Paris S'éveille, Bagatelle

Way back I had Bagatelle, but I just got the name so I'll post. Seems to be pistachio biscuit dusted with pistachio powder. It's good pistachio cream, as are the strawberries, but I'm not sure that the whole is better than the parts. Still, I'm willing to say that it's semi-excellent. Now if I just knew what it was called (the tabelog entry showing a picture doesn't know the name either). Eventually, the shop will probably post on Instagram, but not yet. Lastly I need to say that the shop is Paris S'éveille and I picked it up during the last cake-off run down there, which might be the last of the year unless I can get a couple 3-time winners together from a 4-round cake-off.

Paris S'éveille, Tarte Vert Griotte

When I went last to Paris S'éveille, which was really long run for me in my current condition, though I'm working on that daily, they had a new cake. I almost didn't notice, but it shared features with their previous new cake, but that one was excellent, so that aspect is no problems. Fortunately, I noticed before paying and they let me add to my order (versus needing to go back outside to get in line again). It was Tarte Vert Giotte, whereas the previous tart had mango as the fruit, but both were green tea, which doesn't obviously go with either. It's not just cherries, but big dark, American-type cherries, like in a pie. My opinion of these is theoretically low, but the actuality was definitely excellent because rather than despite them, so I won't avoid them. I don't absolutely have to have this cake again, but I hope they keep whoever is designing these seasonal cakes, as I really appreciate them. This shop has the best standard line-up of any in Tokyo, but unlike JPH, which tends to make minor variations of established cakes, PS goes a completely different direction with the new cakes, so there isn't correlation. 

I'm about 5 cakes behind on them and it's a new cake-off season, so they'll probably rack up more wins and I'll get further behind even if I'm busy working on the exceptional, quite fine, and fine shops.

Paris S'éveille, Verrine Provençal

Third Friday of Auguest, I went down to Jiyuugaoka to visit Paris S'éveille again, this time not by bicycle, so I was able return with a reasonable similarity to what I bought. This was the last of the current new cakes, if one allows this kind of class dessert as cake. Note that it has meringue cubes on top, which is enough to make it at least as much cake as some non-glass desserts. The name is Verrine Provençal, but I can't hang onto the ingredients long enough, even have having already visit again once and looking. I'm thinking jasmine, but maybe just because that was in the JPH verrine last month. Regardless, this is definitely excellent, perhaps the best verrine I've had from anywhere. I'm looking forward to the next batch of new cakes, though this still continues into the first weekend of September, at least.

Paris S'éveille, Savarin Exotique

 Still trying to catch up, I can't even remember what flavor this was. Also, road vibration wasn't kind, so the topping is what I scrapped up from the sides. It's a fruity verrine (their instagram account says its Savarin, which I'll believe), so doubly not my thing, but it's the season of verrine and the new cakes are all fruity (which is reasonable to balance the standards, though there are a couple old fruity ones I'm missing). Still, good cake/verrine/savarin.

Here's what it's supposed to look like https://www.instagram.com/p/CDfV_wdpTUG/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

Paris S'éveille: Tarte Matcha Mangue

Now I'm almost two weeks behind, so it's not clear when I'll catch up. I've gotten a little head of revising my new neighborhood course map, but mostly I've been wasting time on other obsessions are just exhausted from the heat. Way back on Aug. 1, I stopped in at Paris S'éveille on the way to ABVT (since it was their turn to try to enter the superb shop category, though they have the farthest to go) and happy to get this cake. Actually, it wasn't chance, as I had seen it posted online, so I suspected it was a new cake. The base is holding mango and mango cream, so it has to be pretty moisture resistant, thus it's a pretty hard tart, which it's great for texture but is necessary. The top is matcha, of course, but I forget in what, probably white chocolate, though coconut cream would fit with the theme. Sorry, I can't remember. The important thing is that it was excellent. Their new cakes are all fruity, whereas their classic great cakes are mostly nutty or chocolaty (their most fruity great cake has been out of the lineup for a while), but the new fruity cakes keep improving, so I'm actually looking forward to the next one. Still slightly behind on this one, because they don't have so many cakes and I don't have such a great way to keep up with them, plus they will a lot of cake-offs, so actually I've had more new cakes from them than any other superb shop, and two of those I'm ahead on because they got dropped down from quite superb and only gotten new cakes from cake-off wins for years.

