Les Cacaos, Ville Franchier

Still a week behind, on the return from PS, I also stopped at Les Cacao again, as I try to catch up on exceptional shops (that are didn't suspend business for a month), and got a 7th new cake. I ate it after neighborhood run that successfully (I think, or at least I've been successful by now) did the new Akasaka west loop, which is going to be part of a 4-loop Nogizaka--Roppongi Sta. clump that's 9+ km, plus access routes, that I've put running together so far. Since I've found flaws in both the Omotesando southeast clump loops, that's still the priority, though I've finished the Shibuya Sta. east and north clumps, meaning I've been spending time (on the ground and in front of the computer) figuring out the Diakanyama area, which is become a 12+ km main loop, a side loops that have also expanded.

Anyway, running, and then cake: Ville Franchier. This is a butter cream cake with almond biscuits and a layer of chocolate down there in the shadows of the bottom. It's basically a marjolaine, perhaps, though I hadn't been thinking that at the time. Anyway, buttercream cakes can be boring, and yet, with the right touch of flavor, such as a little chocolate, they can be great. This one comes qualifies as excellent, which boosts Les Cacaos enough to get them out of the bottom of their shop category. Just three more shops to do (though definitely 1 and maybe 2 are suspected for the state of emergency, but the hotel-based one hopefully is continuing).

Viron: Petit Bûche

Christmas Eve, I went to Viron, my highest priority shop (among places with new cakes available), in Shibuya, since that's on the middle three loops (formerly 5 loops) that I'm reconfirming now. I didn't want to do the loop in the middle first or do more than one loop running with cake, so after getting cake (which came, while I was waiting, with a sample of hot wine, a little more than maybe I should have taken, but it served as my snack for this run), I crossed the street and finished off the sleaziest loop, running clockwise the Dougenzaka--Maruyamachou--Shinsenchou loop, which is now part of the Southwest Shibuya Stn. clump, making it almost 15 km long.

The Shibuya Viron shop is open until 22:00, which is why I choose it, because I knew I'd be busy until about  20:00. All they had were Christmas cakes, but they had a couple choices. I looked at what was probably chocolate mousse on the outside and fruit inside and decided that was a dangerous combination (it doesn't take much fruit for a bad balance), and was attracted by hazelnuts and praliné, Petit Bûche. It was very traditional, in it's way. Good but not exciting and the frosting falls off easily, since it's pretty firm and chosen for keeping the log texture.

Matterhorn: Damier

Two days in a row I could try for barely reachable weekday targets. This time was Matterhorn near Gakugeidaigaku Station, which is about 8 km out. This time, I kept the first kilometer to 10 km/h as warm-up and then the rest at 11 km/h. I was in time (they close at 7:30) and coming back was on the low end of 10 km/h, intentionally.

The cake is Damier (ダミエ; 300 yen), for the pattern. It's sponge with some buttercream and chocolate. At that price, I wasn't surprised that there was no box, much less ice. They have cake wedges and layered rectangles for not much more. It's definitely good but also definitely nothing special, just simple cake, frosting, and chocolate coating.

Gerbeaud: Dobostorta (ドボシュトルタ) and Esterházy Torta (エゥテルハージトルタ)

Saturday, we went to Gerbeaud along Aoyama Avenue near Omotesando, on account of the Pierre Herme being under renovation. Still, I intentionly had prepared it as a back up. There was got the Dobostorta  (ドボシュトルタ, 630 yen) and a Esterházy Torta (エゥテルハージトルタ, 630 yen), which are both tortes and similar, but former is chocolate butter cream and the latter is not (perhaps, vanilla or cognac). I liked the latter more, for being sweeter maybe. It's nice to have this kind of denser cake once in a while rather than French cakes. Note that the for the former, this is the cake shown by Wikipedia, although I don't know that it is from this particular branch.

For a the running, on Sunday afternoon I went around and visited Cafe Mikuni's (first time to go up to the door, but didn't go inside) and Hertier (probably have been by here, but wouldn't have noticed it as anywhere special; also didn't go inside, but I could see inside; not very many kinds on cake) as future places to visit. It was 13 km total (I got a little off track and then decided to take an easier follow route coming back, or I could have done it in 12 km), at just within the upper bounds for 9 km/h. Still feeling like I'm running at my limit, as far as my left knee goes at least, so I'm not sure whether I'm going to have to give up running faster and just stick to 9 km/h as an upper limit. I'm certainly not intent on expanding my running budget while I've figuring this out.

Passion de Rose: Mille-Feuille Gianduja

Got my cake first. I had completely forgot that I had already posted about one cake from Passion de Rose (パッション ドゥ ローズ), also via Isetan, but that's okay, since this was a special Isetan-only cake, so I'm happy to have taken advantage of it.

The run was down to Aoyama Dori/Avenue to the Inner Moat, which I took from Mitakesaka ("three mansion hill", I think) to Boeniriguchi (with is cemetery entrance, though the pronunciation might not be right) and then back to Yotsuya. It was 10.6 km total and averaged almost 10 km/h, so now I don't have enough running budget left to be tempted to run again tomorrow. I'll go out again Wednesday and try training with a couple laps at exactly 10 km/h and a couple short 11 km/h stretches on a (reasonably) level track, though I'll probably stick to homemade cake.

