Royal Garden Cafe [Aoyama]: Croissant Almonde

As my pastry, I made my first buy at Royal Garden Cafe, on the ground that now that the pedestrian bridge over Aoyama-doori is fixed, then will be on a neighborhood course, as soon as I get back to more ambitious running. I'm not putting every cafe on the course, but this does bill itself as a bakery cafe and there is a space set up for take out bread and pastries, even if they don't seem fully prepared for that when I actually buy something (though that might just be weekend part-timers). This almond croissant was of the flat/collapsed rather oily kind, which is not a wholly bad thing, but doesn't get them beyond good.


I actually ran this day, visiting Midtown to research something, though I don't remember what. Wait, now I remember: Sadaharu Aoki, which I needed a next cake from. Aoki had a green tea azuki bean rollcake, which is unappealing on multiple fronts. I reviewed the website and say that I needed to actually go to Shibuya Hikarie ShinQ.

Sadaharu Aoki: Saya (dome)

I know, I need to run without cake one day to make up for Sunday, but I've decided that the day will be Friday, since that's the hardest day to get cake. Also, I'm behind on following up on cake-off winning shops and the dome-shaped Saya at Shinjuku Isetan Sadaharu Aoki is limited to two weeks and tomorrow is the last day (though they had a good supply today at 18:15). It was not obvious that this was the cake I should get, since I've had their regular rectangular Saya (and found it great the first time and excellent the second time) and have generally had better experience with rectangular cakes than domes (though I have not checked the data to prove a significant difference). Nevertheless, Isetan should be my first choice for convenience and member discounts and I made the mistake of trying for something different at the Tokyo Midtown in my last new cake run for them and failed.

For running, it was not at all hot (actually, it started raining after I started running, so I was a little nervous because I didn't have a jacket), so I decided to do some speed training for once, since it's been so long since I've run fast (except going down-slope). I choose just +11.0 km/h as a comfortable but recently seldom used speed and did 5.0 km around the Meiji Jingu Gaien course (it's actually 1.325 km/lap, but there are 100 m markers, so four laps minus 300 m is easy to plan), which is definitely farther than I've sustained that speed for probably a number of months. By half way, I found myself in danger or being too slow: it was fast enough and long enough that I needed to pay attention to my speed and make extra effort. Actually, the first 525 m apparently was too slow, but only if my timing is accurate to the nearest second, which I'm not going to assume: the nearest tenth of a kilometers per hour is going to be close enough, I'm deciding now, so it was 11.0 km/h, safe. The full laps were 11.2, 11.4, and 11.4 km/h, and the last 500 m at 11.2 km/h, so cleared that goal.

The cake was strawberry and pistachio, which is what Saturday's cake was and shows that the right cake can make these ingredients great (at least with the right mental attitude). Texture (not overly gelatinous with a nice reasonably firm biscuit bottom) and flavor (much more intense than Saturday's) were both great. I won't hesitate to try any other dome-shaped versions they want to try on me.

Homemade brownie for training run

As expected, worked too late to get to Heritage, so I took a no-patisserie day in preparation for the next cake-off (probably Wednesday). My goal was seven 500 m intervals at 13.0+ km/h. Had some trouble at the beginning with the watch display, but finally got it going. It was hard running, although that was partially because, just to be safe, I was aiming for 27 s for each 100 m, though 27.5 s would be okay. I made all seven, with six closer to 14 km/h and one actually above 14.0 km/h. For my short legs, that's not bad. And it feels great afterward running slowly (I was doing about 9 km/h in between and before and after).

Desert was a tiny homemade brownie (well, a couple, actually, before and after dinner, since I need to take in both protein and sugar within 30 min of exercising in order to build muscles). I also had a glass of wine, which may have been a mistake, as the running alone is sufficiently relaxing, so the wine just makes me weak.

Le Petite Mec: Baguette

No cake today, but I did stand in line at Le Petit Mec and managed to get half a baguette (140 yen) before they sold out this time. It was excellent, nice and chewy.