Paris S'éveille, Tarte Rhubarbe Orange

Sunday, I went out to get a new cake from a superb shop, specifically, Tart Rhubarb Orange, or maybe they used French spelling. You aren't allowed to take pictures. The tart seemed to be pistachio.

On the way, I hit a local shop in the Jinguumae/Kita-Aoyama area north of Omote-Sandou Sta., which was actually not that far out from home, though that's why it's a high-priority area. They had a selection of 7 kinds of baked goods. I went with the Matcha Donut. It was good. It was a quite moist (but not wet) cake donut. The other things were similarly vegan pseudo-healthy things. Though the staff was Japanese, when spoke English to me, the website shows a young Euro-looking family of three, and the person behind me was a young white woman, which is a tough market segment in this travel environment. Just because of their selection, and the college-aged English speaking Japanese staff, I wonder whether they are related to the folks to took over the bakery Tournage one running neighborhood loop to the north, who were also doing the vegan baked good things. They had a kitchen, though it's the middle of Tokyo, so it wouldn't be hard to move containers of small baked goods from any of hundreds of shops. Anyway, one shop to visit down, and I found another one I hadn't recorded one building further along (I knew they sound some coffee, as well as whatever their main thing was, but I hadn't noticed the baked goods before).

The tart reminded me of rhubarb pie, which my mother frequently made but I did not appreciate, so it was usually made at the sime time apple pie was made. It was good, but too much of what I'm not interested in. I have no memory already of what running if any I did. It was a lot of walking carrying cake and an umbrella, so probably I didn't.

the whatever spelling they are using. . Actually, I intended to get them from two, but it didn't work out. It was raining, so I went walking with an umbrella.

Paris S'éveille, Tarte Printanière

Got an early start, about 8 am, with the intention to try the Daikanyama-chou--Ebisu-Nishi--Hachiyama-chou--Nanpeidai-chou--Sakuragaoka-chou--Sarugaku-chou--Shibuya--Uguisudani-chou loop. I'm not too surprised that I failed, though large parts of it are unchanged. It's up to 13 km now and I did most of it before I saw that I had skipped a cafe in a religious bookstore; it was on the map, but I needed to make a little loop around it at around halfway. Otherwise, I made some on-the-fly changes, which would have be fine (I knew the official route, but could see how it needed to be fixed). Will try again tomorrow if I wake up early, which I tend to do. On the way, and only 30 minutes out (which wasn't that early with my breakfast before 6 am), I tried a Croissant d'Almonde (not sure if that was the name they used), from the Crossroad Bakery over in Ebisu-Nishi. They require a drink to eat in, so I got takeout and ducked into a garage next door to get out of the rain and maintain social distancing from anyone using the sidewalk, though the streets were pretty empty everywhere I went, except maybe near the supermarket coming back. The Croissant was the kind I liked: baked through, not wet. Definitely good, but didn't seem like the best I've had, or I'm just not into this particular pastry now. I didn't bother to get a picture.

After finding where I went wrong, at around 10:20, I had an hour plus walk (I had had enough running) to Jiyuugaoka, where I got a new cake from Paris S'éveille: Tarte Printanière (Spring Tart). This is a cherry compote tart (with a lot of cherry) as a base and I think almond and pistachio paste/top. I'm not that into cherry, but I'm trying to have an open mind. Certainly, appreciate the nuts and it's a quality tart, so I have to say it's excellent. I'll look forward to the next tart, if that's what comes next, but I'm up to day now, so probably I won't have anything to get from this this month unless it's for a cake-off, but next one with them probably won't be until August.

