Bien-être, Chocolate Roll

Last Saturday afternoon,
I went out by bicycle (since I can't run so much) checking a few places. For example, at Tokyo Midtown, I checked whether I could get a new Ryoura cake, but they only had one from that shop at the Dean & Deluca. I've seen more other times, so maybe I shouldn't give up, but I don't need to be in a hurry now as I am going through the many lower rated (but still good) shops seeing who to keep and who to cut, which is likely to take a lot of months. Last stop was Bien-être, which was due another visit by virtue of several successful visits to Viron as far as getting new cakes, which were mostly excellent but not great, so not enough to separate the two shops. Unfortunately, Bien-être almost never has new cakes. Saturday, they had two, both roll cakes, lemon and chocolate. I got the chocolate. It qualifies as good but doesn't belong in quite exceptional shop (though a shop in my top three regularly has roll cake, so can't hold that against other shops too much). I'm glad I didn't get greedy and get the lemon too. On the positive side, it was cheap, but I'd still say the local minimarket is the best place to satisfy a desire for roll cake. And still they have a slight edge over L'Abricotier, but only because I'm willing to ignore the one verrine. 

Asterisque, Montmorency

Last weekend when I was nearby getting Chocolat Cuit for a cake-off, I stopped also at Asterisque I got a fourth cake from them as I work through the list of quite fine shops alphabetically. The top got messed up, so this was a reconstruction from the best side. The outside is obviously pistachio and this layer is fairly thick and drying than a paste but similar. In the middle is a balanced about of griotte cherry, not withstanding the top decoration. Definitely a sophisticated place and a cake along the lines of what I lick, so it's getting an excellent and they'll make the next cut to stay in this category.

Bien-être, Verrine Tropique

As one of three shops battling for the bottom slot of the superb shops, I visited Bien-être for cake. This is Verrine Tropique, but unlike other verrines I've had, there is no token sponge in there, so really it's a straight out glass dessert. It was good, with mango and passion fruit, obviously, but forces me to start creating different rankings for with and without verrines. So no more verrines from here based on the with verrine rank, but if they actually got another new cake, I could still get it. At the same time, I feel free to work on the other shops that do have cakes.

Bien-être, Chiboust Earl Grey

First Thursday of the month, I completed a streak of four and scored an early cake for the next week by visiting Bien-être and finding a new cake at night, Chiboust Earl Grey (so no pistachio chiboust). I can't remember what fruit accent this had (and fruit accent is redundant with earl grey tea, but it wasn't anything strong), but it was excellent cake, which is what matters. 

Bien-Étre, Mangu

Sunday afternoon, went out by bicycle to see what was available at shops, as well as do some cross-training. The first stop was PS, where there was a line outside and nothing new visible through the window, so I didn't wait. No surprise there. The second stop was Bien-Étre, where I wasn't expecting anything, but mango had come into season, which included Mangu, so I used up my week's cake allotment. This cake was excellent, with the base sable's strong flavor memorable. BE remains at the top of the quite exceptional shops.

At the beginning of the trip, I stopped at Nikka Block Cafe and got their sable. I didn't stop and eat it until just after buying the above cake, but I really needed it. It was excellent, so I should try their eat-in cake some time. They still close fairly early for weekdays, but they are a neighborhood priority. Meant to do a long run in the evening, scaled it down, then found that I could keep to the route, so I gave up pretty early. My muscles felt energetic, but mentally perhaps I had had enough exercise for the day. If only rotating images was still an option with Blogger (or my phone or Google wouldn't automatically rotate them versus how I took them to begin with).

Bien-être, Shimanami Lemon Fromage

Sunday, I visited some places I haven't been to for a while, first by running and then walking a loop. There was more running in the late afternoon. First, I visited Bien-être. I got a late start and arrived at noon, but no line fortunately (one person ahead of me and one person showed up just behind me). There was one new cake, Shimanami Lemon Fromage, Shimanami being a major (maybe the largest) lemon producer in Japan. This seems to be basically a lemon meringue tart, so I assume the cheese is the base for the lemon part.

On my route, as a last stop, I got a pastry for the road, my first from Atsushi Hatae. Rather than struggle on what to get, I went with my standard pastry, the Pain au Chocolat. It was tricky to find a place to eat it, but there is a kind of park-like area long Shibuya River; lighting wasn't idea, but my seat was precarious. I'm calling this excellent. It's fluffier than I consider ideal, but beautifully constructed, and it was fresh and had delicious chocolate, which they don't always have.

