à tes souhaits!, Bijou de bois

Last Thursday, I finished off my caking with my first systematic visit to a reputably quite fine shop to get a fourth cake. Top of the list was A Tes Souhaits, which is way out in Msushina-shi, so I went by bicycle, since that's too far to run and walk in a reasonable time and anyway I was starting around 13:30 and had had a runny nose all morning. I over dressed, even after taking off one layer on the road, but better a little hot than sorry. I went with the Bijou de Bois, which is mousse "praliné" (actually pralin, I think) pistachio and apricot gelatin, according to the card, though the dual color makes me suspect there was another fruit in their, since it didn't make me think of apricot when I was eating it. It was definitely good, but not enough so probably to stay in the quite fine group and keep me making the long trip out there. Still need to find 8 better shops to cut the bottom third out of the quite fine group in this round (I could cut the bottom fourth last round with this group, that left it still bloated). Of course, I really hope to find a great cake to identify a challenger to the exceptional shops to keep the competition going.

 

Sanjikken, Sachertorte and Cheesecake

Had a visit to a café/coffee salon (with waiters) on Aoyama-doori near Omote-Sandou Sta.: Sanjikken. It's on the second floor, so I had never seen inside. We (cake for two) were lucky, as we were seated rather quickly. When we left, there were at least ten people waiting. I considered it worth visiting even if I don't need to hit every café and coffee shop, because they advertise cake, specifically the Sachertorte by picture, on the sign by the door. I haven't had a sachertorte for a while, but it seemed excellent, perhaps the best I've had. If I finding myself needing something in a Starbucks again, I'll get their to compare as some sort of reference so I know I'm not just imagining things. This seemed to be a one-layer type, with apricot jam on top of the cake, under the icing, but I suppose it's possible that there were two layers and I just couldn't tell. I'm too hurried to check the two main schools of sachertorte now.

I also has some Cheesecake, which was soufflé-type, I think, rather than the dense type I prefer, but still definitely good, so the shop gets in the stable part (won't get denoted when I finally have enough better shops to split this bloated group) of the fine shops group.

Viron, Abricot Amande

Last Sunday, I did an early run to Viron before my 10 am appointment. The Shibuya shop opens at 9 am and had a cake I was not expecting, the Abricot Amande (or maybe it was Apricot Almond or some mixture of French, English, and Japanese). I also got a pastry, since they've had pretty nice ones so far. I went with the big Croissant Amande, which is a meal by itself, appropriate since I hadn't eaten since the night before. The croissant was excellent, so I'll keep getting fresh pastries from their as I have the opportunity.

The cake was definitely good, and certainly had a traditional feel. Not exciting, but nice, and I could see trying to pair it with a nice English tea, if I wasn't always moving on to the next new thing.

Au bon Vieux Temps, La Môme

Finally, to the other cake of Monday (since not much cake during the week, before or after), La Môme from Au Bon Vieux Temps. This is meringue (raw) on top, rosemary-flavored apricot jelly and confiture, and apricot cream. The biscuits apparently use olive oil. It's all very mild though and not my thing, so this just rates good, which in no way reflect how poor a job I did keeping it intact.

Now, actually, I had a lot more running after that, just around the near neighborhood, doing or practicing updated loops, taking pictures, which I'm not caught up on uploading, 4 days later. So another snack, to give Caffe Veloce another chance their little baumkuchen, which seems to be generic, but it gets a pass, as a substitute for a packet of calorie mate.

Finally, another Yotsu shop I hadn't visited before was Amaguri Tarou (basically, Sweet Chestnuts Guy). They had other little snacks, but I figured I should try the chestnuts at least once. They are okay, but not my thing and really too much trouble to shell for me.

En Vedette, Miel

Every day working later, but Shibuya Scramble Square is open until 21:00, I think, and the nearby Viron is open later, so no problem today. Like yesterday, today was to reward a cake-off winner, or at least that's my excuse for visiting En Vedette slightly early, though this time I ran, but no time for an indoor workout. They still recognized me, and pointed out that I was getting a different cake this time, after getting the same cake just a few days apart. I went with Miel, which means honey, which this had with apricot. Apricot is not a sweet fruit and they did not use as much sweetener maybe as other apricot cakes I had, so this was a little tougher for me to like. Also, it's a dome with gelatin inside. Yet, there were different textures, from the soft meringue on top to a coarse/nutty base biscuit, so I definitely respect this, and like it, so I think excellent isn't not just the prejudice of the moment for this shop. It's not a huge counter, though, and I've had 7 cakes from them now, so getting the next two new ones to catch them up for promotion to exceptional is going to be with limited choices. But that's next week's problem.

