Cake-off: Bien-être's Mont-Blanc over Viron's Gateau Chocolat

This is about two weeks behind, as worsening conditions naturally drain my enthusiasm, but still these were great cakes I had in a cake-off. These were the the last (until enough new great cakes advance) of the 5th round cake-offs for cakes with 3 wins to one loss. Getting the cake was pretty easy. Viron in Shibuya opens at 10:00 and always has their Gateau Chocolat. Matching against this was the best cake of Viron's biggest rival in terms of my own ranking, Bien-être's Mont-Blanc, which was among the few types of cakes for sale from 11:00. 

Today, maybe I wanted something softer with more texture variation, even though I love chocolate, so the underdog shop won with the Mont-Blanc. While there, I noticed a new cake I wanted, which hopefully didn't influence me.

Actually, I lied. I remember now that I was running late and went to B-E first and then to Viron. Viron open's earlier, but B-E is more likely to sell out and there was less certainty that they would have what I wanted. In pursuit efficiency, I also stopped at Scramble Square building to get a cake from a counter, which is how I suddenly remembered the order. More about that in the next post. 

 

Marbre Vegan, Gateau Chocolat & Strawberry Shortcake

 Unplanned, got a couple cakes from a shop that replaced Frips. As the name implies, a vegan cake place. I choose a Gateau Chocolat and the other cakes was Strawberry Shortcake. The other cakes available were an apple tart and a blueberry tart.

The shortcake seemed fine and not so different from others, though I'm not the best judge. The chocolate flavor of the Gateau Chocolat was fine, so I a believe them that it's fancy French chocolate. As cake, it wasn't bad but it doesn't really have the texture I want from cake. It's a little dry, though not really in a bad way or a café cake that's sat around too long (or is made to be able to sit around a long time). Anyway, sorry I can't rate them better and I won't resist interest in trying other cakes from them, but I won't actively pursue them.  

Stadium Café, Gateau Chocolat

To motivate running, and get ahead for the upcoming holidays (when getting new Tokyo cake is problematic), I did another run through neighborhood areas. I noticed a chain shop I should visit but tried Stadium Cafe yet again. It was just after 5pm, so I wasn't confident, but this time was before an event, and it was busy, so they were staying open. They only had the Classic Chocolate, but that was okay. I'll get the cheesecake another day. 

I got the cake take-out and it came with whipped cream, which I wasn't able to add very artistically. Being a café, I wasn't surprised that it was pretty hard cake, but not so extremely that I can't say it was good. I wish them luck, opening during this unfortunate time. If I ever get back to actually fully running neighborhood courses, they're added to the cake shop one.

Cake-off: Viron's Gateau Chocolat over Éclat des Jours' Tartelette Mûre

Took off Thursday morning and did a run for cake-off cakes, or at least for the first one, Éclat des Jours' Tartelette Mûre. It seemed early when I started, so I took a longer route, but I paused enough and I'm slow enough that I wouldn't have been early if I had taken the shortest route. I decided to take the train back in two stages, stopping at the Marunouchi Viron to get their Gateau Chocolat. They don't have the selection of the Shibuya shop, but they have the basics.

These cakes are great in being top of their class in significant classes: classic baked chocolate cake and a custard and cream fruit tartlet. This time, I have to go with the chocolate, which is simple (in being uniform except for a little powered sugar on top) and delicious. This was a fourth round for two cakes with two wins and one loss, so the chocolate cake will get a round again next year but the tart can sit out a year. One more cake-off planned for this year.  

Sunday August 23, I hit the Omote-Sandou Stn. north area hard, starting with getting cake from a coffee shop, Nikka Block Cafe. I had had an excellent sablé from there. On the negative side, no cake take-out, but no drink requirement, so I figured if the cake's good, I'll make it a cake site on the new neighborhood course map. Unfortunately, this cake hits back hard. It's not stale, and a certain amount of hardness is expected, but it didn't really work for me. Ok, but needs a lot of whipped cream.

In better news, I liked the sunflower seed macaron from Cooing, which is evidently Korean.

