L'Abricotier, J'Adore le Chocolat

Over the weekend, when I was at L'Abricotier, I picked up a new cake in response to a previous cake-off win (not in anticipation of the win this weekend). I'm not completely sure of the exact name, but a reasonable guess is J'Adore le Chocolat. Lots of nice textures and rich chocolate, so I can say it's excellent. This shop is near the top of the quite exceptional shops, jockeying with another shop, but challenging Viron when it slips but so far haven't been able to overtake it. I guess the point is that I expect excellent cake from there but also that I'm already a little ahead of visiting them so I probably won't try to get another new cake soon, despite the last cake-off win, though maybe if they come to Isetan in the spring.

Cake-off: L'Abricotier's Le Piemont over Noix de Beurre's Fraise Chantilly

Saturday, I did a 4th-round cake-off between two cakes with one win to two losses each. Getting L'Abricotier's Le Piemont involved running 25 minutes in intervals of 1 minute and running the rest. My leg is not really getting better, but I'm getting more serious about identifying where needs stretching. The root is probably still a teenage back injury and resurface a couple decades ago, though it also shows up along the same place as a more recent lateral problem which required a lot of stretching, so I'm not giving up. They didn't have a lot of the Le Piemont compared to others even a little after opening, so maybe they are troublesome or not so popular, despite being an old standard. The Fraise Chantilly from Noix de Beurre required standing in line for an hour, which wasn't fun, but not as bad as I thought when I first saw the line. Not sure why this place is always like this. Despite the similar histories, it wasn't very close between the cakes, as I wasn't finding the merit in keeping the Fraise Chantilly in the lineup. I like whipped cream plenty and more of that and less sponge cake than a typical Japanese "shortcake" is fine with me, but I'm okay without it. I'm in new territory here, as I gave it a pass last time, but not the time before. Not sure what I'll do when that happens in the 5th round, if it ever does, but I'm deciding now that it's okay to cut it whereas my previous idea only if the two doubts occur in a row. I'll mention that I previously had my doubts about the Le Piemont, so these two cakes were well matched in that respect too, though I don't check that before the cake-off.  

Cake-off: L'Abricotier's L'Abricotier over Ladurée's Plaisir Sucré

Saturday I squeezed in a cake-off before being busy in the afternoon. It involved half-running half-walking out to L'Abricotier to get the cake of the same name (though I would have settled for another great cake that was also available). This is a fourth-round for it, having gotten paused a year for two losses to only one win. I paired it with the main target, Ladurée's Plaisir Sucré, which appears as a February cake on my list and which I failed to get once this year already, so this was a second effort. I picked it up at the Shinjuku Sta. shop, having taken the train back that far.

L'Abricotier is like a pie with fruit and nuts without the excess wetness and crust of a pie, so quite nice. Plaisir Sucré is all great stuff, but I've had the same stuff in another cake that's won 5 rounds in a row and is definitely better, so I don't really need this one, even greatness being relative. It will still get a fifth round, in a couple years, if I'm still in Tokyo eating cakes, but it's on notice as maybe being only semi-great.

L'Abricotier, Duja Orange

 I wasn't intentionally being greedy, just sticking to plan and went to L'Abricotier for the new cake they should have gotten before the last Viron cake. It's only another 8 km after 5 km to Ginza, so less of a daily run than the previous day so I was expecting to come up empty and have to go on to Yu Sasage, which I assume would be as far, but actually there were two new cakes to choose from. For today, I skipped the raspberry chocolate cake and took the Duja Orange. This shop is big on pairing nutty with fruit, so even though orange is a difficult fruit, I was interested in how it would pair with Gianduja (chocolate and hazelnut). Once again, I got lost on the trains, so it took twice as long as it should have to get back. I liked this cake, which I can say is definitely excellent. Mainly, I like the Gianduja cut with enough other stuff not to be too strong, though maybe orange isn't the perfect fruit.