The cake today was the Mille-Feuille Gianduja (ミルフィーユ ジャンドゥージャ; 679 yen), which presumably you can still get Tuesday (last day) at Isetan. The name pretty much explains it. The top filling is denser, but the fillings are are both gianduja (chocolate and hazelnuts). According to the Isetan site, one layer is gianduja buttercream and the other is crema gianduja maison (judging from the Japanese), though whose "maison", I don't know: lost in translation. I'm interested in gianduja, but not universally sold on it. The taste of very good, and I especially liked that the fillings were firm enough that you could cut through the mille-feuille layers without crushing the cake too much. I'll call this cake excellent.

Passion de Rose: Mille-Feuille Gianduja

Le Jardin Bleu: Misérable

Got a second cake of Le Jardin BLue at Isetan and then did a training run in only like rain. This took three laps at Meiji Jingu Gaien, running 8 km/h there, alternating 300 m (7 times) at 10 km/h and 200 m at 8 km/h, but then I went too fast going home and have to count that as 10 km/h, but I'm still okay for this week's plan, since I already substituted out two laps around Akasaka Palace course for one lap and a short side trip for cake for one run this week.

The cake was Misérable (ミゼラブル; 432 yen) and I was expecting a rather plain cake. The description says it's dacquoise with buttercream filling as a traditional Austrian cake, but if you Google this name, it comes up Belgian, which makes more sense, since the name is French. I just had this cake type of cake from Échiré Maison du Beurre not long ago, and that one was not as good, as it was just very sweet buttercream. This one, the buttercream is praliné, with actual nut pieces and uses syrup, which has a more caramel flavor than just sugar, although the effect would perhaps be the same if they brushed some syrup on the dacquoise, which many recipes do (I've learned from experience baking). So it was excellent cake, and I could go back get another there tomorrow, to have three, which is my target now for excellent shops, but I have to rest from cake and running sometimes (actually, I'm hoping to make macarons tomorrow), so I'll just have to wait until either they come to Isetan again, or I get up to being able to run 60 km in a day (or admit that that's never going to happen and go by bicycle).

Échiré Maison du Beurre: Misérable

Went to Marunouchi for a third time trying to see the same new shops, and actually found Échiré Maison du Beurre without a line, though of course mostly sold out late on a Friday. The cake they had was Misérable (which seems like a bizarre name for a cake, but it's apparently a standard French cake), for 756 yen, since no mille-feuille, what was recommended. I didn't really mind.

It was definitely good, being (vanilla?) buttercream between pretty standard almond biscuit, though pretty sweet. Very buttery, so I'm not sure that there actually is vanilla, since the point is to show off the butter, that being their specialty, and it did that.

Felt pretty good about finally getting something new worth having from a new shop on my list/map, but I was too fast going them and am now 1% over budget, having run about 4 km at 8 km/h, faster than I intended, with 6 km of walking. Because I ran a lot during the week and not much last weekend, I've got nothing left for tomorrow, so I'll just have to stay in and work on the next cake, as well as brownies, macarons, and canele (for surplus egg yokes, or I can try making brownies without egg whites). Sunday I may also skip running, since I still won't be able to get far, and instead cycle to Jiyugaoka.

Bigarreaux: Marius

Took a half-day off and walked and ran to Bigarreaux. As usual, started off too fast and averaged 6.2 km/h in the walking part. 3 km in, I "ran" 2 km at 7 km/h. Now it's very natural for me to run the same speed I walk. No problem yet. Not sure whether I'll raise my distance before replacing my walking with running, but I'm ready to introduce 8 km/h running. Coming back I just walked, averaging 5.8 km/h, so I'm just going to pretend all the walking was at 6 km/h, in terms of my budget, which I haven't used up but will be busy the next couple days (but will definitely get some cake in anyway).



At Bigarreaux, where I ate in; I had Marius for 540 yen. It tasted how I should have expected, so I should learn to analyze and choose more wisely, since it was not my thing. It's three layers of biscuit (probably almond), too layers of cassis (blackcurrant) buttercream, and one layer of apricot gel. It was good and well constructed, but I'm not that into that fruity a cake. Actually, the apricot was too weak for me (I didn't read the card that far when I was there and wasn't sure it wasn't mango): two layers apricot, one layer cassis might have been better for me.

That's 0 for 3 in my attempt to introduce near-great shops into my evaluations. Of course, I'm working my way up the from the bottom by virtue of looking at the ones I have the fewest cakes from, since they are all earlier drop-outs from my original potentially great list. Eventually, I'll have to weaken the criterion, but I'll try a few more first.

Culture Day run: Hidemi and Clair de Lune

Today's run is the one shown on the map, if you check before I add another one. It was 21+ km and involved 2 h 12 min of motion (mostly running, but there were crowds and a pedestrian bridge to requiring climbing stairs. Went through some crowded areas, but also was still sore (back and hips) at the beginning (now my feet are sore). Since I have a long run planned for Saturday, I've only got Wed. or Thu. for intervals to try to build actual muscle. Not sure whether another long run after only 6 days from the previous is okay, especially with 20+ km today, but we'll see.

