Éclat des Jours, Tarte aux Fruits

While I was visiting Éclat des Jours for a cake for a cake-off, I also got a new cake for their previous cake-off win. My choice was between a tart and a glass dessert, so I went with the latter, even though it obviously wasn't a great back for me. Specifically, I got the Tarte aux Fruits. It's not the first time I've had this kind of tart. The good point is it features various kinds of small fruits, all high quality. The bad point is that's about all there is to it and I'm not sure a connoisseur of fruits. Still it was good. 

Éclat des Jours, Tarte Tatin

Thursday, I took the afternoon off and got back to Éclat des Jours to get a new cake to balance a cake-off win (I'm more behind on ABVT, but they open at 9am and would not likely have anything new by the time I could get there). Managed to get the last of the only cake new to me from there, Tarte Tatin. It was a long run there, as I went around the imperial grounds to the north so I could swing by the Palace Hotel. Going back, I didn't run, to protect my cake, but I did walk as far as Ginza Mitsukoshi, to check out the new cakes at FC, since they aren't posting about this month yet, before catching the train back, so it took more than 3 hours total. I'll confess that I also got high-calorie bread at Éclat des Jours, which I failed to stop myself from eating all of, so it probably wasn't a successful day as far as getting my weight back down. Anyway, the tatin was quite nice. I'm making some allowance for the simplicity and my appreciation of the shop, but it was definitely one of the better tatins that I've had and I enjoyed it, so it should be fair to say that it was excellent.

Éclat des Jours, Chou à la Crème

The goal today was to bring the exceptional shops up to 16 net cakes, though Éclat des Jours has manged 9 cake-off wins, so this was actually number 25. I went with the Chou à la Crème. These are the kind with nuts, though I think they still called just Chou à la Crème, or some close variation. They are half the price of a cake, so I got two to get a fair sample, though it was more than I needed for that. I ran most of the way, being a little lazy, and there being a good number of lights and me setting off reasonably early. Definitely good and certainly comparable to those of other high-quality shops.

Éclat des Jours, Passion Chocolat

The final cake of last Saturday was a second cake from Éclat des Jours, as it comes time to lift the exceptional shops up to 16 net cakes (plus cake-off wins). However, since Éclat des Jours won the cake-off, this was the reward and I still need that next cake, though maybe I'll let the Toshi Yoroizuka go first.

Taking a break from running through the fruit tarts (though there might only be a mixed tart left), I got a cake new to the line-up, as well as me, Passion Chocolat. As one would expect, this is passion fruit and white chocolate, an excellent cake.

 

Cake-off: Éclat des Jours' Tartelette Mûre over Jean-Paul Hévin's Matcha Marron

I got all my weekend cakes in on Saturday, despite the typhoon-induced rain, or maybe because of it. I started off by walking to Éclat des Jours out in Koutou-ku to get Tartelette Mûre for a third-round cake-off and came back by train, stopping at Ginza Mitsukoshi to get Jean-Paul Hévin's Matcha Marron, both one-and-one great cakes.

These are both niche cakes, so hard to compare. In the end, I went with the more distinct, Tartelette Mûre. Matcha Marron is nice and has a distinct combinations of flavors (chestnut, powered green tea, chocolate, and rum) and the great construction of a JPH cake mousse cake, though there are several cakes like that, which I'm thankful full.

Haru: New York Cheesecake

Finally visiting new shops, after stopping at Éclat des Jours and getting a great pastry (sorry, rain, and I'm behind on cakes, so I'm giving up on chronicling pastries, but need more from EdJ), I hit nearby Haru in the same neighborhood. I saw them on television and new cheesecakes were his thing, but I expected more variety than I found. In the end, I just got the New York Cheesecake, which was definitely good, but not really worth going that far away. Still, just good will be enough for a second cake relatively soon from fine shops, though it will probably take at least a year to go through them all (since I'm not going to pause everything else while I do it, and the quite fine shops will need a fourth cake).