I also got a Croissant from them (which I ate immediately coming home, whereas the cake was after the first half of lunch), which I've give them the benefit of the doubt and say was excellent. Unless I want to include their brioche, I might be up to date surveying their pastries, though there are probably some pastry-like baked goods that I could retry, but don't necessarily need to be fresh, which is my excuse for revisiting shops for pastries.

Paris S'éveille, Tarte Fraisette

Last weekend, went down to Jiyuugaoka by bicycle, which is a mistake as far preserving the cake. As the pictures shows, this Tarte Fraisette did not like the vibration, though jogging is slightly better. I should perhaps give up and use the train, since there probably would not be many other passengers. Anyway, this tart is strawberry and orange compote on a pâte sucrée almond base, where the almond is mixed with cinnamon. I missed this last year, apparently, but was glad to catch it this year, as it was excellent. As I just wrote about them, probably thinking about this cake, they seem to be getting a the hang of fruitier cakes relative to previously, or I'm learning to like them more. I hope to make another visit next week, as I don't think I'm caught up on their new cakes. If the weather is good, I might try to eat outside. This time, I was also getting cake for a cake off so that was not practical.

Paris S'éveille, Palet d'Or

In the afternoon, I tried going down to Paris S'éveille, as I was thinking they might have a new cake, which have been rare from them, so I've fallen behind in that respect. I went with Palet d'Or, which seem very familiar, as something that I ate in, but I can't find any record of it and the experience wasn't that familiar, so I'm not sure what I'm thinking of. This is a layer of dried fruits and almonds under passion fruit sauce (congealed). I suppose the sauce and the whipped cream on top are what make it a cake versus a cookie, but I'm not going to quibble, as, whatever you call it, it's quite nice. I can say that this is excellent, which usually I can't about their new cakes. They've been playing around with fruitier cakes for a while, but it seems now like they're finally getting the hang of it.

Paris S'éveille, Tarte Bergamote Framboise

Eight days behind, I'm sure I did some neighborhood running course running in the afternoon, but I can't remember what I was working on back then. In the morning, I was trying to get cakes for the next cake-off, but failed. First I failed at Rue de Passy, which is not too surprising, given the epidemiological conditions (no pastries today) and that maybe the great cake I was looking for was seasonal, since it was fruity. I went on to try my backup cake-off, which involved a cheesecake from Dalloyau, which was another couple kilometers down the line (though I was running) which when it came to it, I finally realized had changed. So I went to Paris S'éveille, to at least get a new pastry. They did have pastries, but it was still a little early for them to have everything out, so I went with Chauson aux Pommes. It's very traditional and excellent but not the most interesting type of pastry and I wouldn't have minded a recipe with more fruit.

There were a couple new cakes at Paris S'éveille, which doesn't get many. The other was sold out (or not yet sold), but I could get the Tarte Bergamote Framboise. This is in the form of a lemon meringue tart, though bergamot oranges are less tart than lemons but not sweet like other oranges. It was definitely good and interesting as a variation, but I think I'd like lemon or yuzu more, though maybe those wouldn't harmonize with the raspberry accent.

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).

Paris S'éveille: Menton

Sunday, I finally got, by bicycle, the new cake at Paris S'éveille, the Menton. They were busy to the point of asking someone to wait outside, but the tables were not full, so I could eat in. This is a very light lemon cake. The top is lemon flavored milk foam, but the inside is a very dry, very aerie meringue (or something similar) with space for some more lemon (compote or something; I still don't have those kinds of things straight in my head), but nothing to overpower the milk foam, so fairly milk tasting. I'm into stronger cakes, but can allow that this was excellent.

Afterward, I went to Dalloyau. I hadn't had any pastries the previous week, so I decided to make up for it by having my first pastry-off. My favorite shop for pastry is Fraoula, so I was looking for a match for their Croissant d'Almonde. I was open for an orange pastry, but Dalloyau didn't seem to know what I was talking about. My previous pastry purchases were mainly from the Mitsukoshi counter, and there may have been changes since the Ginza shop was closed. The other great pastry I've had from Dalloyau is their Croissant, which I've had more than once. But when I tried it this time, it seemed rather ordinary. I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and say it was excellent, so Fraoula wins the first pastry-off. There is no reward other than staying on the extremely short list of great pastries.