Kanomi no Mori: Earl Grey Apricot

I'm five days behind for the usual reason: no, not laziness (but there is that), map-updating. I've had various revised and added loops. Thursday, I finished off the Kita-Aoyama east loop (though the subway access stairway I'm planning on to use when doing the full clump around Akasaka Palace is still closed. I also did three Akasaka loops: the main Akasaka-Roppongi loop and two added loops for Hitsugi Public Park and Akasaka Biz (the Akasaka 5 west and east loops). The first requires using subway access, but the latter doesn't. Both were added as I become stricter about needing access to the actual site, not just pass it on the other side of a barrier street.

Friday night, I did the same loops the opposite directions (so I'm up to day with all as loops), but while doing other errands during the day, I stopped in at the Meiji Memorial Hall (Meiji Kinenkan) and got their brand cake, Kanomi no Mori, on the grounds being highest priority among shops on the neighborhood running course. I foolishly got Earl Grey Apricot, even though it's a chocolate cake that doesn't have "chocolate" in the name, which should have tipped me off that something was wrong. Not that it was bad, and I'm willing to allow that maybe my opinion is not universally shared, so I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and call it good. The apricot was very strong, which would have been fine if not contaminated by chocolate. Chocolate fruit is not a good idea. Fruity chocolate is good. Fruit and white chocolate works, and also you can make mousse out of nuts, for example to dilute the fruit, if it has to be a mousse cake. So I won't need to visit again, I think. Sorry, I think I have the cake backward, as there is probably a little apricot hiding behind the chocolate decoration.

Cake-off: L'Abricotier's Montelimar over Noix de Beurre's Fraise Chantilly

Walked as far as L'Abricotier's, then to nearest JR Station, then Shinjuku Stn. to Isetan, and then home, which was a lot, and certainly more than other controlled walks, but seemed reasonable, so better than previous walking tests. I was there to get Montelimar for a third-round cake-off of cakes that were one and one. It's opponent was Noix de Beurre's Fraise Chantilly, which is why I went to Isetan. The wait was less than 30 minutes there, which was less than I feared, given the lines from opening time (not sure when or why this started). I questioned last time whether the Fraise Chantilly belong among the greats, but when you want cream and strawberry and a little sponge cake, this is still my favorite, and it is nice sometimes, so I'm keeping it in. However, I like the hazelnut accented by apricot of Montelimar better. Wish it was a little more solid, but then it would be a different cake.

L'Abricotier, Montelimar

Montelimar from L'Abricotier

For the final, 10th day of GW, I choose one holiday-only shop and decided that, under the new shop ranking system, L'Abricotier was by far under-visited as a quite excellent shop with 4 cake-off wins so far. They had a new cake, Montelimar, which is a honey mousse with dried fruit and hazelnuts on top of a hazelnut and Japanese apricot tart. This combination of fruit and nuts is common to many of their cakes, especially my favorite ones from them. I wondering whether there are other nuts in, since some seemed green, suggesting pistachio, and the combination gave a taste that made me think of butter pecan.

Cross-sectional view

I didn't ask, since another customer had come in, but there is a center custard-like disk, but I couldn't distinguish the taste. This cake was great, unlike others I have. I'll match it against Paris-Brest in the next cake-off I think, which is also hazelnuts, but praliné, so completely different from the raw fruity nuts of today's cake, in keeping with the contrast between the trendy modern foreign Machalak and the neighborhood shop L'Abricotier. Less of a ride today. I'll probably rest from even bicycling tomorrow, which I was thinking would be easy because all my cakes during the week will be from Isetan, since I only have two more cakes this week and might eschew pastries (and definitely bread) for reasons of weight control under my current reduced level of activity. I was hoping for a new cake from Sadaharu Aoki, since they are are finishing their main seasonal cakes today, but I'm now thinking that the chance of something totally new is small, and it has not been that long since I had cake from Machalak, so I'm not sure what I was going to get from Isetan. At least I'll visit them to see what the situation is. Maybe I'll finally get to P. Très Calme or Jun Honma again this week, assuming that they aren't taking the week off.

