Maison Douce: Macaron Chocolat Mon Amour

Le Poulpelin

Maison Douce, which I've only had two cakes from, though one was initially rated as great and got a first-round cake-off (neither was declared a win and I demoted both, the only time I've done that), so by in terms of a place where I might find a great cake, it has more potential than some supposedly excellent shops, so it was a high priority to resolve where the shop belongs among my grouping of Tokyo shops. Unfortunately, they are a minimum 35 kilometers out, they don't have eat-in space, and it is not weather for eating outside (see snow above), so I run there and take the train back. I did a 45 km run recently, no problem, so I figured that I would be fine as long as I kept at the same pace, but my right little toe is giving me trouble, and my whole foot tenses up trying to protect it. The shop last told me I need narrower shoes, which might be true once the swelling goes down. I wore new socks with toes this time, but that doesn't really help. I'll use a lot of petroleum jelly and consider taping it, though I'm not sure that I have the right kind of tape now.

Maison Douce: Macaron Chocolat Mon Amour

On the way, I stopped at Le Poupelin whose chef was on the NHK sweets show I started watching. I got a Chasson au pommes, which I'll say was excellent, though it's 27 km, so maybe not in a good position to judge. If I run that far to try them for cake, I think I'm going to get two.

As it happens, I'm probably not going to have to worry about how far out Maison Douce is. I really didn't like the chocolate in this. I suppose it's the chocolate whipped cream that makes for a really weak watery taste. I've had this experience before with chocolate cakes from specialists, so maybe it's just my physical condition. Still, it was ok, but ok isn't doesn't justify going anywhere. The shop still has some potential above shops that have given me nothing better than one excellent cake, but I don't expect it to make the cut to stay in quite good shops.

That clears some excellent shops, though now I saw some other partially challenged by Les Cacao and En Vedette. I hope I can get a visit to Les Cacao next weekend, even if I don't get cake there. Now, I'm really looking forward to a cake-off tomorrow, though reviewing, I'm convinced that Fondant Chocolat au Rouge is just a slightly differently decorated Foondant Chcolat aux Framboises from Yu Sasage, so I've got two choices from them to go against JPH. I need to ask tomorrow how long the two Yu Sasage cakes will stay in the lineup. I need to also review Numero 7 to see what's in it: maybe it's been give a more appropriate name and also can be found in Yu Sasage's line-up without me realizing it.

Cake-off: Maison Douce's Trevi vs. Del'Immo's Royal Milk Tea

This is the view from a bridge crossing the Tama River.

Finally did the semi-long run to Maison Douce in Hachiouji City, on the west edge of Tokyo. Things went a little more smoothly than the last bike ride, though I still got a little off track and was uncertain about turns, because its in the part of the usual pocket map for the 27 Wards of Tokyo that's at 1:62,500 scale, so it doesn't really resolve the details. I stuck to the main roads and was okay until where I was supposed to follow a river and ended up following the wrong one, but that only took me about a kilometer out of my way, so no big deal. I kept it to a reasonable jog, which was about 8.5 km/h averaged over 37 km. I could have kept going (I did keep going for the kilometer after I got the cake, Trevi, since I was not sure how far the entrance of the train station was and ended approaching from the wrong side (I eventually realized that and back-up a bit and found an elevator that took me up to the right level so that I could see the station. It took about 90 minutes to get back with the cake, since I stopped in Shibuya and again went out the wrong side and spent a walked a long way to get to Hikarie, where Del'Immo has a shop, so I could get the Royal Milk Tea (at least, that's what's written in English on the card, but you have to keep in mind that the phonetic Japanese says something different, Earl Grey, I think, when you're trying to tell the counter person what you want).

"Big Chestnut" River, followed to reach Ouzawa.

This was the hardest cake-off ever because both cakes were excellent but I could not say which was better and I wasn't sure I was feeling the greatness. Both are impressive for what they do with what they have. The tea cake is very mild but has an interesting dry biscuit and the right about of sweetness, whereas Trevi is sort of chocolate mousse, nuts, and fruit at a low price (about 400 yen) that still works. I decided every combination and then took it back. I wouldn't try to be strict, but Maison Douce is so far, that I'm not going to commit myself to going back there lightly. In the end, I decided that I have a long list of great cakes and I'm glad to revisit them, but have enough doubts about their greatness that I don't want to give either the win, so I'm not: they both get excellent rates on the second taste and get demoted to semi-great.

The above was Sunday. Monday I rested from cake, though I still ran, after some errands, to check out any changes in Ginza shops. It was about 12.7 km on the low end of 9 km/h. Actually, my right ankle was very weak afterward, so another reason to be careful about distances (though it's also probably related to doing stretching exercises that I usually don't and the fact that I also did a long bicycle ride on Saturday, which my ankles probably haven't become used to). Knees seem fine, though. Rather than cake, I took the cheap and convenient choice of a croissant from Andersen at Isetan, which was definitely at least good.