Cake-off: Très Calme's Pistache Apricot over L'Abricotier's Montelimar

Working through fourth-round cake-offs for May cakes (based on when I first ate), I ran to L'Abricotier to get their Montelimar (for which I was successful). I went via Aigre-Douce, but the sign on the door indicated that, while they are still in business, they've shorted their hours and switched their holidays so that my working hours overlap theirs. It's a good measure to keep the riffraff out of the neighborhood, though it works better if they don't have to visit to find out. My backup was Très Calme's Pistache Apricot, which is somewhat out of order, but this cake is seasonal, whereas they always have their Mont-Blanc, and also this meant a match-up of two fruity nutty cakes, which seemed reasonable.

After getting the cakes safely home, I had lunch with a pastry rather than the cakes: a Canelé de Bordeaux from L'Abricotier, which usually doesn't have pastries (they also had a card for a chocolate tart next to it, but it was sold out, so I'm not sure what kind of product it was). It was definitely good, which a pretty thick firm crust.

It's a tough choice. The Montelimar is more distinctive among my great cakes, but I really like the pistachio better (versus almond), so I have to go with the Pistache Apricot.

L'Abricotier, Choux a la Crème

Wednesday, I hit L'Abricotier for a new cake, since they are challenging the bottom of the superb shop category (taking turns with two other quite exceptional shops). I've run out of regular cakes that are coffee-based, so I went with Choux a la Crème. These are cheap (which should have told me something), so I got three, being equal to about one piece of cake, though as it turned out, I didn't need so many. Based on previous experience, after walking there, I ran the whole way home, since that's easier on at least certain parts of my body than walking.

These are the kind studded with nuts, which haven't been my favorite in the bast. It's a relatively solid pastry. Custard is fine, but nothing special, so this get's marked as good, and L'Abricotier loses it's place as top of the quite exception group again.

L'Abricotier, Fraisier

Sunday, my goal was just one cake, since I knew I'd have the coming Wednesday off, so I could get one cake during the week. As a challenger for promotion to superb, I got a 24th new cake from L'Abricotier; learning somewhat from the day before, I ran there and mostly walked it back, so it was mostly in good shape. Really, I need to walk my cakes back or use the trains (which are pretty empty these days, so they feel pretty safe, but I should still walk if I can) to maintain photo quality. This was another one of those I-can't-believe-I-haven't-had-this-yet cakes. It's a standard cake various places. On one hand, it's just a way to eat custard and strawberries in cake form, but on the other hand, there isn't anything wrong with that in principle, and I had to admit at the end that it was excellent. Still not the first thing I would go for elsewhere, but I respect it as a reliable standard.

The afternoon was me exploring/practicing the revised neighborhood course around Daikanyama, where there were way too many people out on the north side for a state of emergency, including a pack of about 7 elementary school kids, a procession of three foreign teens girls on bikes without masks, and a lot of people at the restaurants by the main area video/bookstore. I think I'll choose a different time of day than lunch time next time I run through there.

L'Abricotier, Dulcey

Sunday was lots a bicycling to hit a wide spread of shops. I think I ran in the evening, but it's been a while, so I don't actually remember. If I did, it would be neighborhood courses, getting my memory of the revised loops and their clumps confirmed. Anyway, I was busy in the morning, so it was a late start, about 11:30. First I went to L'Abricotier, since are the top challenger to Pierre Hermé, plus they're open. This time I got Dulcey. I did a search on my phone there, because I was surprised that I had no record of having had this cake before, but I believe it now. It's been a standard as long as I can remember. I've avoided until now because the main feature is banana, which doesn't impress me, though as I think about cakes I've had, there have only been a few banana ones and only one that would put me off them as a whole (banana and chocolate). Anyway, there were probably other flavors, and the typical banana flavor was not strong, which suited me, but it was certainly sweet in a fruity way. I'm surprised, but in the end I have to say this was excellent, so they remember a challenger to moving up a spot. 