Gerbeaud, Gerbeaud (Szelet) and Wafuu Mont-Blanc

Back on Thursday, I tried and failed to set up a cake-off, though I did manage to have some great cake. My plan initially went off the rails because Il Pleut sur la Seine is renovating and I failed to understand the details. Right now, the shop is still open but no fresh cake. They plan to reopen at the end of May, so I'll be waiting a while. Ended up down at Paris S. in Jiyugaoka, but either they sold out early or they have an abbreviated line-up on a weekday, as they had neither the several new nor the specific cake I was look for as a cake-off entrant, though I had just seen it the previous weekend, I thought. But it was good weather and good running.

Friday, I ran without cake, working on the neighborhood course. I failed on the revised East Shibuya loop, but reviewing, it didn't really make sense anyway, so I've revised it again; it looks simple enough now. I was finally able to finish confirming knowledge of the Minami-Aoyama--Shibuya loop and was successful for clockwise at the revised Minami-Aoyama 3&4 loop, so that completion will simplify my next attempt at the other two. I did have a snack from a new counter at Isetan for Beillevaire, which also has a temporary shop at Roppongi Hills and a main shop in Moto-Azabu, so it might count as a neighborhood shop anyway, but I need to confirm both of those. As an Isetan exclusive, they have Mille-Feuille Fromage Pie Blood Orange, which was good but not really that interesting as either pastry or cheese (which is what the shop specializes in).

Saturday, I was busy, so I didn't run, but I did get to Gerbeaud for lunches  and cake sets for two. One cake was Wafuu Mont-Blanc. I'l say it was good, though that is based on two bites. It's a simple cake and not my style even among mont-blanc. It was pronounced delicious but not as good as Angelina's Mont-Blanc, which is more comparable than my preference of mont-blanc, so I'm reasonably confident about the rating. I had all but one bit of the Gerbeaud (Szelet), which as the name implies, is very layered, like a pasty, alternating in apricot jam (like a Sachertorte) and walnut. It was like a cross between a pastry and coffeecake, dry, but not in a bad way. It was a big change from my favorites but a nice change. This was definitely excellent, so Gerbeaud'll make the cut as a quite good Tokyo cake shop.

à tes souhaits! Pistache d'Abricot

Monday, which is a national holiday, I ran out to à tes souhaits! with a couple back-ups in mind further out from there in case they were closed or my patience was insufficient. The person in front of me counted 21 people in front of her when she called her partner. That's about typical for this shop on a weekend (it's reasonably accessible on a weekday). They were well staffed, so the line moved a little faster than I expected, but I was glad that I had an extra jacket, long pants, and hat in my bag for the outside part of the wait (if felt nicely warm at first when I first entered, but the door is open, so not so much once I got used to it), though the person several spots ahead who also looked like he ran there was not visibly suffering without doing so. I limited myself to only a few pictures of sites that could potentially be on future neighborhood course additions.

Selection was pretty good. I went for Pistache d'Abricot, which looked like something I would like. The apricot is a layer on top, under which is pistachio mousse (with pistachio cream on top), but under that there are nutty layers, including feuillantine praliné, which I don't usually associate with a fruity cake but I do associate with modern traditional fancy cake, so my regard for them has improved. This was definitely excellent cake. I suppose the distance was about 14 km, including about 1 km to and from stations coming back (the cake was fine, though maybe only because the mousse proportion was low).

This shop will make the cut when the quite good shops gets trimmed down to half their current size (hopefully), once I get all the current group up to 3 cakes each, which will make the designation more significant. Right now this category is just the not definitely below average group, though that's average among the places that I'm will to visit. For example, there was a much smaller patisserie 300 meters away that didn't seem to be having trouble with lines.

In the late afternoon, I went out again and completed verifying my memory of the Jinguumae central loop and then did clockwise on the new version of the Jinguumae northwest loop (probably wasn't necessary to change it, but it was nice to get some of it off Takeshita street, which is difficult to do even a slow walk due to crowds and finished off the linked Jinguumae central west loop. My plan is to finish off the Jinguumae northwest loop next, and then continue down to the revised Jinguumae--Jinnan and Jinnan loops (as well as try to get pie). The other neighborhood memory-check run will be in out toward Aoyama, where I didn't manage to get to Viking F (bakery) last week, but it requires that I avoid overtime work. Other plans for the week will depend on what the cake shops put out to replace cakes retiring Jan 15.

