Paris S'éveille: Goutte d'Or

Decided that now that I had promoted Origines Cacao to the same category and given Viron its chance, I should use an afternoon off to visit Paris S'éveille in Jiyuugaoka. On the east side of the same pedestrian path is the main Origines Cacao shop and they are opposites in terms of cakes: most great cakes in the regular lineup but seasonal cakes that don't interest me, versus zero and enoguh great seasonal cakes to reach the #4 position.

Today I had cake in. I got Gouttes d'Or, which is a kind of apple dome over layers of cake and cream maybe (I didn't read the card at all and only the apple taste really comes through). It came with a spoon rather than a fork, but the only other new things were even more pudding-like. Very fresh tasting, so it would be a good compliment for some or all of their regular line-up great cakes. Otherwise, good is the best I can rate it for my tastes. I'll probably not it, but even if I only have the same other two things to choose from, I'll probably go back. It's still my #5 shop, even if it's been years since I've had a new great cake from them, so they aren't going to get bumped out of their category any time soon, unlike #6 and #7.

I went there and came back by bicycle, but afterward, I did the no-weights indoor work out and then went out for about 2 hours doing neighborhood running course loops. Got the Sendagaya south and west loops finished, as well as the Kamiyama-chou--Tomigaya--Udagawa-chou loop, and did clockwise on the Jinnan and new Udagawa loops, so tomorrow will probably be doing the latter two counterclockwise (which would not be a long run, but they aren't close to my starting point, so that should be enough, with an indoor weights workout).

Jean-Paul Hévin bar(re) in Marunouchi: Goutte d'Or and Aquitaine

Did a café-ish stop. This is the casual budget version of the chocolate bar in Isetan Salone Men's, which I scoped out last week. It's sort of hidden, Google might help you find it, but it currently doesn't identify Isetan correctly and assuming that you come to the correct block, the signs outside telling you and dozen shops and restaurants inside include neither, because they are only for the ones you can get too after you enter the main interior hall, not the ones that have only their own street entrances. As I read on someone's post and observed yesterday, never became full over the almost hour we hung out there (there aren't really that many customers to justify the Isetan shop, either; maybe it's temporary until the building across the street goes up, though huge skyscrapers take some time, I would imagine).

They have only a small selection of the chocolate drinks and they come in paper cups, but at about half the price (and they have coffee). Also, just a few cakes, but almost all not at the main Isetan. I got one advertised on their web site as an exclusive, the Goutte d'or, which is almond I though I read (the good thing is hollow chocolate with sugar inside), but the website points out star anise and sesame as accents, which I have reason to doubt. The other cake was Aquitaine, which has cheese (and maybe it has almond, since there's some nut on top), which might be a first for me from JPH. These were each 640. Both were excellent. Neither was especially exciting, but they were both interestingly different from other cakes I've had. Besides the different themes, the Goutte d'or was a fairly hard drier cake (not sure were the glare in the middle came from: must be reflecting off the camera)

and the cheese one was soft (sorry, it's upside down; actually, they put both on their sides, though that is reasonable, even if they don't display them that way in the case).

There were a couple other cakes there that I haven't had yet, but there are a couple seasonal ones at Isetan that ' haven't had either. Decisions, decisions.