Éclat des Jours, Tartelette Fraise

At the same time as getting a cake for a cake-off, following covid rules of minimizing shopping trips, I also topped up Éclat des Jours after their last cake-off win by getting Tartelette Fraise, despite some new tempting non-tart cakes, which I also hope to sample soon. This was the same base as the great blackberry tart, though the top is different, besides the strawberries. Though in general I'm not that into strawberries, I could really respect these ones. I could also respect the shop for using strawberries that were not perfectly red. Definitely excellent. Think I've had all their tarts now except some sort of mixed fruit one. I'll probably hold off on that one to get to new cakes in the lineup. 

Éclat des Jours, Tartelette Mûre

Thursday Aug 27 (when I took a half-day off), I went out to Éclat des Jours for a new cake. I don't think they had any new regular cakes, so I continued working through their tart lineup, which is relatively large compared to other shops. Hadn't seen a reason for it until this one, but maybe just because I'm nostalgic for blackberries, I found this to be great, perhaps the best fruit tart I've had so far. Of course, great fruit is not enough and I also appreciate the cream (I think there is custard underneath) and the fairly substantial tart base.  

In blogger news, the edit for labels has finally evolved back to something that looks like the original easy-to-use form. 

En Vedette, Chou Nougat

From now I guess the last Sunday of the previous month, the other shop I visited was En Vedette. Well, I also visited Éclat des Jours to return some glasses and get a croissant, but I've already forgotten how the croissant was, so I'll just have to get a different pastry from there. The cake of En Vedette, though was more like a pastry than cake, though with extra touches tipping back toward cake: Chou Nougat, where I'm not sure what's in the nougat, but there are some almond slices in there. The cream is crème diplomate, which I need to look up. In the middle there, protecting the bottom from the cream, is a macaron. It's a weird chou cream, but I've decided it's unique design deserves at least a semi-excellent rating. It's small, actually, but only half the price of a normal cake. 
 

Éclat des Jours, Shortcake Verrine

The other cake I got last Saturday (more than a week ago now) was the verrine version of their (strawberry) shortcake, which I had to search online to get an opinion about what it's called, though I was sure of the two words Shortcake Verrine, if not the order. I'll say that I've been slow to appreciate either shortcake or verrine and they still haven't risen to greatness in my opinion, but in this case, the combination works better than been than either on average (or this shop's own shortcake, as far as I can recall), which is probably why this is their signature item, not withstanding that I'm just getting to it now as a 21st cake. 

Their previous only good cake but them under threat from slipping from quite exceptional, but I gave them another cake due to winning a cake-off. This excellent cake doesn't reverse that, but it does raise the bar for the previously under-threat shop it replaces to now prove that it really is better, not just that it had fewer chances to disappoint me. We'll see. 

Éclat des Jours, Tropicot

Last Monday, besides the cake for the cake-off, I got one extra cake from Éclat des Jours, for efficiency in the era of virus, long work hours, and short store hours: Tropicot. This has been around for a relatively long time, though not as far back as the first visit. It's a mango, passion fruit, and banana tart, with some shredded coconut. I knew it wasn't really my thing, but I was running out of choices as a 20th cake, but it was their turn or a new cake as one of the quite exceptional shops, at least until this one, which was only good. Betting cakes from here and with tropical fruit coming up, so I didn't give up on either. For some reason, blogger has gone back to the old interface, now that I've figured out the new one. There's probably some way to toggle between them.

I realize, I should really get some pictures of things other than cakes, because there are actually a couple people besides me that read this blog. I'll see if I can come up with at least some shops or pictures of the returned crowds, with more masks than typically this time of year (it's getting too hot for my surgical masks, which I already don't run or bicycle with, but I have other options).

En Vedette, Meringue Chantilly

In the evening of Saturday, I went out to do a neighborhood run for the Nezu Fine Arts Museum clump, which comprises the just revised Minami-Aoyama--Nishi-Azabu south loop, which I did my first clockwise run of, and the tiny Nishi-Azabu 1 north loop, which requires a long run through Aoyama Cemetery, a pretty popular running a bicycling route with a slope. With dinner I actually had a third cake (no holidays this week and I have a lot of priority shops, so I'm working), but I forgot to take a picture. It was Meringue Chantilly, and it looked like the last one I had, except there were some tiny blue/black berries of some sort and the whipped cream was caramel flavored. It's a basic desert and good, but not beyond that. En Vedette needs at least one excellent cake in the next two be able to get promoted at this point, and the choices are getting slim, which is how I ended up with Meringue Chantilly this time.

