La Précieuse, Montelimar and Waguri Mont-Blanc

Though it doesn't feel so long ago now, last Saturday I got a couple cakes for two from one of the shops on my quite fine group, La Précieuse on the north side of the Yotsuya Station building. I got the take-out, though they have a café space that I've used before. My choice was Montelimar, since I've had good luck with at least one cake of that name, and I like pistachio (hard to see in the picture, but the bottom is pistachio cream) and I think the top is mousse with honey and fruit. It was good. 

The other cake was the Waguri (domestic chestnut) Mont-Blanc. The sign says that you have to wait a couple minutes, because they make them fresh, but I think they didn't take so much time in the backroom. It also was good and had a meringue base, if I'm remembering correctly. So it's definitely a fine shop, but will get cut if I every manage to do a cut (I'm running out of shops to test, so it will probably depend on whether I add any new shops that make it to that level).

Emporter (Yotsuya), Harmonie and Gateau Fraise

Was mostly busy over the weekend. Saturday, though, I went a couple new places. One was only semi-new, and without cake: the Pierre Hermé in Marunouchi, which sells drinks, some suitable gift items, soft ice cream, and a few baked goods. We got Marron Pie and some ice cream (orange and passion fruit, maybe). The Marron Pie counts as a pastry, though it was after 4 pm, so I'm not called it fresh. Still, it was well made, so counts as excellent within that scope: no complaints.

The soft ice cream was fine, though not within my scope of interest, even with the macarons (which were particularly hard and not like macarons I've made, so I'm suspecting the modified recipe to produce something more robust and cookie-like to stand up being stuck into ice cream, though the shape was correct).

The actual cake came from a new shop in the root clump of loops in my neighbor running course, Emporter (a name shared with a Setagaya shop). I asked for a recommendation, and had suggested Harmonie, which is white chocolate with a (suitably) limited amount of raspberry. The other cake chosen was the Gateau Fraise, though I would have gone with something dark chocolate.

I thought both cakes were good, though that standout good. However, my co-eater was quite impressed by the Gateau Fraise and its generous amount of whipped cream.

Since Japanese strawberry short  (which even the name card gave as a description) is not my thing and my partner definitely does like them, I'm to assume superior power of discernment and record the strawberry cake as excellent, which at least puts this shop in the solid part of the fine shops (important, since this this and the category above it are grossly bloated, so it would only take about ten more new shops to force me to create a new lower category for most of these shops).

Le Précieuse, Caramel Salé

I originally planned to bicycle to a nearby place and get cake and then go for a long run, but the first shop apparently closed early for the Obon season and the search was on. I was trying shops I'm trying to get a third cake from. There are six left that theoretically available on a weekday, but apparently not this week. The first was Pascal Le Gac. Then I tried the hotel cafe at Tokyo Midtown, but found out that they are renovating for the next 5 weeks, which is good to know. From there I tried south Ginza, where they were closed for the week, then north Ginza, where they were sold out, and then Nihonbashi, where they close early, this time at least posting a sign so I knew that was what had happened. I ended up coming back to the closed place, Le Précieuse at Yotsuya Station. By then there were only 15 minutes left to eat in, but it was enough. I got Caramel Salé (salt caramel) which includes nuts (I'll guess roasted peanuts). I thought it was definitely excellent, which surprised me, because I keep underestimating this place. Anyway, it's good enough to keep them in the quite fine category, leaving only six to check. I wouldn't be trying again this week anyway, so at least 4 should be available on a weekday next week and maybe in a couple weeks I'll get to the last remote one. I should also say that on the way I found another patisserie in Akasaka, but it requires using subway tunnels to get there without using a traffic signal.

Antendo: Chocolate Babka

Tried a fast run to Éclat des Jours, which was successful in that I ran shy of 11 km on the 12 km/h side, which is as fast as I've run this route (and I was going faster for the first part, slower in the middle where it was not helping me make the lights, and slowest toward the end, getting tired). As I half expected, they were closed on a Tuesday again without warning/mention on their Facebook page (they last posted closings in October). I should see whether there is a pattern since officially only Wednesday is a regular closed day, but I wouldn't have run if I wasn't prepared to be disappointed. I'll probably hit them again next Monday, when I'll have a better chance.