The Shiamanami Lemon Fromage cake was also excellent, after lunch. It was not particularly cheesy, but tasted like a normal lemon meringue tart. Among lemon tarts, though, it was less tart in flavor (and thus didn't need as much sugar to balance it) as the most traditional ones, but not as mild as ones that substitute Yuzu or something else, which are usually too mild for me. It is still challenging for a position in the superb group, so once they get a new cake, I can try another one, though how long that will take, I don't know. Maybe whenever they replace this one, since it's obviously seasonal. In other good news, their regular baked chocolate cake is back, so I can do a cake-off with it.

Sadly, Kantou remains under a state of emergency, so I'm not going to see department stores open up this weekend here. Kansai, on the other hand, is opening up, but I don't think I'm going to get to Kyoto or Osaka.

Bien-être: Anzu Fraise Chocolat

It's been a while, but its been a busy week. First, Monday and Tuesday I tried to get the new cake from Bien-être (the last time I had a new cake from there was more than 11 months ago, though I haven't been looked so frequently of late) and failed, though I was fairly late. Wednesday, I had the afternoon off, so I reserved a piece to pick up in the afternoon. I also tried to get the new cake from JPH, but I dallied elsewhere, and so the last piece disappear in front of me. One place a dallied was the quite superb shop Sadaharu Aoki, which does not have a new cake, so I resorted to trying something else again. I prefer to get fresh baked goods in the morning, so I went with the Sablé Choco Chocolat. It's a chocolate covered chocolate sablé-type cookie and was excellent.

I got my ordered cake, passing through the Takeshita area, which I've completed the neighborhood running course clump and by now I have done both the new loops, clockwise and counterclockwise, though I was still working on them then (not necessarily successfully). As expected, the shop was full for eating in, so I brought back my cake for later. Then I went out by bicycle to see if, by chance, I could score the JPH cake at either the Marunouchi or Ginza shops, but no such luck. At Ginza Mitsukoshi, I did hit another quite superb shop which doesn't have enough new cakes to satisfy me, Frédéric Cassel, where I got one of their moelleux, Moelleux Pistache Figue. It was good, I'll say, but I don't need to try others in that line. Still looking for other good types of things from them.

For my second run, I did another neighborhood course, the Suga Shrine clump. I'm mention now that Monday and Tuesday I decided to start sampling the bottom-layer of cake purveyors in that neighborhood. I started with a cheese tart from Lawson 100 and a chuu cream from the Family Mart, both ok to bad (not sure which one left the nasty after taste, because I ate them on the same night): just tasteless. The Waguri Mont-Blanc from the Ministop on Tuesday was definitely bad whipped dairy with a bad aftertaste. Wednesday, though, I got a Chuu Cream from the 7-Eleven, and it was relatively good.

The main event, of course was Bien-être's Anzu Fraise Chocolat. They have this instead of the Cuit Chocolat that had been looking for last weekend, so I thought it might be just that with a different topping, but it's not a baked chocolate cake. I'm sure it's as designed, but it was not working for me at all, so I can't rate it higher than ok (which isn't as devastating to my rating of them as it used to be, but still they were only marginally open to promotion, but not any more, though another shop among the quite excellent shops is, so that should be at least one of my destinations Monday). I should say that this does not reflect what I assume were azuki beans on top, which were fine (though not particularly strong in taste, so maybe not azuki beans, or just ones soaked in anzu juice).

Thursday, I did the large loop of the Suga Shrine course counterclockwise to confirm my memory of it. I didn't try to get real cake, but instead got the Whipped Cream Roll Cake from the grocer My Basket, and it was reasonably good (which is the best any roll cake as been for me).

Friday, even though they failed on the tart, I got a Chuu Cream pack from Lawson 100, because I used to buy these probably years ago now, and found them reasonable. They still are reasonably good.

Looking forward to the weekend, when I can get to shops early enough to get good cake. Actually, based on my reconnaissance Wednesday, I'm planning two cake-offs this weekend, to take advantage of limited availability. 

