Lenôtre: Chocolat Griotte

Tuesday afternoon (still a holiday) and went for another run trying to do neighborhood paths, this time back to the new/revised Jinguumae--Kita-Aoyama loop counterclockwise, which I was successful at, and also tried the Takeshita clump and was doing fine and could have finished it (I had done all the hard parts), but decided that it was time to revise the north loop and stop running through the shrine grounds. Everyone cuts through there and it's really wide and nobody has ever yelled at me for running where I do (can't say that about everywhere, though nowhere on a course). So I'll need to do that again.

Out of order, earlier in the day, since Viron doesn't have any new cakes for me and I've had less items that from other shops in the superb group, I stopped by and got a Pain aux Raisins. It was quite eggy, which was my complaint about Excelsior Caffé's, so really I owe them an apology (and perhaps another morning visit). It was still good, but not my favorite.

On the run, I decided that I have to add Max Brenner as a site, even if I don't respect chocolate pizza, it's valid, and Strawberry Mania has take-out strawberry macarons (though you might have to buy a set of three, which would disqualify them on price grounds). Also, back at home, I noted that Strawberry Fetish is near there in Totti Candy Factory (or vice verses) and one of them has cake on stick, which is overpriced and I wish they didn't, but I might have to visit them some day.

After the run, and dinner, I had Lenôtre's Chocolat Griotte. My original plan for the afternoon (and it would have been early afternoon), was to go to Ryoura, as next in line for a visit of holiday only places, but I saw that Lenôtre had multiple new things that were sold out at the end of the day when I had visited before, so I figured I need to take this chance instead. Actually, they have 4 new things, but two have coffee and one is a glass dessert, so the Chocolat Griotte was the obvious choice. The inside is completely soft, which is probably why it's uneven. It was good, but not exciting. The inside is like a fondant, despite being chilled, plush there's more cherry. I'm not big on cherries, so maybe something else would like this flavor more.

As it stands, Lenôtre, which was promoted early due to a hole in the quite exception shop list when Origines Cacao dropped out and Viron got promoted, is dropped to the lowest position and is now under threat by Pierre Gagnaire. Since Lenôtre doesn't have another cake I'm in a hurry to try anyway, I can wait until at least next week to get to Pierre Gagnaire. I'll try a new cake from Jinguumae next and then finish bringing En Vedette even with other exceptional shops. (And Friday I'll rest, at least from cake.)

Rue de Passy: Peru

As planned, I worked on two revised neighborhood course loops and skipped the big loop to work ahead on something different. I started with the Jinguumae 5&6 loop, which I quickly messed up. I needed to think 3 sites ahead to figure out which way the current course looped. I continued as a practice, which I needed as I needed several turns. Discovered Hotel Chocolat on the new route, which was useful, and added Brook's Cafe, nullifying the old route. Also, I realized that the old route was never good, even with the sites I knew about, because it went by the back of a building it needed to go by the front of. I had to add a U-turn to resolve the problem, but the new cafe simplifies at end, so I should have an easier run next time.
Before I even got to that loop, I stopped at the nearest Excelsior Caffé, which I had noticed had fresh pastries in the morning and is the highest priority food site. I tried the Pain aux Raisins. It was okay, but too soft for me, or maybe it just didn't have anything going for it especially. Not shocked that they aren't a prime source of pasties, but I need to give them a try. This was early in the run, so I let it be enough for a couple hours, whereas usually I've very strict about regular Calorie Mates, since with long runs, I think I've underfed myself in the past, which led to getting sick later.

The next two loops went well, together stretching from near Shibuya Station up to near Hatsudai Station: the Kamiyama-chou--Tomigaya--Udagawa-chou and Tomigaya-Yoyogi loops (also, finishing off the tiny Yoyogi 5 loop that I had done one direction Friday night). While I was nearby, I confirmed a Starbucks and a tiny private (?) temple on a dead-end street on the Hatsudai loop, so I could revise that one for its turn. Back at Shibuya Station, I explored Shibuya Scramble Square, the new building: lots of sweets brand names listed, with shops on two floors and maybe some cafes elsewhere, though the floor I visited seemed smaller than ShinQs', where I went next to get a Croissant from Sadaharu Aoki as my second snack. This croissant had a clear sugar (and egg?) coating, which transformed it from a bread croissant to a proper pastry. Great! It was the only flavor they had, so I need to get to Midtown or Marunouchi maybe to get chocolate and matcha versions I saw recently during the day to get them fresh in my review.