On the way, I ventured to grab a few pictures of sites along planned future parts of the neighborhood course. Hadn't known about this school/restaurant? They have a Tabelog entry, but there is only one comment, from 6 years ago, and no pictures, which I've never encountered. The homepage link gives an error message in Chinese and the Facebook page posts are from 2014. Maybe it really is just someone's house now.

Paris S'éveille: Figue Spéculoos & Poire Bergamote

Not sure which runs I did which days on Sunday and Monday. I think I did local runs reviewing loops nearby one day, with mixed success, and a long one-way neighborhood course run down to add the Moto-Azabu--Roppongi loop and the Moto-Azabu loop the other. One of those days also involved Mont-Fuji and Pyramid from JPH, which are repeats, so I didn't bother to take any pictures. Still waiting to find a great cake to match the former up with for a cake-off.

Tuesday, despite being busy, I had some free time (can't remember why) and ran down to Paris S'éveille in response to a recent cake-off win. I was getting cake for two (like the JPH cakes), so now I'm a cake ahead for the next new cake (it might be awhile otherwise, since I want to visit all the under-sampled excellent and quite good shops, which is a lot). They had two new cakes: Figue Spéculoos & Poire Bergamote.

These are both successful as fancy cake and both were good quality, but not too exciting. I'm definitely not that fond the design of the fig/chocolate cake, which is sort of a thin brick. They are right to balance it with a light whip, but I still can't rate it higher than good.

The other was very fruit focused, so not so much my thing, especially the dome of gelatin, though actually the texture was good and I like the balance of that and the tart, as well as the balance of the two fruits, so I'll be generous and rate it excellent, which does not drag them down too much and all the shops in the superb category have the same problem of coming up with new cakes that match the best of their regulars.

Paris S'éveille, Café Tonka

Despite the distance and difficulty, Tuesday I decided to run to Paris S'éveille at Jiyuugaoka (maybe some day they'll open a central Tokyo outlet, but so far they haven't felt the need), since they were next in priority on the list of places that might have something new. I arrived a little before 7:30 pm, which makes this perhaps my fastest run ever, though I wasn't going for a record. Resting from Monday probably really helped. It had been a while since I went there looking for new cake, since I've been occupied with other shops that I've promoted. They had six cakes available, but nothing new. However, rather than go with my backup Shuu (a café advertising cake that's on my neighborhood route for Shibuya but also has a shop in Jiyuugaoka and anyway is open quite late), I took the one cake I've long been deliberately avoiding: Café Tonka. I was optimistic that the coffee would not make me sick. They also let me eat in, though they had to ask someone in the back that was okay. No one else was eating in, though someone else seemed about to before I left. This is a thin, dense chocolate cake, a thick tonka chocolate cream/ganache (I think; I didn't actually check the card), and coffee flavored whipped cream on top, I figured in a worst cake, I could just scrape off the coffee whipped cream and tried a little corner without it first. As it happened, the whipped cream was no problem. Actually, though definitely coffee flavored, it was lighter than other things I've had recently and went fine with everything else. I don't have any difficult in saying that this was a definitely excellent cake.

On the way back, I stopped at Nikunohanamasa for chocolate, which I didn't buy, and mustard powder, which I bought more that I can imagine what I'll do with, but that was the size and it was cheap. I also bought a pack of nuts, so I had two items. I kept running, carrying them in a bag. Total, it was a 23.5 km run, which is pretty long for a mid-week run. With stops, I was out 3 hours.

