Ran over to Bien-être today. On the way, I tried for the first time to follow part of he neighborhood course I created through Sendagaya and failed to follow correctly to find the first park and then, back on the correct route past the second park, I found that I were I had planned to turn had a cross light, which is against the course rules. Fortunately, I could shift that turn south a few blocks where the street is quieter and signals are not necessary. Found the first park on the way back.
At Bien-être, I was disappointed by not too surprised that the Chiboust Pistache that I thought was great earlier in the month and wanted to match in a cake-off this Friday has already been replaced in the line up, so I'll have to get my second pistachio cake from L'Abricotier then, who still lists it on their site, at least for now. Anyway, Bien-être was relatively busy with three other groups (there were a couple pairs of people, but I can't remember whether the person in the corner was alone). I decided to go with the conventional choice of Mont-Blanc, which they had a large supply of (I did not thought about it then, but commonly I would go for what they have a low supply, figuring that it is popular, though that contradicts my idea that popular does not equal good). The first think I noticed was that the chestnut paste was the kind of very dense chestnut paste that I'm not that into,so I was not optimistic, but as I dug deeper, I got to the hard, thick base, which was challenge to cut through, but could. Once I got the biscuit, whipped cream, and chestnut paste in proper proportion, the cake worked well for me, and I quickly decided that it was actually definitely excellent. In the end, I was curious about it and wanted to compare it to other mont-blanc, which is the definition of great cake, so this ended up being great, in much part because at the beginning it did not seem like it was going to me. Of course, whether it can stand of to competition or whether it works as well eating at home versus in the middle of a jog, remains to be seen (though, actually, this was pretty heavy for a middle of a jog, but I'm not going to hold that against it).
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The cake was the current chiboust, which is Apple Chiboust (translated). It was excellent, which does not surprise me based on their previous chiboust. Like many of their cakes, it has a sort of homemade feel and yet taken up to the next level, so this was like apple pie but wonderfully chiboust.
Friday night, went for a sixth cake to Bien-être, in the Yoyogi area (actually Uehara) and got Sicilienne for eating in. This was pistachio again from them, this time with cassis (black current. The bottom is a sort crunch chocolate slab. The top layers is pistachio gelatin which easily peels off. The cassis layer is a little wet and is surrounded by regular cake (somewhere between sponge and biscuit). The gelatin put me off, though it was not too bad. Actually, it was definitely good, but was more a sort of traditional sugary fruity cake than I'm very excited about, so it was somewhat disappointing. But still, definitely good, which is a step up from the previous day perfectly respectable.
This was my fourth cake from Bien-etre, as I try to get all 18 shops in my Excellent shop list up to four cakes (there are several at three, all ones I can get too on a workday, if I want to). My goal is to have 16, so I'd like to demote one and promote one. I ate in, as I've done before, since they have a reasonable amount of space. There were even two other customers eating in. I went with the Chiboust au Pistache (a.k.a. Pistachio & Grapefruit Chiboust), because I've never seen a pistachio chiboust before, I want to like pistachio (though I'm often disappointed), and I usually have good luck with chibousts. Their cakes always have a sort of rough almost homemade feel, which usually is a bad sign but works for them. This one had a big tart base with pineapple mixed in with the filling (sorry, it's mostly hidden by the paper, though you can see some grapefruit on top) and then a thick chiboust layer, in which the pistachio was not a strong taste, but it did not need to be (and maybe can't because, because chiboust is so light). It was all good, and I'm to say it was great, even if I'm not totally confident that I won't be less impressed the next time, like I was with last weekends cake-off contestants, and that's fine. I certainly enjoyed this cake more than my weekend cakes, so it deserves some recognition.
I went to Glycine without confirming their schedule and found them closed on Wednesday, so I swung up to Bien-etre where I ate in (hidden by the door on the left, but there are a few tables and a counter), though just one other customer eating and having tea at 8 pm on a Wednesday. I walked far and fast, 13.2 km averaging 6.2 km/h, so I'm completely off schedule/over budget. I didn't have any trouble then or after, though, so expect an acceleration of the walking schedule (although I'm busy now, so it may average out over the next few days). Anyway, maybe it's time to try introducing some running again, just a kilometer to start, next week, as I confirm I can manage faster walking regularly.
The goal was Bien-être. Sill not a huge selection, but I'm a little more optimistic that I can find a few cakes worth trying (and at the rate I visit, I can keep getting something new). The cassis mousse dome, Harmonie for 540 yen, I think (although their website says 450, but I don't and didn't have 50 yen change and Joshi+ went last Sep. and reported 520). The harmony is with jasmine cream. I chose well, as this was excellent. The outer gel did not bother me (maybe I'm getting used to it) and the flavor was great. Still don't really know what jasmine tastes like, but if it works, I'm happy.