Bien-être: Mille-Feuille au Fraises

Monday, in light rain, I went to Bien-être (double points) in response to a cake-off win for a new cake. There wasn't actually a new variety, but I had never had the Mille-Feuille au Fraises, which is much like theother five mille-feuille cakes I've had there, except with strawberries (not sure which one was the best, so I'll guess mango). All the ones previous had been excellent, though my appreciation was diminishing. This time, it dipped below excellent, though it's still pretty, and good, but not one I'm interested in having again. The run was my first attempt to verify the revised Tomigaya--Yoyogi loop. I could do the main parts but missed a sharp turn to take in AfterHours, an early turn to reach the main road to run past the pedestrian bridge next to the Cosmo Hatsudai Service Station, and a detour away from Sanguubashi Park to hook around Flotto, all fairly new additions. The second deviation was at least was an improvement and I've updated the map, but I need to fix the other too for next time.

Tuesday, with a break in the rain, I did a short run down to Tokyo Midtown and successfully got the Croissant Matcha from Sadaharu Aoki. The eating space was occupied by a promotional event for some communication company, so I ran it home. As part of the run, I reconfirmed clockwise the Minami-Aoyama east loop with a minor variation to take in NinoCaffe. They'll be a good backup in the future, since they have relatively late hours, such as for Viking Bakery F, which requires me to get off work on time and not spend too much time changing and stretching. The croissant was very nice, and matcha is an interesting change (the inside is quite green), so I can say that it was excellent.

Bien-être: Tarte aux Abricots et Pistaches

Still behind, because I keep fiddling with the map instead of writing. Monday, I ran down to Bien-être, where I got the Tarte aux Abricots et Pistaches. For a baked tart, this is pretty moist. I liked it more than the pistachio and strawberry one, though I'd rather have a chiboust. Anyway, excellent cake. I did some neighborhood running, around Takeshita Street in Harajuku I think, though I only got one loop correct and I've since changed it so I have to do it again. So now I've finally caught Bien-être up to my designated number of cakes for superb shops, so I just need to stop in enough to check on the chiboust. Eventually I'll want more cakes from superb shops, but I'm got a lot of excellent and quite good shops that I'm now behind on, so it's not a priority.

Bien-être: Martinique

Did a run to Bien-être, since I knew they had new cakes as of last Saturday, so I hoped the Christmas cakes would be over and I could get something my size. New things included a tart, a couple roll cakes, and one fancy cake, the Martinique. This is a thick banana, raisin, and rum tart on the bottom and an ample amount of white chocolate ganache flavored with vanilla. My first impression was that it was probably excellent. Certainly, its a lot of cake for its size, since it's dense. I was hoping for great, since JPH's pistachio mont-blanc is back and I haven't done a first-round cake-off with it. I've got a little more than two weeks to find something, and of course I'd like to do second and third rounds after that, before it disappears again. Unfortunately, this was not the great cake. It was excellent when I was eating it, so I'm sticking with that, but I think especially paired with rum, the banana taste lingers, which I'm really not fond of. Maybe I should have gone with the pastachio and apricot tart. I'm almost caught up with this shop, or at least It's now one of many that I'm ready to get one cake from.

Running back, I worked in some neighborhood course loops on the west side, so I've now got both ways for the Sendagaya west loop and clockwise for the Jinguumae northwest and west loops. Yesterday (Christmas) I messed up again on the west side of Yotsuya, but at least I got clockwise for Sendagaya central and southeast right. That was not a very long run, less than 60 minutes, though intense running up and down stairs cutting through the nation stadium station tunnels and then going through Wakaba and Suga in Yotsuya. I repeated the subway route today in a 90+ minute run, but didn't need to get groceries, so I didn't have to go as far as Suga Shrine.

Bien-être: Seasonal Tart (berries)

Did a run to Bien-être, who I'm still trying to catch up with Paris S'éveille as superb shops. I got the Seasonal (Fruit) Tart again, since the season has changed. It's cold and rainy, but not windy and the rain was not heavy, so I wasn't uncomfortable. A counter seat was open, so I ate in. I'm not that excited by tarts, which is why I waited pretty late to have the first one and I guess I'm already tired of this one, or maybe it's just that I don't like strawberries much. It was good and no complaint about the quality, I just am not that into the fruit. The new cake right now is a strawberry mille-feuille, which I'm not sure whether I'd like better. Maybe I'll find out next week. I was not tempted to walk back (though I did have a pocket umbrella with me). I'm still building up my amount of exercises to strengthen my ankles: up to 100 one-food hops on each side and then the same number of ankle raises (or whatever you call raising to tip-toe). This time I did 10 on a step, though both feet at the same time in both cases.

