the topping actually looked like Azuki Frais, fresh sweet beans. Either way, I considered a new cake (though the base cake might be the same) and wasn't prepared to deal with it. Since I was still particially in that direction, I stuck with the second target of Paris S'éveille's Gateau Vanille (though I had scare when the tray sold out in front of me, when it was already afternoon, but fortunately another tray was brought out) and instead matched it with En Vedette's signature cake. It's a little early for them, so the next couple cake-offs at least won't be fourth-round one's, as I still have a third round ones to do (I have a second-round one, but Sunday doesn't work for it).

Gateau Vanille is perhaps the best presentation of vanille (the competition being PH's vanille tart, which is currently one and one among cake-offs) in more or less pure form (actually, white chocolate), whereas En Vedette is an interest mixture of strong flavors. Both are interesting, but maybe the En Vedette is more challenging and I was in the mood for straightforward and am giving the win to Gateau Vanille.

Didn't notice any new cakes at PS to go for in response to their win, though I was more worried about getting my Gateau Vanille, so I didn't look properly. I've reviewing their pastries, though, so I got the Pain au Chocolat. This thing is huge and looks perfect. It's pretty hollow, intentionally, which isn't a problem but isn't particularly helpful. There isn't any more chocolate than typically, though more would probably imbalance it. Not my favorite, but I can't fault it, it was excellent.

The evening run was trying to do the updated/new Minami-Motomachi--Samon-chou--Suga-chou--Shinanomachi--Wakaba--Yotsuya loop. I knew all the sites and I might have worked out the correct order, which would pretty much determine the route (I know the roads I need), except there was a flaw in the previous map down at the nearest point to Shinanomachi Station that I fixed but going straight instead of turning a block early but didn't remember, so tonight was just practice. Still I could do the revised/new Suga-chou look successfully clockwise, all 152 meters of it, so there's that. Maybe later in the week, after I've taken cake of my main cake targets (or if I'm starting too late to try Monday or Tuesday).

Rue de Passy: Peru

As planned, I worked on two revised neighborhood course loops and skipped the big loop to work ahead on something different. I started with the Jinguumae 5&6 loop, which I quickly messed up. I needed to think 3 sites ahead to figure out which way the current course looped. I continued as a practice, which I needed as I needed several turns. Discovered Hotel Chocolat on the new route, which was useful, and added Brook's Cafe, nullifying the old route. Also, I realized that the old route was never good, even with the sites I knew about, because it went by the back of a building it needed to go by the front of. I had to add a U-turn to resolve the problem, but the new cafe simplifies at end, so I should have an easier run next time.
Before I even got to that loop, I stopped at the nearest Excelsior Caffé, which I had noticed had fresh pastries in the morning and is the highest priority food site. I tried the Pain aux Raisins. It was okay, but too soft for me, or maybe it just didn't have anything going for it especially. Not shocked that they aren't a prime source of pasties, but I need to give them a try. This was early in the run, so I let it be enough for a couple hours, whereas usually I've very strict about regular Calorie Mates, since with long runs, I think I've underfed myself in the past, which led to getting sick later.

The next two loops went well, together stretching from near Shibuya Station up to near Hatsudai Station: the Kamiyama-chou--Tomigaya--Udagawa-chou and Tomigaya-Yoyogi loops (also, finishing off the tiny Yoyogi 5 loop that I had done one direction Friday night). While I was nearby, I confirmed a Starbucks and a tiny private (?) temple on a dead-end street on the Hatsudai loop, so I could revise that one for its turn. Back at Shibuya Station, I explored Shibuya Scramble Square, the new building: lots of sweets brand names listed, with shops on two floors and maybe some cafes elsewhere, though the floor I visited seemed smaller than ShinQs', where I went next to get a Croissant from Sadaharu Aoki as my second snack. This croissant had a clear sugar (and egg?) coating, which transformed it from a bread croissant to a proper pastry. Great! It was the only flavor they had, so I need to get to Midtown or Marunouchi maybe to get chocolate and matcha versions I saw recently during the day to get them fresh in my review.

From there, I ran to the recently promoted Rue de Passy and choose Peru this time, a chocolate cake. It was good but didn't stand out among chocolate cakes. This enough to keep them in their current exceptional position relative to the one it deposed, but it's vulerable to attack from a couple other shops from below, so want to resolve those challenges before getting another cake from Rue de Passy.
Though I was tempted to take the train back, I (mostly) ran, so I ran almost as much as if I really had done the big loop, which was more or less my plan.