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.

Paris S'éveille: Arbion

Did another cycling day, about 3 hours, this time out to Paris S'éveille. It was a little soon to go back there, but it seemed like a good choice for a weekend and I wanted to check the Dalloyau line-up at their main store (their two mont-blanc are in, but none of the cakes I'm looking for). On the way, I took a few photos in the area around Meguro Station, but even before that, I stopped at Café Le Cordon Bleu for my first pastry from them, which I think was called Croissant au Chocolat (or at least should have been), and ate in. This was super fresh, complete with the fresh bread smell, whereas I'm used to buying pastries late in the day on weekdays. I think that they brushed it with egg white, because the outside is well sealed. Definitely seemed very "by the book", so no complaints and I can say that it was excellent.

At Paris S'éveille, they no longer have signs on their tables saying "no photographs", so I ate in. I choose the "chef-recommend" Arbion, which is new and features Japanese apricot mousse, almond milk mousse, and lavender flavored milk foam surrounded by white chocolate. The taste balance was fine for me, as a light fruity concoction, but not really my thing; still, definitely good. Maybe fall and winter will bring some new heavier cakes. Completely forgot to confirm up-coming cake-off cakes, but I wouldn't get to them this month anyway, so I guess it's okay.

On the way back, I confirmed that Les Cacao still doesn't have Cuba, the only great cake that I've had from there, swung by Toshi Yoroizuka to confirm recently spotted great cakes remain, though no new old favorites. Lastly, I stopped by Bubó Barcelona and got their Croissant au Chocolat (I think), which I ate at home. Wait, I also confirmed La Vie Douce still doesn't have a yuzu chiboust, or any kind of chiboust or yuzu cake right now. The second croissant had a balance of buttery flake, fluffy interior, and chocolate that makes we want to say that it is great.

Cake-off: Très Calme's Pistache Apricot over Bien-être's Pistachio and Grapefruit Chiboust

Saturday isn't as hot as I feared, but still plenty hot. Haven't done any running yet, but am considering going out in the evening to revisit parts of my neighborhood map before getting back to adding new parts (besides the new parts I've had to add in the middle of old maps, because I found overlooked locations). Instead, I went out at about 9:30 to update pictures for the neighborhood map. Did a temple practically next to Shinanomachi Station that's been rebuilt, then down to Jinguu Gaien Ichou Namiki Avenue, where I've added a new neighborhood loop, now that the connecting pedestrian bridges are available, along with the Royal Garden Cafe Aoyama at the south end, which has good pastries. Then I went down to the loop around Hiroo, where I only managed two planned locations and picked up two previously unknown locations near them, which is not a very good ratio of success, so I've had to completely redo that loop, splitting off the northeast part as three loops (which include a lot of bread places that I overlooked previously) and merging what was left (which is most of that loop) with the loop northeast of Shibuya Bridge, near Ebisu Station. I still haven't tested any of that, so I won't be surprised if there are future changes.

Then from about 10:08, I went my bicycle and got my cake. One was Pistache Apricot from Très Calme (naturally, I visited the farthest one first, though that was because they open first) which only got slightly dented, and the other was the variously named Pistachio and Grapefruit Chiboust from Bien-être, which I had (unnecessarily) preordered the night before (they just took my name and number; they didn't make me pay ahead, unlike Sadaharu Aoki), which definitely did not like road vibration, which is not surprising for any chiboust. The later cake I've been waiting to do a first-round cake-off since last September. I also noted that Bien-être had at least two other cakes that I haven't had, a seasonal tart and a new mille-feuille and that they do not in fact seem to have verrine, just puddings.

The cake-off wasn't a blowout this time, so they were well matched in that sense, as well as being well matched in flavors (no clashing) and yet having significant design differences to make comparing them interesting. I'm deciding in favor of the denser more sophisticated Pistache Apricot from the less distinguished (by me, at least) shop over the light, homemade-like Pistachio & Grapefruit Chiboust, which I thought would be better for with less grapefruit. Both cakes are seasonal, so I'll be doing second-round cake-offs with them next, starting with the loser against Le Saint-Marc, which at least shares its lightness. Next time, perhaps I'll walk the chiboust, or at least run it, home and see if it arrives more intact.

