[Su] Toshi Yoroizuka: Cassis

Not sure of my distance for Sunday, but I went to Midtown by a not totally direct route, as I checked out some neighborhood sites, but also I think I was running pretty slow, so maybe around 8 km in an hour.

Haven't decided that Toshi Yoroizuka is the best candidate to be promoted from Quite Excellent to Superb, I'll looking to double my number of cakes from there, which is going to be hard, at least if I keep going near closing time. But I neglected them from a long time so even late on Sunday I could get something new to me, Cassis. Actually, the fig dominate this, not the cassis (black currant), and it has a fairly heavy biscuit (?), though I won't be able to say what it is until I get back there ask or check the card. It wasn't flashy or intense but it was good and interesting enough that I'll give it a tentative great rating and see whether that holds up (or how long Yoroizuka maintains interesting in making this). Still should go back there during the day and look for great one's I'm missing.

Okay, I did not upload that picture in a smart way, but now I've given Google permission to upload my photos, since it's getting everything eventually anyway. From now on, no more swapping SD cars, which is a huge improvement. Going to calculate Monday's route now, before I forget, but the next step is to get my phone to record it automatically.

Toshi Yoroizuka: Saint-marc

Still sore from yesterday, probably because I was still sore from Wednesday, so today was simple. I went down to Tokyo Midtown to visit Toshi Yorizuka and to bring the last of my Quite Excellent shops up to eight cakes. The running was at about 9 km/h and was actually slightly faster coming back, as I was in more of a hurry to take care of some other shopping and also I was maybe less still. It's about 6.5 km total.

It's been quite a while since I've gotten a new cake from there, so most of what they had was new to me or marked a new version of an old cake. Rather than take a cake marked as recommended, I went with a traditional cake, Saint-marc, which, at least in this case, had a somewhat caramelized top with orange liquor (or at least I think that's where the orange liquor was, though there was not a strong enough taste for me to say), a whipped cream layer, a chocolate layer that seemed too dense to be whipped cream but was in the same general family, and a sort of chocolate, maybe, hard biscuit on the very bottom as a base. This is a very basic, traditional cake, in a sense, despite all the layers, with a very simple taste but it's a good design and they executed it well, so I would say that this cake was great. Even though this is a major brand, I'm encouraged that a cake shop that isn't in the very top tiers could give me this level of cake, though I shouldn't be surprised. They aren't rated higher as a shop because their cakes tends to be either great or just good. One great cake out of eight is enough to push this shop to the top of its category, which means I might have to promote it again up to Superb to fill the gap. At the very least, I'll probably get another new cake from their soon to at least see whether that's reasonable.

Sadaharu Aoki: Mont d'Or

Okay, first with the running. I decided to time myself around Akasaka Palace again, aiming for just one lap at a moderate pace. Since this has hills, it's more difficult than Gaien, which is almost completely flat, but the hills are all during the second half (the way I run it), so I'm not sure how to pace it, and anyway, I haven't memorized enough points of specific distance yet.

Apparently, I did a very fast 1.75 km to get to the starting point (northwest corner), not by the shortest route for no go reason, but it was a good route. The actual loop then was 18'46''14 for 3.31 km, which was actually fast. As I said, it was hard to judge and I wasn't that committed to moderate.

Then a moderate speed 1.87 km to Midtown to visit Toshi Yoroizuka, who was closed for an event (at the bar area, I could see) for the first time I've seen. No problem: I went inside to Sadaharu Aoki, where they had cakes that I hadn't had before as a 10-year "festival" (which is almost over) of being in Japan. The cake, Mont d'Or is chocolate mouse and almond cream on top. The almond cream must have then the pencil line-sized part on top, with the chocolate mousse as the main body. The bottom was a dense and pound-cake like, and is reportedly chestnut and cassis. I suppose there must have been chestnut flour in the cake, as I didn't notice actual chestnut pieces. I would have guessed that the red fruit was raspberry from the taste (and the sense of seeds in my teeth afterwards), but it was just an accent and worked well with the cake. The cake was different from anything I've had before from them, but it was a great, high-quality piece, which it should be for 830 yen. It had been a while since I had cake from a great shop. Still need to get to Toshi Yoroizuka, though. Maybe Thursday.

There were multiple chromometer mishaps, but I seem to have run another 3.3 km slowly (with cake on a crowded sidewalk) coming back, so I hit a variety of speeds today.

Shopping and Toshi Yoroizuka: Baba and Momontelimar

This time we arrived at Toshi Yoroizuka at 4 pm and immediately gave up getting into the bar. Instead we got the Baba for 530 and Momontelimar for 550.

The Baba was a baba, and packed a reasonable alcoholic punch. It might be great. I'm not the one who usually orders this, but I had half. That's a fig on top, I think.








According to the write up, the Momontelimar is a traditional France desert which, in keeping with the "momo" (Japanese for peach) part apparently, the shop has made with peach in the form of mousse, compote, and sauce. It has it's own Youtube video, but I really can't see the need. It wasn't bad but not exciting. Yesterday's lemon worked out better, frankly. I need a little more zing.