The run was a 12 km/h training run at Meiji Jingu Gaien, this time 6 laps, which is 50 m short of 8 km. The first lap was hard, as always, and yet checking every 100 m, I kept a constant pace then, and was still on track on the last one, when I was checking every 600 m. More than one lap, I speed up near the end, just in case, because my time was just a couple seconds from exactly 12.0 km/h, and I didn't want to loose the lap to a mishap. Was still okay on the last one, so I assume that I could keep this up for a 10K. Eventually, I'll test that at the 5 km moat course, though that's less flat. Pretty crowded now all the all the usual courses. Guess we're about a week out from the Tokyo Marathon.

Training run at Meiji Jingu Gaien

Did a training run of 13.0 km/h 300 m intervals, which took 4 laps with intervals. As usual, almost half was actually above 14.0 km/h, especially toward the end. Also, it was no surprise that runners are nice, as I dropped something and someone came running after me to return it. Not sure whether he saw me drop it or just looked for the stupid foreigner. No cake today, as I had cake and no running on Friday, so I show you my latest macaron efforts. Actually, they are a little dry by this point.

Wednesday: Maison g Tokyo [Meguro Gajoen]: Sicilian

I'm behind, as I've been busy, including making macarons yesterday, including both the shells and the ganache filling. My ganache recipe didn't work out well, and the macarons were still not perfect. I should work on some other recipes next time.

The run was 15.0 km/h sprints, actually. I had thought I could manage 200 m, since I had gotten close on 300 m when doing 13.0 km/h intervals, but I messed up my chronometer on the first one and then the second was 0.22 s too slow (actually one was 225 m, because it's the last part of the course). That's within my error on self-timing, but I want to clearly make the goal, so I switched to 100 m sprints. That I could do, but all (six) of them came out 16 km/h, with two actually reaching 16.0 km/h. After that training run, I went down to Tokyo Midtown (at about 10 km/h) to confirm something and then back to Lawson 100 for groceries.. So about 6 km around 10 km/h about 1 km around 15 km/h.

I had already gotten my cake from the visiting Isetan counter, which is called maison g Tokyo, but is part of Meguro Gajoen, a wedding ceremon, complex, I think, so I'm not sure how welcome I would be if I show up down there sweaty, but we'll see. I got what they said was the specialty, and they use a picture of it on the Meguro Gajoen for the link to the cake shop, though aren't featuring it there. This is the Sicilian, which used pistachios and almonds, so definitely my kind of cake. Because of that, I'm not sure whether my finding it excellent says much about the quality of the shop, but is see when I follow up.

Chianti: Mont-Blanc

Today was a training run, so I went to Isetan when I could (we were understaffed at work today, so it was a long day) and fortunately there was something left. I think this is called a Mont-Blanc, but I wasn't really reading the Japanese name that closely and it could have the Italian version name, since Chianti is an Italian restaurant. This cake seemed a pretty typical Japanese version anyway. A very smooth, slightly buttery (but no way near Dalloyau's level of almost pure butter taste) chestnut paste, which was most of it, around a little unbaked meringue, so no whipped cream, I think, and no baked base. Among Mont-Blancs, this seemed excellent, plus it's a first cake, so I want to give them the benefit of the doubt. They shouldn't really be that hard to visit that I need to get them at Isetan, since they are in Azabudai and Yoyogiuehara, as well as some department stores, but I'm not sure exactly which places have fresh cake for takeout, so I'll probably hit Isetan again before they are gone.

The training run was 5 laps at >=12.0 km/h each at Meiji Jingu Gaien. For some reason, was I pessimistic going out. I guess because I was r
eally sore after 4 laps, also it was cold (I start wondering whether I'm going to freeze but then it doesn't become a problem, versus overdressing and being fine at the beginning and then getting too hot). The first lap (after the warm up getting there, and my routine running "switches", versus stretches, though I have some of those) was in some way the hardest. I have to check my time every 100 m and keep increasing the pressure on myself. Of course, the 5th lap is also hard, since that's where all the new training is, but by that point my body knows what it needs to do, even if it's become harder to do it than previous laps. All laps were successful, and the last one edged into 13 km/h territory, so I can probably scale that back and do 6 laps, though I'd like to do some running on my other two main courses first, as well as faster intervals.

Doutor: Ganache

The title is somewhat facetious, as Doutur (Coffee Shop) is a typical Japanese chain coffee shop, and their Ganache (220 yen?) is a tiny square barely pretending to be cake, though, of course, that is basically what it is. I'll say it's okay, which is better than I feared, and might be better than their usual cake. The only reason I mention it is for completeness (so even if I starting doing all cafés, Detour is covered now), and because I did not have anything else today. Tomorrow, if I can get them, I'll try to get two pieces of real cake that I thought last time were great and evaluate them in comparison with each other.