I took the train back, because I have other things to do that I'm behind on (like writing this), and did a visit to (Bakery Cafe) Antendo, which is the nearest bakery for Yotsuya 3-choume (not a particularly hip area, with just the one train line through it). I got the Chocolate Babka, which I've read should be moist in the middle, though that wouldn't last to the end of the day, maybe, even if it was every true. It's ok, but this version has only a slight claim on pasty-hood. I wasn't expected much, but just wanted to hit this as a local place, as I try to make pasties a twice a week thing.

(Tu) Tokyo Fuugetsudou Ginza: Framboise Chocolat

As a safety measure, and because of problems in the past, I avoided running for a full 48 hours after my flu shot. To enforce no running, I got another cake from the (self-proclaimed) patisserie next to Yotsuya Sanchoume that is within my neighborhood. It's been years since I've tried here, but not without reason. This is more of a café and it is also a chain. They've got a pretty big seating area and lots of packaged baked goods for gifts, for when you need to bring a present of food and you care enough not to just get what's sold at the convenience store, but maybe not beyond appearances. They also have a regular cake counter and probably take orders for whole cakes.

I got the Framboise Chocolat, intrigued by the idea of a chocolate raspberry dome cake. As I suspected, this was a bad idea, and it was not executed poorly, though not incompetently, so I'll hold my rating at "ok" rather than "bad". (Also, bad really requires a bad taste, and though the raspberry was not good and the chocolate left no impression at all, it was okay). Not sure why the bottom chocolate layer had a sort of chocolate ball in the middle, which was not significantly different in texture from the rest of it, being a fairly firm but not gelatinous mousse. No reason to go here instead of a chain coffee shops, at least for fresh cake. I assume that they continue to exist here because there isn't another patisserie near this station, it's part of a big chain, and the building is old so their rent is probably low, though it could be a matter of being a franchise and the owner not really having a better option at this point.

Éclat des Jours: Cheminée

My big challenge for midweek was Thursday. After work, I ran to Éclat des Jours, which is 10+ km and requires going through the busy east Tokyo Station area, where there are also a lot of stoplights for major cross streets, so it was 9 km/h going and returning (probably, going was close to 10 km/h, but I missed hitting the "lap" button). It's not too crowded most of the way, though, and it's very easy to navigate, which is good because the Chiminée (540 yen? They gave me the wrong receipt), if "n" is the missing letter in what I actually wrote down when there, was great. It's main feature is raspberry ganache, I think surrounded by milk chocolate mousse, then raspberry sauce and a macaron on top. It's just sophisticated enough but covers the basics (getting the balance right between raspberry and chocolate is nontrivial). Also, it traveled 10+ km and still looks good, so it was well constructed and well packed.

Friday, I just did a little running for grocery shopping and got Flute Ancienne from Paul, which was way more calories than any cake (at least with butter), which I'll try to use up in a 30 km run tomorrow. It was excellent bread.

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.

Running and Paul [Yotsuya]

Sorry for the monotony, but I went to Paul and this time I saw where they keep the canelés, so I got one, for 259 yen. It was very good. Not at rummy as others, I think, which I'm not complaining about, just giving my impression. I was looking for "dark rum" at the grocery, but had to continue on to a different station until I saw where it was. On the way, I visited outside of Aux Bacchanales [Kioicho] and the neighboring Pierre Hermé and Patisserie Satsuki, just to confirm them, so I added them to the map. Only rum I found was the one I already have a few teaspoons of, so maybe it is as dark as it's going to get. Found rum extract, too, which I'll keep in mind. Still need to get milk, but probably Marusho is good enough, and closer. Or Natural Lawson is probably find. I always have yogurt on hand, and it would probably work, but I'd like to stay close to the canelé recipe the first time. I should get more bread flour, though.

Maybe it was because of the stops and slow speed, but I could run 5 km with no problems, in 34 min, so still extra-slow. I decided that I'll be satisfied with 10 km this week, so I'm almost there, but my target (must made up today) is 20 km.