L'Abricotier, Oriental

As a second shop and a reason to keep running on Sunday, once Rue de Passy had secured its place among the exceptional shops, it meant I knew which shop was facing the chop, so I didn't have to visit the bottom shop of the group. In stead, I went to the top of the quite exceptional group, L'Abricotier, to allow them to challenge the group above. It's about 10 km from Rue de Passy to L'Abricotier, so it wasn't the easy choice for running, and I was tired enough after I got there, having done 3 hours of running Saturday, that I knew I was going to take my cake home by train, unless I could eat in. However, they were quite busy and all seats were full, but I preferred to have lunch at home first anyway, so I wasn't disappointed. I though I'd have to go with cream puffs, but actually they were sold out and there were two other cakes I haven't had, though I've seen their strawberry tart before, so I surprised I hadn't had it yet. However, I went with Oriental, which is mikan/tangerine  and chestnut with a chocolate base, which sounded interesting at least. Interest I might have been, but I can't say that the combination worked for me. It wasn't poorly made though, and it was as promised, so I can say that it was good. Maybe someone who likes mikan or chestnut more than I would appreciate this more. I've gotten a few cakes ahead with L'Abricotier, so it might have to wait awhile for me trying to get another new cake.

L'Abricotier: Pomme Caramel

Eighth try at the Daita--Daizawa--Hatagaya--Kamiyama-chou--Kitazawa--Motoyoyogi-chou--Nishihara--Ooyama-chou--Shouto--Tomigaya--Uehara loop counterclockwise got me another 800 meters farther before failure (turned one street to early). Also, I could include two revisions since the last run, no problem.

Decided that it was easier to go straight to L'Abricotier (chosen because they are challenging the bottom of the Superb group) rather than run home and then go by bicycle. It was still a little under 7 km after almost 3 hours of running, but I walked much of it (though I also didn't take the shortest, 7 km path, because I wanted to pick up some photos).

Today's new cake was Pomme Caramel, which uses green apple mousse. It was definitely good, but this layered cube cake was hard to eat with a fork (at home, I'm used to using a knife). I suppose I need to practice.

Cake-off: Éclat des Jours' Baked Cheesecake over Michalak's Mont-blanc

Saved my running for later and went by bicycle to get Éclat des Jours' Baked Cheesecake as a two time winning cake for the third-round cake-off. While I was there, I decided to try their Pain au Chocolat (I ate it at the nearest park, where I was very messy: I need to use the paper bag it comes in better), which was excellent, properly made with delicious chocolate.

To get the other cake, I ran to L'Abricotier. Unfortunately, they aren't currently making their best cake (which doesn't surprised me from past experience, and I should have asked when I was there recently, but it is still on their website). I had a backup planned, though, so I turned around and ran to Isetan and got Michalak's Mont-blanc.

It starts as a mystery why the Baked Cheesecake is such a winner, but the more I eat it, the more I like it. The Mont-blanc, on the other hand, is a little strong, both as chestnut and sugar, so I really need to clear my palate more than I did eating it. The win goes to the Baked Cheesecake, which becomes the tenth cake to clear the third-round cake-off undefeated. I was planning to get to Éclat des Jours for a new cake this weekend, anyway, but need to plan an an additional visit.

L'Abricotier, Fromage Cru

Tried the Daita--Daizawa--Hatagaya--Kamiyama-chou--Kitazawa--Motoyoyogi-chou--Nishihara--Ooyama-chou--Shouto--Tomigaya--Uehara loop again, starting at about 7:40 am. I realized that I would actually feel bad if I was successful, because I've gotten used to running it, or at least starting to run it. No danger: I got the new part added for the shrine I discovered last time, corrected the mistake from last time, and made (after reaching the far west edge of the loop) the following turn that I was worried about late time and found that I couldn't remember what to do after that. Not what I did, as it happens, so I wrapped things up around 9:40 am.