From there, I ran to the recently promoted Rue de Passy and choose Peru this time, a chocolate cake. It was good but didn't stand out among chocolate cakes. This enough to keep them in their current exceptional position relative to the one it deposed, but it's vulerable to attack from a couple other shops from below, so want to resolve those challenges before getting another cake from Rue de Passy.
Though I was tempted to take the train back, I (mostly) ran, so I ran almost as much as if I really had done the big loop, which was more or less my plan.

Cake-off: Origines Cacao's Tarte Caramel Chocolat over Frédéric Cassel's Mille-feuille Finger Kaki

Friday, which was Labor Thanksgiving Day, I was free most of the day, so I took a long run, which ended up as 3.50 hours of running, which is the longest for a while. There was some walking and several photography stops, plus 4 snack, but most of it was a one-way neighborhood course run, so not a lot of waiting at lights until the end, when I headed from near the US Embassy to Ginza.

I did a lot of loops together, so it took so long. On the way, I headed down to Roppongi 7 again, because I had forgotten to verify a shrine. On the way back, I stopped at Mercedes Me, which is a café at the Mercedes dealer across from Tokyo Midtown, for the first snack. I got their Pain aux Raisins, which was good, though on the dry side.

Once  I got back to the main route, I could do the newly added Akasaka 8 loop, added to pick up a little park on the corner next to the elementary school. There is also a cake shop on the north end, but I think I went in too early (though the door was open), as there was nothing on display at all except samples of top designs. It's a place for decorator cakes, so I don't know yet whether they have anything ready to eat, though it's also a café, or whatever the guy there can manage, looked like. I also reconfirmed that I know the Akasaka 7 loop. Together they form a sort of shortcut across the main Akasaka-Azabudai-Roppongi-Toranomon loop, though that day I was doing the full loops back to where I started and didn't want to run twice over the same part of a loop, so I stuck to the main loop. I also reconfirmed the Motoaksaka loop and took the link up along the Akasaka Palace grounds to visit the Yotsuya East loop, though I was blocked by people directing traffic for people visiting the palace, so that part wouldn't be allowed by my rules if they were normally there. From there, I did the Akasaka 3 loop, and then over to the Nagatachou loop (though I had to double back to fix an error on the far side of the loop, since I turned to soon). From there, I went up north and did the Hirakawachou-Kioichou loop and took the long detour around Sophia University to get to my tiny Koujimachi loop, which is the farthest out on the course of the places I visited, so it's definitely out of order in terms of distance but was convenient to the other loops I was doing. After returning to Akasaka, I followed the main course down to the final loop to confirm, what I call the Akasaka east loop, which is just north of the U.S. Embassy Tokyo.

On the way there, I stopped at the Pierre Gagnaire shop and got a Pain au Chocolat. To be honest, I had eaten most of it before realizing it (because I was thinking of something else, not because I wolfed it down, which would have made quite a mess, since it had fairly delicate layering). But I'm fairly sure that it was excellent, which is why I wasn't thinking so much about it.

From there, I ran to Ginza, got my cakes, and returned home by train. I was tired, so after I organized them on the plate, my hands weren't too steady and there was an accident, so no pictures. Some caramel was lost, but I was still able to do the first-round cake-off for these too recently tried cakes and declare that I like the caramel chocolate tart best, though in my condition I was noticing that I could have used a higher drink-to-sugar ratio.

Bien-être, Mille-Feuille au Mangue

It took me two days, but I got a semi-new cake from Bien-être. On Monday, they did not have anything new left in the evening, so I kept running down to Shibuya Stn. area, reviewing part of my neighborhood map where I missed a turn before,  and got a Pain aux Raisons from La Terre in the Toukyuu Food Show, which was a second excellent pastry from them. Not that my standards are that high, but it was layered, in a ringed way, and moist (though flaky can also work), so I'm happy with them so far. On the running side, I worked in 10 1-min intervals and managed to get to the cake shop in under 28 min of running time.

Tuesday, they had a couple choices, a short cake and a mille-feuille, so I went with the one I knew I would like, the Mille-Feuille au Mangue (or something like that). As usual, their mille-feuille was excellent and mange might be the best combination yet, though there is still the danger that I'll get tired of their mille-feuille, so next time there is a new one, I'll try to get something else. Tried to take the shortest route until I had to wait for a light and ended up running in a U and took more than 35 this time, though slower running was also a factor. I only ran a little bit on the way back because I stopped soon for groceries and then had a 4+ km walk home.

Unfortunately, my next priority for both a new cake and the next cake-off is closed for summer vacation for the next week. I guess I'll finally get back to Libertable for cake, but first I'll take a rest from running tomorrow and do some shopping.