Walking to Précieuse

I tried walking instead of running today, which was okay. This time 2.5 km might have been enough, although my shin never got more than a little tight even going double, and I didn't have trouble or feel anything climbing the stairs when I came home, but I think tomorrow that I'll not run. Still, I want cake, because today's cake was not great, so I'll go to Isetan, probably (I'm not expecting to work late again tomorrow).

Actually, I went to Yotsu Atré to visit Paul with the hope of getting a canelé, which they did not have. I've seen a photo of one posted for them at Tabelog, so it was not my imagination that they have them sometimes. Next time I go, I'll ask what their schedule is for making them.

Instead, I got a Coccinelle (ladybug) for 500 yen from La Précieuse, which is several millimeters thick of somewhat gelatinous raspberry mousse, and there is honey mousse, which maybe the cream belong that, which did not really have a distinct taste. The irregular pile of caramel and almond slices (?) that formed the anchor in the middle was okay, and the cake was good, but it's really not the kind of cake that I want to be eating, so I'm downgrading them to just good. Given that I've posted on at least 6 cakes from each my "Great" shops, I'd like to get all the "Worthy"s up to 2 cakes before thinking about getting all the "Good" shops up to at least 1 cake. I have 11 great shops now (ignoring redundant branches) and I think 28 worthy ones, so 6:2 seems like a good balance.

Le Précieuse (No running)

This time I bought closer to home, at La Précieuse, although the bag and card say Le Milieu, which seems to be the home base, in Kanazawa.

Got the Sicilian. Not sure what was in it. Sorry, out of the habit. It's pistachios, I know, baked to be hard (maybe a meringue), and then a cream/custard layer with fruit, strawberry, maybe, although just small pieces. It was 470, which was reasonable (though it is small), and it also traveled well by bike, which is important now, since I can't run. More importantly, it was excellent, so I should get back there, which is pretty easy to do, although while I'm not running I'll probably limit my cake. But a couple cakes during the week would be nice. Also, I have a baking disaster that I need to either eat up or throw away, that I don't want to write further about other than to say, I'm going to try again next weekend.

Can't find Neues: 14 km

The weather was okay, so I did run (sorry, Google Maps is unreliable and the map disappeared), a lot, but no cake. I went along the usual history and cultural routes, which go by some of the Soka Gakkai buildings, who are an active Buddhist movement, and so kind of cult-like compared to the usual passive sort.They have a lot of money and political power, and like to get together on Sunday mornings, apparently, judging from what I've seen around there then. This Yotsu area has a lot related buildings, for example, for education and publishing.

I went off the usual route to add a new down slope 

and then a new up slope to my route.

As usual, I got a little lost and went out of my way, although it does not look too bad on the map. Neues was closed (but they were in their cleaning up) again, so I can't count on them for late cake. Maybe by 8 pm works (today was about 8:30), but I usually want more running than that on a weekday now. Not that I had planned to get cake; I had just wanted to find out the name of last week's cake and maybe buy some bread. Instead, I went down to Tokyo Midtown to Asanoya, which puts their bread 20% off late. I didn't choose well though, or I should not have tried microwaving for 30 s to heat it up. Maybe I'll have better luck next time.

Running without cake

So running, but no cake (need to save some money for running gear and a good bike), although I picked up bread (6 cereal; two slices missing from that half loaf) at Paul, which is one of my favorite bakeries (and their tarts and such are okay, but not among the greats), in this case from the one at Yotsuya Station. I followed parts of the History and Culture Walking Course (文化とレ技師の散歩道). The Shinjuku one through Yotsuya, the Shibuya one east where it meets the Shinjuku one at Akasaka (both of which have some slopes, and the latter one is partially dark but a good neighborhood: lots of cops guarding the Diet Building), and then a bit of the (imperial) moat course. I'd guess that it was in the 12 to 14 km range, but I'm too lazy to measure it with Google Map (which is limited). Next time maybe I'll try to take it farther (or skip some of the beginning).