From there, I set off for cake from L'Abricotier, which was closer than I expected, so I around more than half an your early (under their recent business hours). It wouldn't have been bad to wait, except, I was wet from the rain. Running and wet isn't so bad, but it's not warm enough for standing and wet. I went to Kouenji Stn., which isn't actually very interesting, and read news on my phone before returning. It was still raining and I was still a little early (though now there were people waiting), so I ran for about ten minutes to keep warm. I decided to eat out (and let someone go ahead of me, who took the last seat, while I was deciding what to get) so I got takeout. My spreadsheet showed I had never had Fromage Cru (rare cheesecake), which surprised me, though it's not something I usually go for, so I got that as my 20th type of cake from them. Obviously, there is fruit on it, and and a little of the inside was fruit-flavored, but it is not obvious what. Probably a red fruit mixture. As it happens, I was in the mood for Fromage Cru, which apparently I should get more of. I'll need to remember how today's was and compare it to Dalloyau's, which is still hanging on the greats list. This one hit me right, so I can call it excellent.

L'Abricotier, Saint Honoré

Friday, I did an indoor workout. Before hand, I went to Isetan to get their Koonie Chocolat Pecan, since they won a cake-off but don't have any new cakes (in Japan). Koonie are their cookie-brownie hybrid, covered in chocolate, and there are several flavors. I approve of the combination, and can call this an excellent baked good. Hard to tell the size from the photo, but reported weight Koonies on the French website is 20 g each.

Saturday, as planned, I rode to L'Abricotier to get a new cake, also for a cake-off win. This makes the 19th cake type from them for me. This time I got Saint Honoré, which I was surprised to find as new to be from there. It's very traditional in construction. As Japanese choux pastry goes, this was fairly robust, which I appreciate. The caramel is bitter caramel, which I did not appreciate but can respect, so I don't have probably saying that this was excellent.

Other errands appeared that I was not expected, so I was actually pretty late getting back, but went out again at 4 pm to confirm neighborhood course loops in the south Jinguumae area. This time I could confirm my Jinguumae 5&6 and Jinguumae--Shibuya loops counterclockwise, and take care of clockwise for the Jinguumae 5 and Jinguumae--Kita-Aoyama south loops. Along the way, on the first of these four, I finally sampled Coco-Agepan, which is not open in the afternoon, though you'll still see the truck it's run out of parked in the same spot. Agepan means fried bread, and is a staple sweet to an extent. They fry it after you order it, but it doesn't take long. It's basically like a long yeast donut. I choose the Cinnamon Agepan rather than the Coco one (which I assume is chocolate, not coconut), one of several flavors. It was good and reasonable snack for runners, though photographing it in the rain was awkward.

Cake-off: L'Abricotier's Sicilien Figue over Libertable's Charm

Continuing the trend, I did my traveling with 10 intervals of 4-min running, starting from about 10 am. First I went to L'Abricotier to get their Sicilien Figue (Cicilien Figue? For some reason my spelling notes from the shop are especially irregular). The rain was light to none, so I could pick up a couple pictures of not very interesting parks for my map and verify that what Google thought was a cake shop was an empty lot. The construction plan posted showed mixed commercial and housing on the shopping street, so it's possible Google is ahead of itself. I came back by train, but making connections from shop to station and station to home, I still used up all 10 running intervals, so after a half-lunch, I went out again walking to Libertable and back. Since I'm reviewing my neighborhood running course through the Harajuku area, I went to the counter in Shibuya Hikarie ShinQs, which was still well stocked at 1:30 pm. Along the way, I verified the nonexistence of a shop but added a couple cafés that marginally expand the proposed new loop for southern Cat Street. On the way back, I popped into one of the chain coffee shops I was considering adding and decided not: the baked goods were plastic wrapped.