Bigarreaux, Citron Vert and Sampa

No running or cycling and only normal walking involved, but on Sunday night I shared cake for two from Bigarreaux, which was the visiting patisserie at Isetan until today. I didn't really need more cake from them, but they are an excellent shop, so I was happy to share.

We got Citron Vert, which is obviously lime. Citron is one of their signature cakes, so it seemed a reasonable choice. Also, Sampa (I checked on two days, but it's still possible that I was misreading the diacritic on the last character and it was actually Samba), which is milk chocolate with layers of mango and passion fruit. They were both definitely good, but only the Sampa really interested me enough to call it excellent, though I have to wonder whether I was just seduced by the sugar rush, since it was certainly not its sophistication, not that sophistication is much of a substitute for great cake.

Monday, I went down to Paris S'éveille, which is my #3 shop but doesn't have new cakes, so I got Chausson Pomme (maybe, though Chausson aux Pommes sounds better) and Pain aux Raisins. These were both definitely good, but didn't excite me as much as their top pastries. They still have a few more pastries for me to try, mostly baked tarts, before I have to try something else or revisit an excellent cake. I went by bicycle, which was quite painful to begin with, due to my sprained arm. But at this point, nothing is going to get better without rehabilitation, so I put up with the pain and my arm improved over time, though it was a little tricky nonetheless.

Jean-Paul Hévin: Bûchette Gatsby

Monday I tried a second cake from the Jean-Paul Hévin special Christmas series, Bûchette Gatsby, which is baked flour-less chocolate biscuit, vanilla chiboust, and mild 68% chocolate mousse. This time, I ate the cake turned on its side and it was great. Of course, the greatness might depend on other things, but one issue with this much decorative chocolate on a cake is the shape of the fragments when eaten, which cutting laterally rather than vertically makes a big difference too. (Note that the tongue interprets bumpiness as bitter, I think). I hope to have similar luck on number three on Wednesday. I have a lot of time-limit cakes I'm trying to get to, so I still haven't gotten back to my last cake-off winner. That will probably not happen until next week.

For running, I went down (by the shortest route) to a connector in my neighborhood map (under heavy revision) between the SW Aoyama part and the SE Aoyama part and then did the one loop. Originally, a loop around the Ginjuu Stadium would have have been included with this, but the bridge is out, so that part remains cut off (and it's connected by a bridge, so in the revised version, it would be considered a a separate course). Anyway, I needed to look at my map during this first run, but it's a very simple route, simple street pattern, and familiar area, so I don't expect to have to practice it much.

Monday I went to P. Shima again and got their Croissant and their Pain aux Raisins. Unfortunately, I did not think about how cold it would be (I'm used to cake, where I want it cold), so I didn't really eat them under optimal conditions. I'll need to standardize things, perhaps, and redo all reviews to be serious about pastries. I'll mention that I got two not because I was feeling greedy, but because I was cheap: 260 yen pastry become two for 400 yen after 6 pm, so I got both this week's pastries. I'll maybe bake at home on Friday, if I need something. I ran on nearby bits of neighborhoods around Akasaka and found flaws and that there is a Ginza Cozy Corner that I hadn't noticed (not at all recommended, but I ought to include it on the map and route and so sample and post about it eventually, unfortunately).

(TW) Jean-Paul Hévin: Tarte au Chocolat Constanza

Did a research run past Marunouchi Jean-Paul Hévin to Viron to Toshi Yoroizuka to Origines Cacao to Dalloyau on Tuesday the first, but only the first stop had anything new. It was not too hot, so I could do 12+ km for 9 km/h.

The cake is called Tarte au Chocolat Constanz, although it was more like a giant bon-bon chocolate than a cake or a tart. Rather than having a tart crust, the tart shell is solid dark chocolate. The filling is chocolate mousse and a few fins of solid chocolate, so the only taste is chocolate, though obviously, there are differences in texture. The main issue then is how good is the chocolate, and it was excellent. The other issue is how eating this was different from eating mousse or just tablet chocolate, and my belief was that this was a nearly perfect chocolate creation. The solid chocolate gave some crunch and encouraged chewing but because it was mostly mousse, I did not have experience of chocolate pieces filling my mouth, like when eating a chocolate bar. It was a great cake and I hope that they make more tarts like this one with other kinds of chocolate. I should say that, as the name suggests, this is made from Dominican cacao.

Since I had a good cake Tuesday, it was reasonably cool, and I was busy (one excuse for being so late writing up these blogs), I did a cake-less run Wednesday. Of course, I still need a snack, so I got a Pain aux Raisins from Hediard at Isetan. It was excellent, as one would expect. The running was 18+ minutes averaging 10 km/h up and down a nearby 250 m long slope. Apparently, it's too flat for Google giving elevation information.

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.)