In other local sweets news, Streamer Coffee Company Harajuku had a nice cookie, whereas the basement cafe in Omotesando Hills was manufactured on the other side of the country and not so great. I also didn't appreciate the pound cake from Ratio&C bike shop. Finally, though they apparently used to sell Kobe Donuts, now they are into muffins from a company called Berry Wise. Actually, definitely good, though I don't usually do muffins. This one was macadamia nuts and chocolate, maybe.

Cake-off Viron's Gateau Chocolat over Rue de Passy's Mille-Feuille Praliné Citron

Second-to-last cake-off for August was a third-round competition between a great cake of this year, Rue de Passy's Mille-Feuille Praliné Citron, versus an old favorite, Viron's Gateau Chocolat. Both entered with one win and one loss. In fact, I found after the competition that Gateau Chocolat had gotten flagged for possible removal previously. But actually, while I'm still happy with both cakes as great cakes, I appreciated the chocolate purity of the Gateau Chocolat more, so it takes the win this time. Mille-Feuille Praliné Citron can finally take a rest for at least a little while, with two losses.

Coatl, Gateau Chocoat

As a third post on Sunday:

I also stopped at a new bar/cafe/workspace called Coatl, because I felt sorry for them and because the sign they put out mentioned cake. I got the Gateau Chocolat, and it was okay. It might have qualified as good if the top hadn't been more like butterscotch. They didn't have any other cakes on the menu anyway, but I'll leave them on the revised map.

Bio Ojiyan Café, Gateau Chocolat

After a long pause, I hit the highest priority of the open cake places on my neighborhood running course, Bio Ojiyan Café. I made the safe choice and took Gateau Chocolat, which is a traditional baked chocolate cake. It came with whipped cream, which it needs, as it is a little dry (being baked). It was good, though at a café price for a pretty basic café. I have to wonder how it compares to something from a chain coffee shop, though it was probably bigger. Wouldn't mind going back, but it's not high enough among fine shops to probably ever rate another visit. Still another cake place on that loop, a loop closer to the Suga Shrine loop (my new base loop) that closes at 18:00 hasn't been visited yet. Maybe next week.

Running, I did the revised Takeshita clump, with the revised Jinguumae northwest loop (clockwise) and had no trouble. Maybe I'll do the counterclockwise direction for the loop tomorrow, as I expect to be running down toward Shibuya Scramble Square for cake from En Vedette again.

Passion de Rose, Gateau Chocolat

Tuesday, I caught the last day of Passion de Rose at Isetan, so I got my third cake from this potentially quite good shop, Gateau Chocolat.

For running, I did the first 12th-level loop: the Akasaka-Azabudai-Roppongi-Toranomon loop. Covers a pretty central part of Tokyo and is big, much bigger than any of the loops it connects to: 11.2 km. It took about 130 minutes of running, and then I walked back, which is pretty intense for a workday. There was some weird things going on with my right foot, as I tried to do a rolling run instead of running on the front of my foot, to vary the stress. My outer toes really send some weird signals, like I've got a cord under them that I'm treading on. Was able to keep going to no special pain afterward. But heels were sore in the morning, but thing critical. Maybe I'll try the next 12th-level Sunday (or maybe I'll bicycle to a distant shop for recon).

This Gateau Chocolat claimed five kinds of chocolate, which I believe. There are a couple biscuit layers on the bottom and a central mousse layer, a chocolate coating and pieces of chocolate stuck in the top. It was good but didn't really add up to anything special.