This week's cake-off cakes were both zero for two going into the third round and were marked as questionable for staying on the greats list. Against each other though, I'm happy to keep them both on it. Charm is a very creamy and sweet mont-blanc, but I'm choosing the fruity flavor of the Sicilien Figue. Looks like I'm back to owing L'Abricotier a cake. Well, I've never had their cream puff, so I'm sure I'll be able to find something new, but it's going to take a couple weeks, as I'm busy next weekend. Also probably no cake-off, but maybe a visit to new fancy tea salon.

L'Abricotier, Menthe Fraise

Had some business to take care of, so I took a full day off work, which was more than necessary. Coming back, I took the train all the way to Koenji to visit L'Abricotier  (two other also quite exceptional shops that getting a cake from are a priority are both closed today). I ate in and then walked home by a longer route than necessary that let me take some pictures of some sites from my neighborhood map, although these are all so far out that I may never need them. It was about two hours of walking (whereas I could walk there Sunday in about 80 minutes) and my business included maybe an hour of walking, so I was quite tired but seem okay. Maybe tomorrow I'll slip in some running with the walking and see how that goes. Just a few hundred meters would be enough as a test.

The cake was Menthe Fraise, which is a dome cake. Like another recent mint cake from JPH, they did a good job of balancing this so that the mint is an accent rather than dominating, to the point that I probably wouldn't have known that the accent was mint if they hadn't told me. I wouldn't have thought that mint and strawberry went together, but I think it improved it. It was definitely good cake, so no complaint. Also, now I'm definitely caught up with L'Abricotier, at least for a few weeks, when I'll want to put their Cicilien Figue in a cake-off. That should give me time to get to Ryoura and Éclat des Jours over the next couple weekends. And maybe I'll finally get to Origines Cacao as some place that deserves a chance to see whether it could be promoted.

Cake-off: L'Abricotier's Montelimar over Noix de Beurre's Fraise Chantilly

Walked as far as L'Abricotier's, then to nearest JR Station, then Shinjuku Stn. to Isetan, and then home, which was a lot, and certainly more than other controlled walks, but seemed reasonable, so better than previous walking tests. I was there to get Montelimar for a third-round cake-off of cakes that were one and one. It's opponent was Noix de Beurre's Fraise Chantilly, which is why I went to Isetan. The wait was less than 30 minutes there, which was less than I feared, given the lines from opening time (not sure when or why this started). I questioned last time whether the Fraise Chantilly belong among the greats, but when you want cream and strawberry and a little sponge cake, this is still my favorite, and it is nice sometimes, so I'm keeping it in. However, I like the hazelnut accented by apricot of Montelimar better. Wish it was a little more solid, but then it would be a different cake.

L'Abricotier, Illanka

Once again, I was back in Nakano-ku to visit L'Abricotier. My excuse, besides that I can only visit on holidays, is that I planned to do a cake-off with their cake next week, so it's a priority not to get behind on them, even though otherwise Ryoura and Éclat des Jours (which doesn't require a holiday, but it's become harder to get something new late in the evening), which are also in the quite exceptional list, probably deserve turns first.

I ate in, as I usually do for new cakes there. I went with a new cake to the shop again, Illanka, but I was not that impressed. It was good, though a little melty, but not any more than advertised, cherry and chocolate mousse. Of course, that combination could have gone very wrong, so I'm not discounting that it was good, but I need something more at this point. Someone more into cherries might be able to better distinguish what's special about this cake, or maybe a more refined appreciation of chocolate.

The bicycling for the cake took a couple hours (I'll say that unconsciously I wanted more exercise, and that's how I got so offtrack on the way there). I ate a half-lunch and went out again walking to see how my feet are doing. I practiced too neighborhood running course loops from memory, the Akasaka 7 and 8 loops, which form their own clump of routes, though total they are only about 2 km, less than the one-way distance to reach them. I was successful (Akasaka 8 is trivial and 7 just has one tricky bit) and no great problem with my feet despite a fast pace and having already done bicycling, though I was pretty tired afterward (not running tired, but still). I might repeat tomorrow night, this time counterclockwise for each, since I plan to get cake from Isetan, though really I should do my indoor workout and maybe some cleaning to free up time later in the week.