The running was interval training again, and it was hard, harder than it needed to be. It's difficult to be precise timing oneself by wristwatch chronometer on short distances, so I'm still not very consistent. I was trying for eight 300 or 325 m 13.0+ km/h intervals. The first just missed it, so I overcompensated for the next ones. I did get my eight 13.+ km/h intervals, but in the process I got six 14.0+ km/h intervals and one 15.0+ km/h i
ntervals, so I'm okay on 13.0+ and 14.0+ km/h training for now, but I'd like to do a total of at least 600 meters in intervals at 15.0+ km/h, and I may need to do longer intervals at 13.0 km/h to ever get consistent. First I'll try ten of the current-length ones, but I should do 5 full laps at 12.0+ km/h first, when the budget allows. I want to do a couple actual running to cake shops first, at reasonable speeds.

Jean-Paul Hévin: Longchamp Chocolat Lait

Got the last cake I know of currently available from Jean-Paul Hévin, the Longchamp Chocolat Lait (ロンシャン　ショコラ　レ; 680 yen), which took two tries. Note that I previously posted on the Longchamp Chocolat Noir. It's possible that the Marunouchi chocolate bar will have some special cake for the upcoming Valentine's Day, since they surprised me with ones for Christmas, but otherwise I might have to wait for spring for something new, which means I need to finally getting around to reviewing all cakes I've rated as great and start comparing them to each other, which I haven't looked into yet (as far as, where I would start).

For running, my goal was to do 6 x 300 meters intervals @ 13.0+ km/h, down at Meiji Jingu Gaien, which was a little crowded when I got on, but I didn't see the largest group again once I passed them. Unfortunately, my fourth interval fell below 13.0 (but was still around 13 km/h), so I have to watch out for intervals over the last couple hundred meters of the course, which is where there is a slight upward slope. To make up for it, I did an extra interval (I would have kept going around third lap anyway). Actually, I had three intervals that were 14.0+ km/h, the last being closer to 15 km/h, plus another interval between 13.5 and 14.0 km/h. In the end, I got my 1.8+ km @ 13.0+ km/h, and 0.9+ km @ 14.0+ km/h, so I can use that as a start point when I want to deliberately do intervals at 14.0+ km/h, which I had been planning to do. First, I'll try to do 8 x 300 m @ 13.0+ km/h for my next training run.

Cake was great, which is no surprise. In some way, it is an extravagant cake, being a light chocolate mousse meringue (I assume, since the description says meringue and chocolate mousse, although maybe chocolate mousse is still chocolate mousse after you bake it, though I assume it would just melt) around maybe just plain meringue, with a milk chocolate coating with almond bits. On the other hand, it's a pretty simple taste, so maybe just my bias is talking. Nothing is stopping other shops from making similar cakes, though.

Actually, I tried to get this cake the day before and failed, so I got Pain aux Raisins from Maison Kayser, which was actually just okay (too dry for me, but maybe I shouldn't buy fancy bread in the evening).

The day after JPH, I tried to go to Octobre, thinking they are open until 8, which they are not. I could have then tried Plaisir, which is very close and theoretically should have been open (I know now), but was too stubborn and/or really did not care that much (after 8.1 km @ 10 km/h, I was pretty mellow, though now I'm disappointed that I hadn't managed 11 km/h). I'll get around to Plaisir eventually, but I've been there before, even though I haven't blogged them, and there are closer places I could do first, as far as revisiting places. Returning, I missed my turn and ended up connecting back up with Yamanote Avenue on a completely unfamiliar road that was none-the-less going in the right direction and well framed by routes I use regularly. Similarly, heading toward Yoyogi Station, I tried a slightly different way and ended up going past a school south of Shinjuku Gyoen that I didn't recognize buried back in a neighbor that I go frequently, just on different streets. Ended up 9.1 km @ 11 km/h coming back, even though going seemed more down hill (although a lot more worry about navigating a new route).