Afterhours: Gateau Chocolat

Took the afternoon off yesterday, coincidentally one of the few days without rain, with the main plan being to do a one-way neighborhood course run taking in all of the Hatagaya--Hatsudai--Honmachi--Tomigaya--Yoyogi loop, which merges an old loop with what was going to be the Hatagaya-Honmachi loop. Haven't measured how far it is to the nearest point, but it took just under 50 min, which I was happy with. The target loop is 11.1 km long and includes 4 pedestrian bridge crossings and another bridge-equivalent set of stairs between the New National Theatre Tokyo and Tokyo Opera City, which maybe they don't want people running through (just the down half were in the arcade, so I limited myself there, at least while the guard was around). I could avoid the latter stairs if I took the long way around on the main streets. The loop took about 80 min. There was lots of pausing to check the map and some walking around crowded areas, so I could probably do it faster and felt like I should practice it some more, but when I played back the run in my mind, I could remember the total shape, just there are just a couple places were I don't yet recognize because there isn't an obvious landmark and its more than three streets from the previous landmark. I found one problem with the map (I pedestrian signal blocks the main path), but it gives me an excuse to take out separate loop (I can just turn there and pick up the loop as part of the main loop). Found one cake shop, though it's just homemade style tarts, so not a high priority, and a Christian ministry headquarters, which I've added to the map, along with a sandwich place (Sun&Witch) on the way that sells bread, now that I'm adding general take-out baked goods places, not just places with cake or pastries. I'm still walking on updating the rest of loop, just to make sure all the included landmarks are together, in order, and labeled.

There was also cake, not surprisingly. One of the harder to visit cake shops on a neighborhood course (specifically, the above-mentioned long loop) is Afterhours, which was closed a long time in summer, closes at 6 pm in general, and isn't open Sundays. They are tiny and have just a few simple cakes and a small table and a counter (both occupied this time) that require a drink order, so I got cake and ran it to the next park on the loop. Choices were a tart, a shortcake, a baked cheesecake, and a traditional (French) chocolate cake, Gateau Chocolat, so I went with the latter, which they just put in a paper bag like a loaf of bread, which is all it needed, since you might find this at a bakery. It was good but didn't really surpass its simplicity, so no special reason to go back there other than that I'm going past and want some cake (though, if they were closed, I was going to go to Cacao Store, which is less than 100 m away running (probably 50 m as the crow flies) and I owe a cake from a cake-off win.

Neighborhood run, 62.6 km

Put together all my supposedly confirmed neighborhood runs and tried to run them in one day. Was late turning one place, which added a little, but it was planned as 62+ km. I had figured 8 hours, but I wasn't that fast, especially toward the end (though I could keep running, even up the many stairs), taking 8:23:23. I could have kept running, but I can't say that I was disappointed to stop, so I'll probably let this distance stand as a person record and try to enjoy running in some other way than trying a 100 km run next. I didn't damage anything, but it does not seem wise to be running down the streets too tired. At the very least, I don't need to run farther than I can keep up a 8 km/h pace, though I'm not sure how to make allowances for stairs. Tomorrow I'll rest, so I can consider it then.

For snacks, besides three calorie mate cookies (I had more in my bag) and a couple salt candies, I had two pasties (Friday and Monday's share) and one piece of cake.

The first pastry was a Raw Chocolate Tarte, I think (it's not list on their site), from Heart Bread Antique. This was really pretty much chocolate pudding in a tart shell, so it was not clearly more a pastry than a cake, but they are bakery, so pastry will do. This was definitely good and I appreciated at the time. This was maybe 3.5 hours in.

At around 6 hours, I got an Almond Croissant (again, long run, so I don't remember the actual name, and it's not included among the items listed on their site) from Aux Bacchanales, who are still in the pasty and bread business. The powered sugar was maybe too much (though I was okay with it), but this was also definitely good. It's baked with a thick crust that makes it seem almost deep fried to me, not so different from other ones I've had.

Finally, despite my long expectations, since they simply cake take-out places, I include Cozy Corner as a Patisserie rather than just a café. I got their Gateau Chocolat (correcting their spelling to make the phonetic Japanese name, as well as the obvious French basis). They also have what they call Chocolate Cake, which I assume is less chocolaty, if that's possible. My first reaction was that this was okay, because there were brief instances when I sense traditional American-style chocolate cake flavor amid the cream and it did not taste bad. Except, probably from whatever they used as decoration chocolate (I assume that coco butter was replaced by some homogenized vegetable oil so that it wouldn't melt, though I couldn't say that there was any actual chocolate in it) left a sickly sweet candy flavor that seems familiar but I can't identify. So this was just bad, which doesn't shock me. It's not vile, it's just bad if you've paid some attention to what constitute good cake, a least according to my tastes.

I noted Hi-Cacao Chocolate Stand, which at least has chocolate fondant, which may count as cake, though they are only by Omotesando temporarily before opening a shop in Daikanyama, which my neighborhood course doesn't reach to yet.