Bien-être, Houjicha Tarte Chocolat

Monday, I did muscle training inside and baked fondant/moelleux chocolat, which I did not do perfectly correctly, but good enough to be worth doing even if I don't improve it. I chilled the batter for the cake too much and maybe pushed the ganache part too deeply, as the fondant version leaked through the bottom, though no trouble with the moelleux version, which I used molds for, so I'll try again when I can buy more chocolate and post a picture here if they turn out better. After that, I'll start modifying the recipe to make darker chocolate (omit milk and maybe some of the sugar from the ganache, and maybe reduce the butter in the cake part). Of course, I recognize that the quality of the chocolate (and probably the cream and butter, if I want to worry about them) matter, so I'll be tempted to upgrade those once I get the construction down.

Tuesday, I went out to Bien-être, since I say that they had three new cakes over the weekend. I was surprised that they had all three in stock, since they tend to sell out. It was not like they were not busy when I went, at least in the café, though parfait seem to be the main attraction. I choose the Houjicha Tarte Chocolat, versus season versions of things I've had before. The tea taste was not too strong, but enough that it harmonized with the chocolate to create a different taste. The quality was good and I would say that it was excellent. I had a sequence of five potential back-ups that I could probably have checked in sequence and caught them open, if I had needed them, and recalled another on the way back, though that one might have thrown off my time enough that I couldn't make all five of the others. Maybe next time. I've almost brought Bien-être up to the target level, but I'll need those other two cakes.

Bien-être, Mille-Feuille au Poire

I ran to Bien-être, where I had pre-ordered and prepaid for a Mille-Feuille au Poire (or whatever they were calling it; no card out and they just wrote down mille-feuille on the order, since they only have one type at a time). I took a long way to get there and practiced some of the mega-loop that includes the shop and that I want to practice on Saturday.

The cake is a tough call, but I'm going with excellent, same as all their other mille-feuille. The pear didn't impress me much, so this is maybe my least favorite of theirs, but I still enjoyed the cake plenty and on reflection maybe the pear was doing its job, just it is subtle with the custard. Still need two more new cakes to catch them up as a superb shop.

Bien-être: Mille-feuille au Marron

Monday, I tried to practice the Kita-Aoyama--Jinguumae--Shibuya Loop. On the way, I planned to stop by the new Sendagaya Number Sugar but it was closed. So was Sun&Witch, but Bakery Cafe 426 Omotesando was back to being a cafe, so I got what was called a Vanilla Croissant. This was the least pastry-like croissant I've ever had. It was definitely bread, complete with a thick crust. It had some layering, but the thickest I've seen in a croissant. Inside was some vanilla custard. They definitely had real pastries there and the Vanilla Croissant was definitely good, so I'll probably buy there again soon. They have cake in glass containers; it's not verrine being called cake, but normal looking fancy cake put inside squarish glasses large enough that the cake does not touch the side or stick up over the top. The cake is for eat-in only.

While I'm talking about bread, let me mention that when I was riding Sunday through Uehara, I ran into bakery being run out what would have been a garage maybe on a short street between two other short streets, where everything else was residential. I bought a Noix Raisin, and it was excellent bread.

Noix Raisin

Back to the run, I wasn't confident through the west end but managed it without checking my map. Coming back up the east side, I had to turn back and try again after Jarat (I remembered how many streets to count, just I missed one the first time) and couldn't remember what to do after Rituel, so I had to resort to the map. I'd like to try again on Friday. I should really keep at it until the loop part at least is a familiar neighborhood. Also, I found another bakery cafe in Google Maps, so I'll be altering the southwest end anyway.  I should really confirm the location in person, but it doesn't radically alter the course, so I can do that when I try it the first time.

Tuesday, I had a table and Mille-feuille au Marron reserved at Bien-être. I had enough to take a long way that took me down some roads I've never been on, so maybe I'll recognize them if I get lost running a neighborhood course. Chestnuts suit custard mille-feuille well, as it turns out, not that I was worried, given the source. Like all their other mille-feuille, this was excellent and different enough not to be boring.

Bien-être: Seasonal Tart (Kyohou Grape)

Yesterday, I went to Bien-être and they were sold out of the one cake that I wanted, which did not surprise me, so I reserved cake and a table for the next day. I was surprised how much I enjoyed the next day looking forward to that, even though it's not like I don't want to get cake from other places. Jumping back to yesterday, though, I had added Lola's Cupcakes to the Northwest Jinguumae Loop, so I visited there for the first time and got a tiny (less than 3 cm in diameter) Chocolate Cupcake. It was good, but I couldn't make out what the frosting was. It was not as stiff as I would expect buttercream to be (though maybe I'm used to eating them at colder temperatures). A few minutes later, I had a kind of bad taste in my mouth, but I'm not sure that it's fair to blame the cupcake, since there wasn't any immediate strange aftertaste that I noticed, though I'm suspicious of the stars. Anyway, there is a reason that I've moved on from cupcakes, namely that there are so much better things.