So no cake Wednesday, but I had great cake on Tuesday, I'm not underweight, over-lean, or over-slim right now, and I've got definitely not great homemade desserts in the freezer to use up, so no worries. Thursday, though, I'm getting cake from Isetan before Valentines Day chocolate sales makes things too crazy over there. Speaking of which, I would have stopped at a bean-to-bar place on Yamanote Avenue if they had been open and if it had not been packed with people receiving a lecture, presumably on how to make chocolates. (I've never been in there, but I've noticed them before and seen some stuff online about a few such places in Tokyo.)

Pierre Hermé: Plaisir Intense

After working late, I went to Isetan and got the Plaisir Intense (756 yen) from Pierre Hermé. 

Running was 12 km/h laps at Meiji Jingu Gaien. I was worried at the start that I wouldn't be able to make my goal of four (5.3 km), but it worked out. The last lap was a little long (by 100 m) and a little fast (edging into 13 km/h territory) because I ran into a large pack of slightly slower people around where the end marker was (actually, an only slightly slow pair met up with a slower pack and matched them rather than going around, so the whole path was blocked and I had to step into the street to maintain my pace) and I missed it trying to get past them. On the other hand, I was not able to keep up the speed going home, so that 1 km or so was only 11 km/h this time (plus there was 100 m shorter at 10 km/h getting there to begin with). It was another not long run but it was intense enough that I feel sufficiently sore to be satisfied, although it is in the buttocks and hips first, then thighs and not so much calves, which feels weird (and unstable, sitting). 

This time I followed my own advice and just ate my yogurt when I got home and waited until after a bath, dinner, and tea ("La France") was ready to have my cake. I'm not sure why I haven't had this one before, but maybe it is seasonal. If I believe what I read online, which seems accurate, the base is almond cheese biscuit, there is chocolate flaked praliné, chocolate ganache, chocolate chantilly, and some large pieces of chocolate, all dark chocolate. It is definitely intense and definitely excellent, as well as not being overly sweet, although that's natural for dark chocolate.

Debailleul: Macaron Breton

I was curious about cake appearing at Debailleul, which is a high-end chocolate counter at Isetan (where I had never bought). Actually, though, the cakes are from Collection Échiré, so not so distinct from Échiré Maison du Beurre, which is in the same company group. Anyway, even knowing the facts now, it was worth trying and was good, high-quality cake, but not more than that. Specifically, I had the Macaron Breton (マカロン　ブルトン; 734 yen), which is a sort of buttery chocolate (ganache) tart on a sablé base
with a macaron-type top.

The running was Meiji Jingu Gaien intervals, which ended up with 300 m at 14 km/h, 925 m at 13 km/h and about 3 km at 10 km/h. The fast intervals were all at least 13.0 km/h, as planned, though I don't have fine control at the speed, which is how I end up with one interval sliding into 14 km/h territory.

Maison Kayser: Chausson aux Pommes

Decided ahead of time that it was a good day to skip the cake, though I just took a step down to viennoiserie, which is to say, fancy bread. In this case, I got a Chausson aux Pommes (ショソン　オ　ポム; 302 yen) from Maison Kayser at Isetan. Maison Kayser only opened there fairly recently and has several fancy things not found at other Isetan counters, so they fill a niche. This one is rather plain, being a very flaky apple pie, but it was good. Maison Kayser used to be my favorite place when I was living in Narima District and came into the Ikebukuro Station area.

The run was lap training at Meiji Gingu Gaien. I did three laps (about 4 km) at +12.0 km/h, which was hard, but I managed to stay just high enough coming home to call that 12 km/h, so I may be able to do 4 laps next time. Not sure when that will be be. Have a three day weekend (with a Monday holliday) coming up and I need to get to Au Bon Vieux Temps one day and still keep in the budget, but would like to get somewhere the other two days, too. Monday, though, I probably won't have much budget left and will do some sort of training run, but even 4 laps might put be over.

Starbucks: NY Cheesecake

Didn't plan to get cake, but still had some points left and had a request for a break. The cheesecake is decent (420 yen + 8%), again, especially compared to other major chains, although I can't remember that well the last time I tried to eat other such shops' cakes, so that's just a general impression.

For running, I just tried out a new fanny pack (I think) for running by going down to Meiji Gingu Gainen and doing one around the track. There where two 300 m intervals at 13 km/h and 225 m at 9 km in between, but there rest of the about 3 km run was at 10 km/h.