Dolce MariRosa: Gateau Chocolat

Ran down to the southwest Harajuku area because I needed to check whether the bridges between it and the northeast part (on the other side of Omotesandou Street) were open for a pseudo-continuous run (the course will be continuous, without stoplight interruptions, but I'm definitely going to take breaks every hour or so, for health purposes). No problem with the bridges and no problem with that part of the course, as far as remembering it or being able to cross where I need to (there was snow yesterday one place where I had made a change, so I couldn't actually see the crosswalk lines).

For cake, I visited Dolce MariRosa, on the grounds that I should blog every cake shop in my neighborhood. I had a bad experience there previously, which is why I haven't visited and blogged about them until now. I went with the Gateau Chocolat as the most fancy French cake like, which is exactly what this shop is obviously not trying to be. This is a slice of traditional (French) chocolate cake in a tart shell (I still don't understand why) with a little whipped cream and strawberry. Actually, if was fine, which is to say good. Since I fear much worse, I'm quite satisfied. Not my kind of place, but that nice is open in that neighborhood, which has Pierre Hermé and Bubó Barcelona nearby, so they don't need another fancy cake shop, probably.

It's a little scary finding the bridges open. I may actually have to do a personal record-breaking endurance run this Sunday, though not if it's raining or snowing. A little rain and snow is okay for short runs or even a long run in the summer, but not now.

Éclat des Jours: Odile

Did my fourth run to Éclat des Jours, so I'm starting to learn the tricks, like run fast enough after being stopped at a light to get through two lights but don't waste energy on the third unless there are three close together, because it's the main road and I cannot run as fast as a car to make timed lights. Also, I may have run more "Don't walks", just because there was no one coming and only a sort way to cross.

Still, I was a little surprised to come in under 1 hour of running for the first time, which means an average speed when running of around 11 km/h. Even so, it was slim pickings on a Friday night, so I don't expect to repeat this run on another Friday (unless I'm in the same situation of being busy on a Saturday). Back, I just barely kept around 9 km/h and probably missed a lot of second lights.

The cake was Odile (alternatives were a coffee-flavored cake and black forest chocolate cake, which has cherries), which is a cream cheese sandwich (I didn't check, but another blogger wrote "speculass", which is a kind of spice cookie, in the same sense as gingerbread) with rhubarb sauce. I passed it up until now, but I've had good look with rhubarb, so I got it and ran it home.

Of course, it is a mild cake, but very nice, and the sauce balances the slight acidity of the cream cheese well. It was excellent, though that may be my bias for this shop speaking.

Speaking of bias and full disclosure, technically, I received another cake that day, but it's not from a place I respect: it's from P. Frips. This is mostly a tart place, and it's cheap and convenient, and even has an outdoor table on the street in front of the park, but I had a tart I didn't think was fresh and quit them before starting this blog. For free "cake", it's perfectly reasonable, and actually, there was a selection, so I chose their one actual cake, Gateau Chocolat. It's soft and characterless (but consistent in texture) and the whipped cream was perhaps not enough to give much taste, but the strawberries were sufficiently fresh, so maybe I should be less suspicious of them. Still, only okay, so I regret eating it other then confirming that I should pass on even free cake from there. What can I say, I'm a cake snob. 

[Kobe] Akito: Gateau Chocolat & Yuzu et Chocolat Lait

I've been to enough cake shops in Kobe that I thought I should start posting on them. Also, I don't go to Kobe enough that I need to include areas outside Kobe to start. (I've looked, but can't say that I've had better luck in the richer neighbor towns.)

One place worth visiting is (Patisserie) Akito, which has a café space and is known for its milk jam. Went there and got Gateau Chocolat, which was good, as a heavier cake, where it has what I would call icing rather than glaze (or ganache). The other cake was Yuzu et Chocolat Lait, which is what it sounds like, and was excellent. Yuzu is often combined with milk chocolate with good results. 

Unlike for Tokyo, I'm not going to try to add every shop I've visited already to the map, as most places I've visited are better forgotten (which would perhaps also be true of Tokyo if I visited every single shop I could find rather than just the ones that I have some reason to think might at least be good).