Libertable: Tarte Apricot

Went down to Libertable for pastry or cake. As it happened, they had the fourth of the four pastries that I've seen there, so I didn't even look at cake. Baked tarts have been the last thing I've gone for in sampling pastries, presumable because I have a low expectation of them, but this apricot tart (and I'm not sure that I've gotten the name right, so when I go back for cake, which is also a priority, I should check) was definitely worth good, and slowly I came to the decision that it was excellent, and then that it was definitely excellent. I'm not even sure what a great baked tart tastes like, so I might have to revisit this, but this was pretty good. I'm not sure how to describe it in detail, but it is a pretty strong flavor but not too tart (in the sense of apricots), that is, the fruit has been well baked into mellowness. The tart bottom isn't quite caramelized, but it's in that direction, compared to just pastry, and in between is, all I know to say is, butter tart. Now I'm more interesting in trying this kind of tart at other places.

The running started with 1-min intervals of something more resembling actual running than jogging. I had a better idea about where the interruptions were, so that only took 12 min of running time to fit in 5. Then I ran to Libertable, got my cake, reused a bag at least (still used a box), and ate it on a bench in Akasaka where I was not expecting to get assaulted by mosquitoes. From there, I decided to at least get one piece of the neighborhood course out of the way, and jogged to the Hatonomori Hachiman Shrine to do the Sendagaya Southeast Loop and then run home sticking to the neighborhood route (so taking a shortcut to get there is fine, but I have follow the neighborhood route to or or from the same start point on the neighborhood route map every time for it to count as running a neighborhood course; Libertable is on the neighborhood route, but it's a ways from home along it, much more of a detour, so I'm not ready for that). I also decided to just the route to a more Google-friendly one rather than keep the old route running up the steps of Senjuin temple, though I saw someone going up that way as I passed, so it's not totally unreasonable, just a little unnecessarily and potentially obnoxious (you're sort of running right up to someone's house and then swerving into the back drive when the security lights come on in your face). It was only about 70 minutes of running, but tough due to the early hard running, plus the stairs and slopes of following the neighborhood route faithfully.

Très Calme: Pistache Apricot

To get myself caught up on cake-off win follow-ups, I ran to Très Calme after work. Most of the their selection was verrines, but they had a few cakes more acceptable to me. I choose the Pistache Apricot (yes, a mixed-language name) and ate in the shop (there were 5 tables for two but no customers, whereas the café across the street seemed to be doing better business).

This was good choice, though I have a number of pistachio cakes, but none I thick with apricot. Similar to the more recent previous great pistachio cake, the base is a tart, or rather a tartlettte rather than a slice from a large tart. The top is a very solid pistachio cream/butter or whatever they use, which is the opposite of the recent chiboust. It's not a subtle cake, but it suits my needs and I'm calling it great. That isn't enough to promote this shop yet, but it might eventually, if I get the rest of the quite good shops better sorted out to see which are on top and needing promotion.

The run was 12+ kilometers, which is the longest for quite a while. I had timing problems, but I ran about 80 minutes. I'm sure I'll need to stretch a lot tomorrow, but my next plan is 10 km, which is a little closer to what I planned for this stage. Friday maybe will be a run to Ginza, which is also about 10 km.

En Vedette: Range

Finally got to En Vedette, which I wanted to do both because they might be underrated at quite good and because they won a cake-off. This was my first time to go there on a weekday. Still having trouble with the route between Yamanote Line and the river to the east---the roads jig and jag---but because I was going by bicycle, I could make the 19:30 closing time after work.

I got Range (no comment on whether I would choose a cake based on my ability to remember the name), which is layers of dark chocolate, hazelnut, and apricot, I think (and I found some confirmations in Japanese in other people's posts). It was definitely good in flavor and texture, so I'm satisfied for now with my evaluation of them as a quite good shop.