Jean-Paul Hévin: Safi

Safi, Chocolat Chaud Maron, and Gallette de Rois "Star" (?)

No running on Friday, but I missed cake some running days, so no guilt. Wen the the chocolate bar at Isetan and got a couple drinks and a couple cakes. The new cake (to blog about) was the Safi (サフィ; 618 yen +8%), which is a rich chocolate biscuit with layers of chocolate mousse flavored with orange, from Jean-Paul Hévin. Not sure what variety of orange it is, but not sweet, or at least that is the effect, which is not a complaint.  Also not complaining about the cocoa powder on top, but that stuff makes me cough I'm not careful, so I'm giving a warning here. That might be the only reason I'm not rating it great, but I am still looking forward to having again. In the meantime, there are special only-the-first-two weekends-of the-new-year cakes that I have to decide whether to try to get. 

I had a good part of the Galette de Rois "Star" (ガレット デ ロワ スター) and was not really feeling the greatness this time. It was still good. It came as part of a set with Chocolat Chaud Parisien for 1300 yen + 8%, which is less than the hot chocolate by itself. 

I got the Chocolat Chaud Maron, which has a definitely distinct taste (apparently chestnut) compared to the other types and was actually the cheapest, at 1080 yen total.

Today, I went out again, but just to Starbucks, where I got a Sachertorte, which is decent, which is better than another thing I've gotten at any of the other main chain cafés. Of course, I added whipped cream. This was the Starbucks near Omotesando (because Pierre Herme, which did not post it's end-of-year store hours, even on their door, was closed).

Today also had running, which as just 6 laps around Meiji Gingu Gaien, with the intention of keeping it above 11 km/h, although I caught myself slow half way through the 5th lap, so I sled up and ended up closer to 12 km/h for the last lap. Then I took a pretty hill-intensive route (even compared to Asasaka Palace course) following the Gaien Walk and managed to keep it well above 11.0 km/h for 2.4 km on the way for shopping. So running was about 1 km at 9 km/h, 9 km at 11 km/h and one lap (1.325 km) at 12 km/h. Tomorrow I may rest, but Jean-Paul Hévin has a special New Year's cake I want to get and one shop is open, so I may need to jog there if I don't get a walking partner to there.

Sadaharu Aoki: Éclair Chocolat

As planned, I went on Thursday to Isetan and got the Éclair Chocolat (エクレール　ショコラ; 540 yen) from the Isetan counter of Sadaharu Aoki. It was definitely good, but didn't make me want to learn to make éclairs.

The the run was the similar to other recent ones, being laps around the Meiji Gingu Gaien course. This time was 5 laps at 11 km/h. Going and returning, which are about 1 km each, were 9 and 12 km/h, respectively, so it was clear that I could keep raising the pace, which has been reinforced since then.

Running without cake

Had bad luck even before I got out running. I was in a hurry (for no reason, as it turned out), and bashed my arm on a door and then got a jacket zipper stuck and broke it (it was old and cheap, though), before getting to Anniversary and seeing that they were closed at 6 pm (which is on their homepage, which I looked at but apparently it did not make an impression). From there, I decided to do a run to Tokyo Midtown to check what Henri le Roux was up to, which turned out to be being permanently closed, as of Dec. 26. While I was there, I checked out Dean & Deluca, which is a kind of deli and café, and noticed for the first that the few cakes they have there come from other local shops (whose names I recognized except one). That could be useful information at some point, since Dean & Deluca has longer hours. Now the question in my mind is whether all Dean & Deluca shops have the same selection of cakes. This time I chose to go without cake. I might get something from Isetan tomorrow, regardless of whether I run, since I'm a couple days behind (although I've also done a lot of short training runs).

From Tokyo Midtown, I came back to Meiji Gingu Gaien and did a lap and a half of intervals, 12 km/h (1.225 km in 4 intervals) and 10 km/h, which was my speed for most of the run, which in total was about 9.5 km. I'm still 20% below my weekly running budget, since I've been doing more speed work than long runs. With the holidays coming, I'm not sure how much running I'll get to, but perhaps some.

Pierre Hermé: Flocon Plénitude

Yesterday's run was boringly like the previous day's: laps around Meiji Gingu Gaien at 11 km/h, just I did a fourth lap (5.3 km total), plus kept the speed up going home, but was a little slower coming. 