En Vedette, Macaron Printemps

Only yesterday, when I was busy in the morning, I did a run out to Miyoshi (where the parks have lots of people, unlike more local parks, which have been taped off) to get a new cake from En Vedette. This time I went for a cake that was actually marked as new, Macaron Printemps, and took the last one on display. We're in the final month of strawberry season, apparently, and strawberries are the most popular fruit (apparently there are more Japanese varieties than any other country's, though China has the biggest production), so no surprise that this is full of strawberries.

Starting with the positive, I walked the cake all the way back, but first had a Pain au Chocolat, also from En Vedette. My breakfast was long before I set out, so I was pretty hungry, which might be why I found this pastry relatively light (so easy to eat), but I believe it was excellent.

Actually, I'm not so hot on this cake. I don't like my macarons too soft, even though that's a deliberate goal for some macaron desserts. The strawberries were fine (I have no idea what variety) and it's reasonable to call it good, but I would steer clear of similar cakes, given a choice. Still, they call all please me and this shop is still in line to be promoted. I'll probably get there back for a new cake.

The running was in the evening, where I finished off confirming my revisions to three of the loops at the corner of Omote-Sandou.

En Vedette, Fromage Blanche

Saturday's other cake (cutting down on trips) was Fromage Blanche (I know, but that's the logical interpretation of the phonetic Japanese; if only there was some Chou pastry, it could be Fromage Blanc Chou). White cheese is pretty tasteless, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but the raspberry was just the right amount, and cheese mousse has a great texture, so I'm much more confident calling this excellent than the previous cheese cake I reported. Also, it didn't suffer from the travel by bicycle as much as other cakes last Saturday.

En Vedette: Tarte Fraise

At the same time I was securing a cake for a cake-off, after running to the main shop in Miyoshi, I got one new cake, since this shop is challenging to rise to a quite exceptional position. This time, I went with a cake quite similar to last time, in that it is pistachio and strawberry, but this time it's Tarte Fraise, where the base is a pistachio tart, and of course the cream above is pistachio. Usually strawberry tarts are custard tarts, but I appreciate this much better and can say it was excellent.

En Vedette, Saint-Honoré Rouge Pistache

As the noon run on Saturday, I went out to En Vedette in Koutou-ku (which Shibuya Scramble Square is shut down), looking around and taking photos of sites on future neighborhood running course loops in the areas northeast from Yotsuya Station. I took the longer route rather than go past the main Mitsukoshi in Nihonbashi, though that is shut down as well. I came back by train, which had about three people per car, so I felt relatively safe. Also, I'm now running wearing a mask, since someone ahead of me might have coughed, though I also avoid trailing in people's wake.

As a new cake, I got the Saint-Honoré Rouge Pistache, which combines a lot of things I like. Red fruit, not so much, but a little fruit goes with choux pastry better than heavy things like chocolate, as well as being a much better accent for pistachio. In this case, the cream puffs are filled with fruit sauce rather than pistachio, which I might not have chosen, but the balance was fine. The pistachio cream was more whipped cream than the thicker paste I was expecting, but again, that might be for the best, this was excellent. This shop continues to impress me and should easily reach the quite exceptional shop group, even if I'm going to have to have to get further from my preference in their line-up. Unlike Pierre Gagnaire, their residential base area lets them have a full line-up. They recognized me, of course, from my trips to Shibuya and thanked me for the visit.

Éclat des Jours: Shortcake

Went in the rain by bicycle to Éclat des Jours. I could have used a little warmer clothes, but was fine. I went early for the selection, but decided on a standard cake that I had been avoiding, their Shortcake. This cake is on the top row with the cream puffs and is only 400 yen before tax (not that other cakes are that expensive), so it's getting special treatment, maybe as a staple of Japanese cake shops. Anyway, though shortcake can be among the most expensive cakes, due to using premium fruits, this cake was trying for that. Certainly, the strawberry seemed ordinary, which is fine. It was still a good cake and I'm happy to be able to enjoy it.