It was shorter ride today, and I hadn't run since at least Friday, so I did a quick run (14+ min) to revisit more of my neighborhood courses. I've already done the ones covering Samonchou, Sugchou, Minami-Motomachi, Wakaba, Sugachou Shinanomachi, Kasumigaokamachi, and Daikyouchou, so I wanted to go up and cover Naitoumachi. It was slightly cooler today, only slightly above 30 degC when I finished running around 8 p.m.

Trianon [Shinjuku]: Apricot Chocolate

This was a short run, but hot, and through some unfamiliar streets, though it does not matter much because I'll probably never be back again. Total, it was about 7 km around 8.5 km/h each way, but slightly faster out than back.

I got the Apricot Chocolate (I don't actually remember, so it could have been Chocolat or Choco), at it was least a promising shape as an individual. On the plus side, it was cheap cake (~450 yen?) and it did have apricot taste and presumably chocolate, though not strongly, that was not bad. However, it was not actually as good as, say, fat-free yogurt and banana, so I can't say that it is any better than okay. If you need to go to a café and eat cake socially and this place is the closest, it's fine and actually I don't have any other suggestions in this neighborhood (like most neighborhoods) other than get on a train and leave, but then I don't think people go to Okubo for cake (maybe to buy Korean boy band idol goods).

Cake-off: L'Abricotier's "L'abricotier's" over Limevert's "Mer"

Did a two-part run with trains coming back (though some running to and from stations). First, I went to Limevert to get "Mer". That was the easy part, even though it was farther. It ended up being over 13 km. I didn't so much get lost as learn why the way I tried today was not the way I was supposed to go. My speed was actually closer to 9 km/h, though 8 km/h was really my target (though if you count stops, I was slow than that). For some reason, the last 1+ km home from Shinjuku Station was 10 km/h, even with cake. Maybe I just wanted to finish.

The part was a slower run with more stops for water refills to L'abricotier for the cake of the same name. This was 7+ km at 8 km/h, but then 2 km km at 10 km/h to get to the station (it should have been a little shorter, but for some reason the north-south roads bend a little west).

The cake-off was lop-sided. Both a chocolate cake with apricot, though very different in flavor. Perhaps the Mer was easier to identify as apricot, but I was not sensing the greatness, though it was definitely good. I don't think the hazelnuts of L'abricotier versus walnuts of Mer were the issue, although walnuts were partially what made the Mer interesting to begin with. Overall, I still rank Limevert higher and expect to visit again for a new cake after before too long, but for now I owe L'abricotier another try.

Frédéric Cassel: P'tite Merveille Apricot Lavender

Ran to Ginza Mitsukoshi by way of La Vie Douce (where they still did not have the cake I was looking for). Usual problem: sore tail and heat, but it was okay. Didn't actually drink any of my water, so it was not that hot, being night. Total, about 12 km at 9 km/h, which might be as fast as I go until September.

I got the P'tite Merveille Apricot Lavender (648 yen), which is cake, for lack of a better term. I really liked the version with caramel, but this time the (lavender-flavored) meringue hemispheres with a little apricot and vanilla cream and white chocolate covering (I think) was less impressive, but still good.

Jean-Paul Hévin: Verrine Chocolat Apricot & Verrine Truffle Blanche

Was at Isetan Monday afternoon (taking a half-day off) and decided to visit Jean-Paul Hévin and tried the other two verrines, Verrine Chocolat Apricot and Verrine Truffle Blanche. The first also has a layer of pistachio cream and the bottom biscuit has sansho, which is unusual. The other one obviously has truffle besides chocolate (it's a chocolate shop, so always expect chocolate). These are both definitely good, but I'm sticking with my original opinion that this is a bad substitute for cake. Actually, the biscuit on the bottom sort of ruins the smoothness of the rest (from the texture, not the taste), so my best strategy going forward, I think, is to try to avoid it until the end, as the chocolate apricot one was maybe excellent as just gelatin and mousse.

In the evening, I wanted to check at Yoshinori Asami, just to see if they had the Van Dyke (which, as expected from their website, they did not) and I could get there before the closed. Despite getting lost and taking a long way, I did make it (someone else was before me, or maybe they would have closed, but they didn't seem impatient to get rid of us). The selection is not really very special, although sometimes what looks simple and basic is quite good. I had already had verrine, so I just got a canele, which was excellent (and a lot bigger than the ones I make at home). Total, the running was about 15 km of running averaging 10 km/h.