Paris S'éveille, Tarte Mange Caramel and Ryoura, Éclair Pêche

After some morning business, I set off for Ryoura by way of some sights I wanted to photo and Paris S'éveille. First, I got new photos for an Aoyama neighbhorhood park because I thought Google Maps had lost them when my map crashed, though it turns out not. Then I went looking for a shrine that Google Maps showed on my Aoyama route, but that seems to have an echo of the one 1 block away, which I already have, because I couldn't find another one. From there, I was more productive (in a sense) and got pictures for the Shibuya--Minami-Aoyama Loop, which I've yet to do as a one-way neighborhood run but expect to soon. I added Clinton Street Baking and expanded the loop, since they have "baking" in the title and seem to have cake, if not the kind I'm looking for (these were sort of American dinner-type cakes, perhaps, though I only saw one type walking by, not the several on the website).

At Paris S'éveille, I had a few choices for a new cake, so I went with the "recommended" one again. It was called Tarte Mange Caramel, which I assume was supposed to say Mangue (mango), except I didn't recognize what they were talking about in the description that included the corresponding word; thought it was something about tea. I ended up eating this nearby rather than carrying it. It's, I think, an orange baked tart with a top that definitely has mango chucks, maybe has caramel (not sure how the caramel works in, since the mango is raw), and is gelatinous but in a disgusting sticky way. Not sure whether the decoration is coconut, which it looks like. Fruit is not much my thing, but this had a nice balance of textures and the fruit seemed well served by the cake rather than better on its own. I can say that it was excellent.

I continued running to Ryoura, which I got cake to take home this time. This was cake number 10. I'm trying to get this shop up to 11 cakes, as a new quite excellent shop, though it's near the top of that group, so it's theoretically in the best position to make the jump to the next level, but there's a pretty big gap. Next weekend I'm busy, so maybe I'll go next the following Monday, when I'm off early for other business. This time, I decided that I would give one of their two éclairs a chance, the Éclair Pêche. Similar to the other cake, while not my usual thing, I would say that this was excellent. The crispness of the pastry went well with the softness of the fruit and its flavor, so I'm really believing that fruit is better for éclairs than chocolate, on average.

Paris S'éveille: Tarte Rhubarbe

I'm calling it: 35 degC is too hot for cake, even by bicycle.

My goal had been to get to Au Bon Vieux Temps, since they won a cake-off a little while back. It's really hot, so I went by bicycle. However, since Paris S'éveille hasn't had any new cakes for a while and it was a new month, I stopped by there. Even if I decided that they are a superb rather than a quite superb cake (looking like the case, but they have the disadvantage that I've had more of their limited-time cakes and their standard cakes are mainly the great ones), I would be one cake behind on them, so kind of a priority. I was still prepared to get a second cake elsewhere, on the grounds of missing a week recently, though I'm ready to call things even now.

In fact, Paris S'éveille had a few new cakes, so I took the one they were particularly recommending, the Tarte Rhubarbe, which is a hard crust type standard shallow fruit tart with flavored whipped cream on top. Not necessarily a bad idea, and certainly pretty, but for me, whipped cream and fruit rarely works, even though that's considered a pretty standard combination (such as in most Japanese "short cakes", which a recent Japanese NHK program backed me up on as having a silly name since they lack short cake, which is biscuit-like cake made with shortening, since the Japanese definition is sponge cake and whipped cream). Good tart but not that interesting to me. Of course, not being 35 degC would have been better, but probably wouldn't have changed my evaluation, bested on previous experience with this type of tart. Not the best photo, but I wanted to eat before the cream died in the heat.

At this point, I decided that it was too hot for eating cake, or carry cake in a box dangling in a bag from my handlebars, or even in fact for cycling, really, so I headed home. Until I realized that I wanted to check the line-up at L'abricotier, which was way too far north, but I went and confirmed that they still have Sicilien Figue anyway, because I'm obsessive compulsive like that, so that's want I want next weekend for the cake-off. Then I convinced myself that I should go some place local and get something that I can't get on a weekday, so I was off too far back south, though at least I talked myself down to 365 Jours, which is a apparently super-popular bakery west of Yoyogi Park (closer at least than Daikanyama). Fortunately, the line was not out the door (though there were instructions for how the line should fold if it came to that), but it still took a while to get a Canelé. I also got photos of the shop and of 15°C (not that far way; interesting number theme around). Not sure about After Hours around the corner, which is apparently on vacation until next month. The canelé was good, as expected. The shop is mostly little breads, with the only other pastries a croissant and essentially a chocolate croissant.