Today, I went and got my cake. Since I had a table time, I did not need to be in a hurry and tested out the new parts of the Northwest Jinguumae loop on the way there, and also checked out from the outside a couple baked goods shops in odd places down around Yoyogi Park Station (both on tiny side streets, one in a basement and one on a second floor).

As promised, they kicked out (gently) people a table (and probably the table next it, though the people with that reservation didn't show up for another fifteen minutes) and I got my Seasonal Tart, which includes kyohou grapes. It's a pretty thick tart, maybe a butter tart on the bottom and a relatively restrained layer of custard before fruit held by some gelatin. Also, whipped cream and I suppose those are pistachio sprinkled on. Other fruit besides two kinds of grapes seem to be fig and strawberry. I think there was also a raspberry, which is maybe hidden in the back of the photo. It was excellent, so I recommend it to fruit tart lovers. It's my first to try a seasonal tart, but I look forward to whatever the next season is (couldn't get a definite prediction of what or when).

On the way back, I finished reviewing the Jinguumae Northwest loop, which had expanded to add Cookie Time, but then I saw that there as a Kyoubashi Senbikiya, which is a fruit dessert seller, but that includes cake (which I've blogged already, for a different source), so I felt a need to add it. Now the course breaks down, so I've had to slit off the bottom as the Jinguumae Central West loop.

Bien-être: Kyohou Grape Shortcake

On Monday, I reserved cake at Bien-être for Wednesday, so it was good luck, I suppose, that Tuesday was the day with violent rain over Tokyo in the evening. Today, I was a little surprised when they called me to ask whether I was coming to get the cake when it was before the earliest time that I had given them and I paid ahead, but someone else probably wanted it. I told them that I was on my way, since I was more than halfway done with the run there (I was actually just passing Harajuku Station). They were sold-out of that cake and other one which I would have wanted (seasonal tart), so it was good that I reserved it. There was a table open between parfait eaters, so even though I told them take-out and they had already boxed it, they offered to let me eat in, so I did.

The cake was their seasonal shortcake, which now is Kyohou (巨峰の) Grape Shortcake, which I've heard other cake shops as offering now, too. Not sure how long the season lasts. I've had grape mille-feuille from there in the past, so it was probably the same kind of grape, though I wasn't paying attention to that at the time. Bien-être has surprised me in the past, but this was a standard Japanese shortcake, which means lots of whipped cream, some fruit, and sponge cake to hold it together. All of these are good and go fine together, but this kind of cake is too much plain whipped cream for me to get excited about, though a change is often nice. Definitely good cake, as expected.

This leaves Bien-être, Paris S'éveille, and Sadaharu Aoki overlapped for third place. Since I've had the fewest cakes from Bien-être, they remain the priority, but any of them could end up on top, though none of them have many cakes that I haven't had, so it's not so important as far as prioritizing for new cakes.

Bien-être, Figue Mille-feuille

Yesterday, did my first Bien-être run since they reopened, as I confirmed. They had three great cakes and one excellent cake but no new cakes, so I ran to Shibuya Hiharie ShinQ and got a sweet quiche fromToshi Yoroizuka, but I should have been more careful, as it needed to remain flat, whereas I was given it a paper sack, and I didn't worry about it. It was still good, but I don't want to judge it based on that experience. About an 80-minute run.

Today, trying Bien-être again, I ran slower and shouldn't have, as they were more busy, and though they had more and different cakes left today, the short cake sold out in front of me and I had to settle for Figue Mille-feuille. This time, I was more careful about my cake (and my feet), and walked home. This is my fourth type of mille-feuille, but I'm going to stick with excellent for now, as I still like the balance of lots of dense pastry and maybe equal parts fruit and custard. I may have to result in reserving a piece or going near opening time (which is what I do for cake-offs, when I need a specific cake) to get a new cake. I'll see how next Wednesday goes, which is probably when I'll get back there next. I still have three cake back-ups and two pastry back-ups, so I can be patient for a while.

Bien-être: Onctueuse

Wednesday, I finally managed cake.