The cake (bought today) was from Pierre Hermé at Isetan, the Flocon Plénitude (フロコン プレニチュード ["plenitude of flakes"]; 864 yen). This is pretty complicated, supposedly: a chocolate macaron, chocolate ganache with chocolate in it, chocolate with fleur de sel (a kind of salt) in it, and chocolate mousse. It is a rich chocolate cake and everything harmonized well, except the dryness of the macaron (?) wasn't really working for me, as texture. Maybe if I had known what it was (I found the description online later), I would have appreciated it at the time. I was worried that I am overly biased toward chocolate, but I realize that I'm also critical of chocolate cake that doesn't live up to what I think is the best I've had, so I suppose those factors balance out. This was definitely a good cake, but not something I need again and so hard to recommend at the price. I would like something more exceptional than design from the half dozen shops that I am designating "superb". Of course, I already knew that holiday cakes made for shape rarely are great, so maybe I should have chosen differently, but the description is sufficient interesting, now that I've had a chance to read it, it still seems like the logical choice, so no regrets, except that the photo came out blurry.

Jean-Paul Hévin: Rêve

Jean-Paul Hévin: Rêve

Ran last night and got my cake today. The run was just 11 km/h laps at Meiji Gingu Gaien, that time 3 laps (1.325 km per), but also for the return home (but not there, which was about 9 km/h), so next is 4 laps. The Chocolate Bar at Isetan Men's Salon in Marunouchi was empty on Christmas around noon (although other people came in), which pleased be rather than shocked me, despite the crowds for cakes at Shinjuku Isetan. They had three special Christmas cakes, and we got one each, but that's spreading things thin, so I can just say that I got the Rêve (レーヴ; 859 yen + 8%), and small bites of the Kankan and the Fashion suggest that I had the best. Certainly, it was the same high quality that I expect there (all their cakes are very similar, unlike at the main branches, which have more variety in the construction), being chocolate and orange (versus cherry and just Venezuelan chocolate mousse).  The Chocolat Chaud Colombien (ショコラショコロンビィ; 540 yen + 8%) was also excellent.

Sadaharu Aoki: Sensuel

As expected, I couldn't resist cake and running. The running was just down to Meiji Gingu Gaien and two laps. The laps and coming back (about 3.5 km) were 11 km/h and going was 10 km/h, so I'm ready to do 3 laps next time I want a run after getting cake from Isetan (which I have plans to do, though not sure when).

The cake, from Sadaharu Aoki (サダハルアオキ) at Isetan, was Sensuel (センシュエル; 891 yen), which is raspberry and chocolate. I think the praliné layer at the bottom is hazelnut, based on the taste. The cake was the usual high quality and it seemed pretty good at first, though not one of their best, but the hazelnut aftertaste convinced me that the different flavors were really not harmonizing well, so this was just good for me and not something
I need to have again.

Le Jardin Bleu: Misérable

Got a second cake of Le Jardin BLue at Isetan and then did a training run in only like rain. This took three laps at Meiji Jingu Gaien, running 8 km/h there, alternating 300 m (7 times) at 10 km/h and 200 m at 8 km/h, but then I went too fast going home and have to count that as 10 km/h, but I'm still okay for this week's plan, since I already substituted out two laps around Akasaka Palace course for one lap and a short side trip for cake for one run this week.

The cake was Misérable (ミゼラブル; 432 yen) and I was expecting a rather plain cake. The description says it's dacquoise with buttercream filling as a traditional Austrian cake, but if you Google this name, it comes up Belgian, which makes more sense, since the name is French. I just had this cake type of cake from Échiré Maison du Beurre not long ago, and that one was not as good, as it was just very sweet buttercream. This one, the buttercream is praliné, with actual nut pieces and uses syrup, which has a more caramel flavor than just sugar, although the effect would perhaps be the same if they brushed some syrup on the dacquoise, which many recipes do (I've learned from experience baking). So it was excellent cake, and I could go back get another there tomorrow, to have three, which is my target now for excellent shops, but I have to rest from cake and running sometimes (actually, I'm hoping to make macarons tomorrow), so I'll just have to wait until either they come to Isetan again, or I get up to being able to run 60 km in a day (or admit that that's never going to happen and go by bicycle).