Paris S'éveille: Croissant Orange

Last Tuesday, I went looking for a pastry at Paris S'éveille, but I checked my cake spreadsheet rather than this blog, so I didn't know that I had gotten a Croissant Orange before. I was going there not just for another pastry but for another item from Paris S'éveille, who I intend to replace Pierre Hermé with as one of the two quite superb shops and also won the previous cake-off but they have no new cakes now. Fortunately, I've decided this time that the Croissant Orange is great and that new ratings now that I'm taking pastries more seriously override old rating (previously I had written that it was excellent). The amount of orange paste inside is actually fairly small but gives the correct balance, with the powdered sugar outside, so it's more like an orange version of a pain au chocolat than a croissant d'almonde, which often have so much almond paste that the croissant has a completely different shape, though there are different ways to almondize a croissant.

Paris S'éveille: Savarin Vin Rouge

Home early to let the gas company do some sort of safety inspection (first time, at least under what system this was; I'm suspicious that it's just a marketing effort to promote their electricity business, since they didn't do a lot). I didn't have any place that was a priority that I couldn't get to on a weekday (I did have, but saw last night that they were coming to Isetan next week, and Heritage, which closes at 7 pm, isn't open Wednesdays), so I decided to just go down to Paris S'éveille on a weekday while the sun was up. I should stick to a regular route when cycling so I don't keep ending up having to wade through Harajuku and Shibuya Stn.

Closest thing to new cake that I could get was Savarin Vin Rouge, and it didn't especially look like anything had sold out, though I supposed something might have. I'm not sure what the fruit is, since I didn't bother to try to read the card, maybe mikan. Savarin at least has a good excuse for coming in a cup and still being called cake. It was good and I don't have any suggestions for improvement other than to stick with rum, though I suppose the red wine might go better with the fruit, which I would care about if I liked fruit-based desserts.

Paris S'éveille, Choux Parisen

Last Monday, which was a national holiday, I cycled down to Paris S'éveille, which is in the running to be my #3 cake shop (in place of Pierre Herme), and ended up with a Choux Parisen, somewhat to my surprise, although I had considered finally getting this standard item instead of the seasonal cake that I expected wrongly for them to still have. Anyway, it's a puff pastry with nuts, basically, which is good, I guess, but still weak as cake, I think. It was my only option that didn't involve coffee, though I've since decided to allow verrine (cake in a glass) to count, if only when there are no other options.

Paris S'éveille: Citron Vert/Myrtille/Lavande

Did sort of a run down to Paris S'éveille. At least the initial parts of the trip were running, with some stops for photographs of places through the same loop I've been practicing, and will probably continue practicing this week (it's more than 8 km and it takes a few kilometers to get to a starting point), but somewhere past Shibuya Station, I got lazy and mostly walked, because I had the time. I blame congestion from pollen more than the high winds and hills, because I felt, not seriously short of breath, just breathing harder than I wanted to. During the week, I'm usually in more of a hurry, at least at least until I get wherever is selling me pastry or cake.

Paris S'éveille had two new cakes this month, both of the same style, sort of a sliced log of fruit flavors (there are a couple layers of there of biscuit that presumably help keep the layers from sliding around, though I flipped it on its side fairly early on). It's a little gelatinous, which is how you get mousse to hold a shape, which I'm not thrilled by, but not unreasonable so and maybe not more than great cakes of had of other shapes. My cake was Citron Vert/Myrtille/Lavande, so lime, bilberries (or blueberries), and lavender. The other choice was orange, something, and peach. I'm prejudiced against this kind of cake, but I'm rooting for Paris S'éveille, so I hope those balanced out to get a fair evaluation, which was that this is actually an excellent cake, so I'm more optimistic about the orange one (though I should get the Choux desert sometime).