Only one more of the accessible (i.e., not Ryoco) quite exceptional shops needs a cake, Toshi Yoroizuka, though new priority cakes should become available next week, so I might not get to it for a couple weeks, though I don't know yet what I'll do Saturday. I'm actually hoping Sadaharu Aoki premiers the next season of cakes early. Even with the above bicycling (1.5 hours), I went out in the evening again by bicycle down to the Ebisu area and made use of a bike parking area for the first time and ran (or tried to run) the local loops. Was able to do the revised Ebisu-Nishi loop clockwise this time and finished confirming the Ebisu-Minami and Ebisu 1 loops, failed on the Ebisu 4 loop. I hope to at least finished off the Ebisu-Nishi loop Friday before so trying the next loop in order, the revised Daita-... loop, Saturday.

Éclat des Jours, Simoné

Made my second attempt on the Daita-... loop and got about a third of the way before I failed. I needed to go straight, squeezing past the parked van, even though the main road turned. This is the second time that I mistook when to enter a back alley. While verifying what I should do, I stopped at Main Mano and got their Pain au Chocolat. I'll say it was excellent, but note that the chocolate was what I more typically find in Pain au Chocolat, and not my favorite. On the other hand, the sliced almonds are a significant positive feature.

I ran most of the way home and felt that a 2+ hour run was enough. After a half-lunch, I went by bicycle to Éclat des Jours again, in response to their cake-off win, and got a new cake, Simoné, which is pistachio mousseline on a strawberry crust with fresh raspberries on top. A definitely excellent cake. I do have a complaint: I gave them an insulated bag to put the cake in, and they included their own bag anyway. (I protects the box, but really, does it need it?)

Éclat des Jours, Macaron Anana

I was thinking that I owed Éclat des Jours for a cake-off win, but apparently not, just I was putting them off because they're at the bottom of the quite exceptional shop list. No matter: under the new system, they were above all the shops in the exceptional shop list. To get a better selection of a new cake, I wanted to go on a weekend, and I did get something new, the Macaron Anana. It's as named, although the macaron is airy, which may be a thing in Tokyo shops now, and pineapple is different, though tropical fruit appear in cakes in the summer. It was good, but the design and flavors didn't stand out as something I wanted again.

This was about a 11 km one-way, bring the cake back by train. I did feel a need to test a new limit of walking again today, though I did incrementally increase the running bit to four 4-min intervals, plus around a few intersections. So far so good. Next walk and run will probably be Tuesday. I have to decide whether to finally visit Origines Chocolat for new cake or see whether Michalak at Omotesando still has the clam-shell type "cake" that disappeared from Isetan recently (the pistachio tart and milk chocolate tart have also disappeared, replaced by two more jar sweets, which I'm not willing to accept as comparable to cake, though I don't mind, since I've had the tarts and I agree that they were the least interesting of the cakes). Also today, I noticed a new bakery within the scope of the neighborhood running course out in Kojimachi, though I'm going to need to add another single-block loop to include it. It's pretty far out in the periphery, so I'll put off adding the loop until I get around to reviewing the adjacent loop.

En Vedette: Rin

Saturday, despite some worries that I twisted my ankle stretching (I was trying to twist it, in a sense, but not to the point of a slightly burning numbness). There was not pain running, though it felt a little funny, but at the end I was more convinced that I should take a rest. A real sprain takes weeks to heal, so I hope that level of rest is not necessary, because I'm not that patient, but I'll test it small. Anyway, no running (or cake) Sunday. For cake, I got Rin, which seemed interesting. It's obviously matcha (I think it's matcha, or at least some form of green tea) and chocolate. Note sure what else. It's fine/good, but wasn't a good follow-up for Friday's disappointment.

In fact, I'm changing my entire numerical ranking system to simplify it and hopefully make it easier to compare shops that I've had different numbers of cake from. What I really want to know is what's the chance the next cake I get from this shop is great, so in particular I wouldn't worry so much about whether that non-great cakes were actually bad, okay, or just good. JPH comes out at 48% (even after adding 5 good cakes to each shop sample to account for selection bias), whereas supposedly superb B-E comes out at  26%, which is below a few in the next lower category. After I finish catching up on past cake-off wins, I'll probably work my way down through shops that are now at the top of their categories before getting back to reviewing quite good shops, which are going to have the same problem regardless of how I rate shops, because two cakes isn't enough to distinguish which ones should be cut.