Mandarin Oriental Gourmet Shop, Mango Short Cake and Tart Lemon

Sunday, I was busy, but I got a chance to do cake for two at Mandarin Oriental Tokyo Gourmet Shop, which was on the list of shops to get third cakes from. Actually, I got two cakes of course. There was not a big selection left at a little bit before 5 pm on a Sunday, so I recommend going earlier (there was also some sort of glass desert and a coffee desert), but we could get the last Mango Short Cake and the Tart Lemon, both at hotel café prices.
We would have rather eaten inside, due to the heat, but having stopped walking and purchased iced tea, it was actually fine at an outside table. Both cakes were good, although difficult to eat (big pieces of mango don't cut easily and the tart was designed for looks), but not any more than that. It's a fine shop, but this will probably be my last visit. Only five shops to visit, and I might get to two over the next week, if plans go as expected.

I didn't actually run on Monday but instead did a fuller upper body workout than I've done for a long time. The next few days will probably also keep me from doing runs on the neighborhood course, but even if I do indoors again on Friday, Saturday evening I should be able to hit the neighborhood loops from last Saturday again. I need considerable running to burn off this weekend (extended to Monday), so maybe I'll fit in some extra running on a smaller or more convenient loop, like around Akasaka Palace to Jinguumae--Kita-Aoyama.

Mandarin Oriental Tokyo: Kimono

Today's run was to Mandarin Oriental Tokyo Gourmet Shop, where I got Kimono for 864 yen. They have quite a bit of seating outside and in a kind of enclosed patio. Sorry, no shop picture: I was distracted from finding that I was missing a glove (they had it behind the counter). Like the previous cake, this was chocolate and orange, but otherwise very different. This is heavy cake. It was definitely good, but not really special beyond that, which is too bad because it's not a bad route. The picture is edible, but the shop label is not.



Unfortunately, there were not any stairs or steep enough slopes to keep my speed down, so I tipped over into the 10 km/h range, which is dangerous, but I seem okay so far (though I'm worried about getting a cold). The tip is about 6 km each way, though the first 1 km was definitely close to 9 km/h, as was the return trip, so I've only got 5 km unplanned 10 km/h running. I'll have to shorten one run next week to stay in budget, but I'm dropping another run back there anywhere, so I kind find something shorter to do. Fortunately, Isetan will have a visiting shop that I want to try by then, so I can find something close to home to do.

Mandarin Oriental Tokyo ("Gourmet Shop"): Orange Chocolate

Decided I should rest my knee, so not running, but still wanted to try the "Gourmet Shop" by Mandarin Oriental Tokyo cake from Isetan. I got the Orange Chocolat (756 yen). The orange is not very strong and it's a very light milky chocolate, whereas I prefer something heavier and stronger, but I can't deny that this is high quality, and the hazelnut, including the cake base, is appreciated, so I'll label it excellent, because it's definitely above average and I should try something else from them.