Café Mikuni's: Gateau Chocolat

Managed to get to Café Mikuni's (カフェミクニズ) before they closed. All the recommended (おすすめ) cakes were gone, but they had Gateau Chocolat （ガトー・ショコラ; 650 yen), which the card said was a specialty, so I went with that. It is a very dense, firm mousse with icing. It uses the good stuff, Valrhona chocolate, and tastes like it. Just chocolate mousse is pretty plain in general but this passes the "excellent" test of being something that I would like to have again or would consider worth learning to make. That's only the second cake from there, so among the shops I'm currently calling "excellent", it is a top priory, but I think it's not such a priority that I need to go again tomorrow. Instead, I'll wait until they reopen after the holidays starting this Friday, which will be in February.

Besides to and back Mikuni's, running was just down to the Meiji Ginju Gaien course and one lap at 11 km/h. Actually, going home was closer to that than 10 km/h, so I'm swelling my high-speed part. On the other hand, the Mikini's part was half and half 8 and 9 km/h (due to having to run through a low point in Wakaba by the shortest route; it might be faster to take Shinjuku Avenue or otherwise avoid the low spot). No trouble from last Sunday's long run. However, with the holidays, I'm pretty busy with non-running things, so I'm not sure how much running I'll get in until the new year. I'll look forward to planning longer runs and keep building. I need basically marathon distance to get to and do the Shibamata History and Culture Course, so that's the immediate goal, besides visiting more-distant cake shops, but I'm not hurting for much closer ones that I haven't visited yet.

Thursday: Vincennes, Gateau Chocolat

Went to Vincennes for a second cake. This time I chose the simple Gateau Chocolat for 356 yen (a sign on the door noted that prices were going up in June). It was definitely good. It is a drier but soft cake, on the range of these types of cakes. If this were a more convenient shop, I might go back, but for now it will just be a backup (they are open until 9 pm).

The second attempt at a macaron-type cake (or at least the biscuit part) worked better this time, although still not quite stiff enough. Also, I'm going to need to center it in the pan, and possibly get a flat baking sheet to get better convention over the entire cake.

Sunday: Morning run to Gaien

First thing in the morning (for me, that is; actually, fairly late), after a brownie (did not want to come out of the forms: should have floured, as well as greased them, and made fudge rather than cake brownies; also, more chocolate), ran down to Gaien: 1.5 km fast to the startpoint, a 6'16''00 lap, which is 4.73 min/km, which is one level faster than "very fast". Rather than calling it "very very fast", I'll call it "racing speed". On a good day, I might be able to get one level faster (under 4.6 min/km). To the Lawson 100 by way of the Gaien Walk, I managed a moderate speed (despite the hills and stairs) over 2.4 km.

So my weekly numbers (rounding) are very slow, 36 km; slow, 20 km; moderate, 6 km; fast, 9 km; very fast, 3 km; and racing, 1 km. Comparing to last week, in total, 75 km, which is +9 km, first recording of "racing" speed, of +1 km, but very fast+ is -2 km, although fast+ is the same as last week. However, moderate (and so moderate+) is -9 km, so a big drop in faster running. Slow is +1 km, so most of my gain is in very slow: +18 km. My priority for next week is then to get in more faster running during weekdays (I avoided that this week because of the increase in distance). If I manage to get in another H&C run next weekend, I'll probably stretch it to 40 km, although the next one, the Suminami course, is not that long or far away (whereas the Fuchukokubunji one, which I just finished plotting, is both long, forked, and far away, so it would probably require around 100 km, and so may turn out not to be feasible; the last is also now done, Takao-Hachio, which is about 50 km to the startpoint and heads back, so it's about the same as Fuchukokubunji).

The cake today was from Ruysdael, at Shinjuku Station Keio. This was based on Sweet Sonobe (although not necessarily Keio Department store), but I should have followed my own Shinjuku Station rule, which is to only trust Isetan (though Takashimaya has some good cakes mixed in). This was Gateau Chocolat, for 518 yen, and was layers of chocolate mousse/cream and chocolate cake. I could tell from the beginning that there was something I did not like about it. It was not watery, but it was not rich. Perhaps it's a milk chocolate flavor. The result was sort of a American traditional chocolate cake taste, although that might just mean that it is high in sugar. It was not bad or poor in quality, and I can't say I disliked eating it, so I guess I'll say it was good and count this place as "good" enough to try again eventually, maybe, but they only had four cakes (the other there were strawberry of the shortcake family, a Mont Blanc, and a standard-looking raspberry mousse) and the end result was wanting to have great cake.