Cake-off; L'Abricotier's Montelimar over Sadaharu Aoki's Tarte au Citron

Got the Tarte au Citron from Sadaharu Aoki first, walking to and from Isetan. I noticed that they also had a new coconut cream puff, which I assume will stick around for at a least a couple weeks, so I'll not worry about it next week. Then I went by bicycle and picked up Montelimar from L'Abricotier, came back and had a half-lunch, and then went about again (like Thursday) to try to do the Daikanyama-chou--Ebisunishi...Uguisudani-chou loop. I tried starting at a different part and messed that up, and then after I got on track, I missed the first turn, so clearly I don't know the course yet, which is not so surprising given the many changes. Also, as it happens, pointless to try to know it, since I've had to completely revised it much more dramatically again. One bakery was lost (which simplifies that part), one was found (so I have to turn early, but that's more natural anyway), and I've decided to add a religious headquarters for one of the Shinto-related "new religions" (which meant I had to split off the Mark City part into a separate loop), and one café (which has a convenient pedestrian crossing near it). However, most of the changes are due to the loss of a pedestrian bridge connecting the north and south parts on the west end (and also this loop to Nakameguro), so I have to loop all the way back to the east side, flipping the order of a bunch of things, although in some ways the course looks less convoluted now. The bridge was replaced by a regular crosswalk, probably because there is a lot more traffic across that road now that the new music college opened. In other news about that course, Il Pleut sur la Seine is back in business, though in a smaller shop on the west rather than east side of the building and they have the cake I need for a cake-off, so probably I'll be there next week if I don't finding something higher priority before then.

Unfortunately, I've decided that Sadaharu AOki's Tarte au Citron isn't really that different from other high-quality lemon tarts, so it loses to the Montelimar and gets kicked out of the greats list.

L'Abricotier, Gateau Fraise

Took the afternoon off and rode around for about 2.5 hours. The first stop was L'Abricotier where I went with the standard Gateau Fraise. Nice strawberries in this and, as a cake structured for the enjoyment of strawberries and whipped cream, it seemed well made. It was a definitely good, but not my thing personally. This catches up this shop for the quite excellent category, at least until next cake-off. They still overlap with the above superb category, but they aren't the top of their current groups, so the honor of trying to move up will go to Origines Cacao for now.

Otherwise, I took another picture of a park or a picture of another park next to the first park, basically a linear strip used for parks along an old main road that how has a lot of old public housing buildings along it and tried again to get a name for a no name park on the way to Shibuya Station. I'm going to have to settle for Recycling Center Open Space.

I was going to try to confirm the main running course south of Shibuya Station, but I messed up immediately and anyway construction has changed things, so I'm having to revise the course anyway. A restoration of a pedestrian bridge exit allows me to combine one cul-de-sac loop back with the main look, but a big development project removed a road elsewhere, so I'll have to make a new cul-de-sac loop to reach those two churches (among the many in that neighborhood). Comping back, I confirmed that the Omotesando Michalak has the cake-like desert that disappeared from Isetan, so I'll be able to get one more cake.

L'Abricotier: Moulin Rouge

As a weekend visit, I went to L'Abricotier again, trying to catch it up to other top quite excellent shops so I can choose which one to challenge the current superb shops, which are vulnerable. Finding 3 hours on my feet too long yesterday, I went by bicycle. I was about about the same amount of time but my feet are much happier.

At L'Abricotier, I choose Moulin Rouge (other untried cakes are Fraiser and their cream puff) and ate in. This is a very soft fruity cake, so it was probably not a good choice, but it's been around there for a long time, so I figured I ought to try it. It has raspberry and jasmine tea mousse, separately I think. The macaron sandwich decoration I ate separately, but it was rather dry, so I should have cut it up and used it vary the texture of the cake, which was very soft. It was definitely good cake, with a good flavor balance, so it was not disappointing.