Monday, my goal was a pastry, so I went to The Ritz-Carlton Café and Deli (which is at Tokyo Midtown, in Akasaka) and got what I thought had a (small) chance to be a pastry, Pain au Crème (might have been the Latin script name), though this was definitely sweet bread. The cream was custard cream and it was definitely good sweet bread. There was a croissant there, so I can go back next week for a pastry, but that's about it among their selection, so it seemed worth trying this pastry-like bread.

For Tuesday, I made my first attempt on Bien-être. I had been successful last Tuesday, but this time there were only three cakes that I've already had, so I went to Viron in Shibuya, for Pain au Chocolat. This thing is huge, and fluffy, which I'm not so into. The chocolate is proportionate to the amount of actual pastry, rather than the size, which is probably just as well. It was definitely at least good and in the end (after a day to think about it), it seemed too perfectly formed not to rate it excellent, even if it wasn't actually to what I imagine would best suit me.

Wednesday, my second attempt at Bien-être was successful. There was another new choice, so I can try again next week, afterwhich September will hopefully bring more new cakes, though I've also seen a couple tarts this month that I've never had. I choose Onctueuse ("creamy"). This was a chocolate mousse cake with a pistachio center, which is pretty standard around here and also something I don't have high expectations for: too much chocolate, maybe. Pistachio cream was a reasonable choice (vanilla seems hopeless), though it can't do too much against chocolate. Fortunately, it was definitely good chocolate and definitely good cake. I wonder if it's more the chocolate coating that keeps me from liking these more, since JPH's layered mousse cakes are great without it, but they usually have a lot else going on in the other layers, so that might not be it. So this wasn't a breakthrough for this style of cake, but what was interesting was the raspberry: the forkful with the whole fresh strawberry was awesome. If this cake had enough raspberries for every bite or at least every other bite, it would probably be at least excellent. I've never seen a cake like that, but now I'm going to be looking for it everywhere. If I ever get bold enough, I may ask, "Can I get that with extra raspberries? I'll pay extra."

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.

Bien-être: Jasmine Lime

Went back to Bien-être, this time by bicycle, though it was not in fact hotter today than yesterday, maybe about the same, but apparently I was hearing about tomorrow when I thought it was going to be hotter, because they are saying 39 degC for the weekend. That's only further northwest, I hope, where they tend to make the Tokyo records. Still, it might not be until next Friday that I actually run again, since I also have a busy midweek planned with little time for running.

They did have cakes that I hadn't had before and I could even avoid the verrine and get Jasmine Lime, which I had seen before recently, so I figured it was worth keeping trying visiting despite yesterday's failure. I asked about eating in and they said that they were full, which I was okay with. Then, after I select my cake, they offered to let me sit at the counter. Not sure why the story changed, but I took it. Maybe they took a second to calculate that it was only going to take me a few minutes to eat cake by myself. Not sure whether it's cheaper. They save themselves a box, ice packs, and a bag (actually, I would have reused a bag), get a glass, plate, knife and fork dirty and use a paper napkin and a wetwipe.

I kind of messed up my review of this cake. It was going along fine at first. It's quite sweet, again reminding me of Christmas cookies like another recent cake that I didn't care much for, though moister cookies that evoke better memories, apparently. I probably wouldn't have been able to guess lime, much less jasmine, though there was a dark green bottom (which I probably would have guessed pistachio, which can be fruity). There was a layer of red in there, so that might have been from red fruit, judging from the top. The problem came at the end, when it subtly turned on me and actually the aftertaste was a little bitter, which didn't make any sense (I was expecting to get sick of the sweetness). If you look carefully, you'll notice a stem sticking up behind the cassis/currants. I think I accidentally ate that (I definitely did not eat the plastic; give me that much credit), and that's were the bitterness came from. I was mulling over calling this great even maybe but decided against it, I think before eating the cassis stem, so I'm going to call this excellent and make it a somewhat priority to give it another chance to confirm, at least if I get to a point that I'm retrying excellent cakes, which I'm on the verge of doing for some shops.

Now, Bien-être would have reached #3 status based on reviews so far, putting as among the quite superb shops, except I haven't had that many cakes from them and I've managed to avoid some that I don't expect to be thrilled by, so I'm holding off final judgement. Even for a superb shop, I'd like a few more cakes from them and their competition doesn't have anything new for me to try anyway, so their relative rankings aren't so important.

In other Bien-être news, Pistachio and Grapefruit Chiboust is back (I'm guessing that they're out of American cherries), so suddenly I'm doing a first-round cake-off for tomorrow.