For the future, not sure whether I'll save that for later, since I still have 4 "worthy".shops I want one more cake from at Isetan, plus their visiting patisserie, but S'éveille, Pierre Hermé, and Toshi Yoroizuka are the priorities among the great shops. If I get off work exactly on time this week some day, I might try to run fast enough to make it to S'éveille, although that's a longer round trip than I've done on a weekday, so this might not be the best week for it.

Isetan twice and long run.

Actually, running and cake were completely separate events, and I'm not completely sure about the order, but I think it was cake, run, cake.

The running was down to confirm the location of Q-pot Cafe, which Joshi+ blogged. It's a cute building and I could see cutely dressed serving girls inside, so I'm not so optimistic, especially given that it is a cafe, not a patisserie, but at least they specifically indicate takeout on the website, so I'll try it (if they really have cake by the time I can get there, which I did not check). I also tried a different route to (P.) la Glycine, which still was not optimal, though better, and confirmed that they are closed until the weekend. I was running really hard much of the time, but still only managed 13.6 km in 1:18'12'', which is disappointing, but there as a lot on-the-go navigation involved and a few people, but Aoyama Dori/Street was pretty dead because of the New Year holiday.

On the cake front, there was a pending request from last time for a visit to the Kihachi counter at Isetan, so we went there. I choose the Gateau Chocolat and the other cake was Fruits Short for 540 yen each. The chocolate cake was not fancy, but it was actually very good. 

Didn't get more than a little taste of the bottom sponge layer from the other cake, but the report on the Fruits Short (which is "shortcake" with seasonal fruit) was that it was just okay, except that it had some banana hidden in it, which we agreed was not a good idea. One hopes that a different season would bring a better class of fruits (note: I eat a lot of bananas, but in yogurt, not in cake), but since there was no hint from the top that one could expect banana inside, I'm not inclined to trust them without asking (and I generally don't want shortcake anyway, so I probably never will). 

Given that about half their other cakes were roll cakes, which are usually too soft for my tastes, I'm designating Kihachi as "good" rather than "worthy" on the map. 

Apparently, the Fruits Short was so unsatisfying that a great cake was required, which is a concept that I can well understand. The solution was Mont-Blanc, if possible from Jean-Paul Hévin, and Kihachi would have been acceptable, which I managed before they were sold out (they were close and a lot of people waiting in line outside when I left). Sensing correctly that I was not going to get even one bite of it (and since I've blogged it before), I got a Chocolat Framboise, which was 647 yen. I'm struggling regarding whether to say it was great cake, but ultimately I'm still finding that I'm burned out maybe on raspberry flavor, but I would not want to discourage anyone who isn't burned out from enjoying this excellent well-constructed cake.

Nihonbashi-Honjo-Fukugawa and Ohoribata H&Cs, Viron: Gateau Chocolat

Did an estimated 40.0 km today, so with 36 km yesterday, I think, it was a full weekend. Total running time for today is estimated at 4:07'58''.

First note: Paul's at Yotsuya Station (i) is not actually open at 7:30, at least this Sunday, and (ii) had a huge 20+ person line at 7:55, so I didn't stick around to get something for breakfast, but continued on to the beginning of the Hihonbashi-Honjo-Fukugawa History and Culture course (which I may need to abbreviate as a label). The 5 parts of the route are about 10.8 km, but since it forks where part 2 meets parts 3&4 and part 5, the effective length of running the whole thing in order (and doubling back over parts 3&4 rather than taking a shortcut) is 14.3 km, at least if you don't miss a turn toward the end and add another 800 m, which I did. My time was 1:32', which is fine. Usually I don't stop for food on the actual H&C course, but I did during the double-back and got a fresh cinnamon bun from a Little Mermaid that was delicious.

Once I finished this H&C route (which I liked quite a bit), since it was just 2 km away, I went to the end of the Ohoribata H&C course and ran it in reverse, which is my plan for any future runs on that course because the regular running direction is opposite the H&C course's and there are some narrow parts even where the course is not specifically marked as one-way (west half of north side). Of course, the H&C courses aren't meant to be run fast: the symbol that marks them is a snail. I often run against the regular running direction when I'm running to home with cake (as I did today), since the other side of the street along the south edge is quite unsafe due to traffic behavior, but I usually get off at the southwest corner, or at the latest in the middle of the west side at Shinjuku Dori/Street, which is before it gets narrow. My time for the reverse run on Ohoribata was 34'27'', as I was running pretty fast (this was during my third hour of running, so I was well warmed up).

From there, I went to the Viron in Marunouchi, as planned. I got the Gateau Chocolat and a Kouign Aman (or however they spelled it there) and ate the later immediately: it was quite delicious, but not cheap at 380 yen. The cake was 500 yen, and it almost seemed an unfair choice (in evaluating Viron), because it looked more like a bakery good, and they are a brasserie (sorry, this shop is a brasserie, but I meant a boulangerie---can't keep my French straight) more than a patisserie.

I went home and dropped off my cake and then did a round trip to the Shinjuku Post Office to mail a late Christmas card (they are open 24/7 and I don't know anywhere else to get exact postage for international letters). As a matter of disclosure, I got a raspberry, chocolate, white chocolate muffin (which I ate already, and it was good) and some sesame bread at Andersen in Isetan (40 km means 3 snacks and 1 cake, and the bread is for dinner and lunch(es) this week, if it lasts long enough).

Viron: Gateau Chocolat

Actually, the Gateau Chocolat was great. It was really dense and smooth, while being uniform and not fudgy. I assume that it's not baked, but I only have brownie-making experience myself. Since I've gotten up to 6 posted cakes from each of the places that I've designated "Great" on the map, my goal is to get all the "Worthy" (of interest) ones up to at least 2, but this great cake means Viron deserves an earlier next visit, since maybe they are an overlooked "Great" place (although I've had a/the few other cakes prior to starting blogging, so I'm thinking probably not).

The H&C courses so far have been fairly close, but I'm working my way outward. The farthest, which I haven't even added to the map yet (I've got three more, I think), starts at the foot of Takao Mt. but comes back toward central Tokyo rather than climbing the mountain. Even so, it would be about a 100 km round trip. I suspect that I'll hit my limit before then, since the next farthest course is longer and branching, so it might not be much different in required running distance, and even the next two would test my limits. Still several to go before then, though, and next weekend will probably be busy with other things, so it may be more than a week before the next long run. Fortunately, the days are getting longer again.

Local run: Henri le Roux (Isetan): Gateau Chocolat

Got cake from Isetan and then just ran around the neighbor for an hour plus, exploring nonstop routes (i.e., no stoplights that I would ever have to wait for). Went farther south than previously, but it still involved overlapping route stretches, which I'm trying to avoid, although a figure eight through an intersection is acceptable. I can get further east using a bridge over Meiji Dori/Road, but I was exploring southwest, where I can do a good sized loop except there's only one route west to begin with, so I think there is no avoiding overlapping in that direction. However, I realize how to get further southeast by going west and spiraling back over and under a bridge, I think. From there I can get to across from Akasaka Palace, but again, I think there is no other way out, so I'd have to overlap to come back.



Henri le Roux: Gateau Chocolat

The cake was Gateau Chocolat for 496 from Henri le Roux, which was one of the two places I still wanted to introduce from Isetan, although they only have a few fresh things. Now it's hard to find petit gateau anywhere because it's Christmas cake season, which are for more than one person, as well as very expensive even for the size. Even caramelier and chocolatier Henri le Roux had 10,000 yen cakes (not really that big a cake). Their chocolate cake is tiny, but very rich. Actually, there is a caramel-like chocolate cream center, so it's richer than it even looks. Great cake. It may be their only great cake, but I'll still designate them "worthy" on the map and plan for a relative early return, just on principle. I'm even willing to get an eclair, if necessary.