Wanted to go to the cafe Kneten, as a Joshi+ recommendation, but they are closed Tue, apparently even when it is a holiday (I tried calling by phone, but no answer). I had several other places in mind, though, so no problem. I ended up visiting Patissier Hidemi Sugino's place. It's a cafe and 6 of the cakes are only for eating in, but the line for getting cake was not so bad (people go in groups, so it can look worse than it is). Since I was in no condition for anyone to want me in their crowded cafe, and it was 30 minutes after opening so the cafe space was already full with a few people waiting, I got a takeaway cake: Framboisier for 680 yen, which was great, so I'll need to visit again.

Sorry, not a great picture. Too bright outside to see what I was doing (and too tired to have the sense to realize how the shadows were falling). This is raspberry, obviously. Under the whole raspberries are almond bits. There should be a couple almond cake layers in there, but mainly raspberry butter cream, although fairly light buttercream as buttercream goes. Also, some red currant gel, although not sticky or wobbly (if there were enough of it) jelly, but more of a solid sauce that cuts easily. This is very fruity cake, probably from using fruit as the sweetener rather than some other kind of sugar, but the sweetness is just right.

After another 5 km, I got back to Clair de Lune for a second time this year. Maybe this was too short a distance (even though it took several more minutes to get to a park to eat it) for cake again. As I seek quality, I find that I have to cut down on quantity, and not just due to expense. The name is The Apres-Midi (I think something else might have been written in Latin characters, but this makes sense to me and matches the Japanese phonetic name) and was 600 yen. It's almost frozen and gives off a faint ice-being-cut sound, although it does not taste icy. Obviously there are figs on top (I put them on flat-side down, so they wouldn't roll off outside) of a sort of crumb topping. Not sure what the flavors are. Could be a little chocolate or could be fig. Not vanilla. I assume tea, but not strong. It was very good, but I became less satisfied with it afterward over time, which may have more to do with what happens in my stomach when I eat and jog. Anyway, probably not great, and the shop is still not convenient (in terms of distance and crowded areas that you have to pass through to get back inside Yamanote Line) although I'm getting a little more used to jogging on that side of town, so I've removed the shop from special consideration. If I'm in that neighborhood and need take-out cake, I would go again.

31+ km to P. du Chef Fujiu (Maison Mere): Istanbul and W Vanilla

Was a good run and the foot and skin seem okay. I forgot my running cream, but my knees are okay. Was getting pretty sweaty at the end, so would have been smarter to use it. Only kicked my left ankle with my right heel two times, both when weaving around people, so my work to improve my form and strengthen my ankles seems to be paying off. My right foot was a little sore at the beginning and I was using the "expert race" shoes rather than my heavier high-cushion shoes, so I was a little worried at the beginning, but no problems there. I had just resolved to not run today, because I didn't want to run into the sun in the afternoon (which now I don't think would have been a problem), when my 10 am canceled. I have to say, that 10 km out, west of Ring Road 8, Hitomidairo has no space for pedestrians and a lot of traffic going to the Ring Road 8. The last bit along a canal was nice until it ended with me on the wrong side of the tracks (don't believe the Google Map).

At Fujiu, I got the Istanbul for 400 yen and the W Vanilla (which was written phonetically as "Double Vanilla" in Japanese). These are both hazelnut and pistachio cakes, and both have buttercream, but only one has vanilla (I'll leave it to you to guess which one). The previous cake I got from there was hazelnut, too, and there's still at least one more that I haven't tried, so its a theme. Unfortunately, these were only good and not great, although the other unfortunate thing is that they are really far away, because they were good and I like nuts and buttercream.

Good area for hiking, though, if you want to take the train first. However, the train was a problem coming back today. It's not a good sign when you see train personnel running hard with backpacks of tools between parallel tracks down into a tunnel (although, that was the other direction). I need to check the news tonight. They were supposed to have arrested the person petrol bombing equipment and putting lines out of action for hours at a time around central Tokyo.

Added Fujiu to the base map already. Probably will try another long run Wednesday (5-day weekend), so maybe a little cycling tomorrow, and shorter runs Monday and Tuesday.

Leisurely cycling to Jiyuugaoka: m.koide

Not only did give up going to the cafe for cheesecake, but I gave up my primary target when I realized I've never posted about m.koide, which today was the perfect time to visit, since they don't open until noon, and I've found them closed on Sunday.

Rather than choose one of the two cakes that made me designate them a great shop (actually, I've only been there once before), I went for the Gateau Framboise, for 600 yen, which is just what the name implies: raspberry cake. There are three layers of cake, three of something between raspberry cream and raspberry frosting, and a couple thin layers that are just raspberry, all visible in the disappointing picture (stupid autofocus camera). It is well constructed, the raspberries are delicious, and I had no problem with any bite of it, but overall just raspberry did not work for me. I think I like raspberry, but I guess I need to mix it with something, even just custard. I'll tentatively keep them as a great shop, though. Certainly they are aiming high and have skill. Not a very focused picture, though.

Since I was in Jiyuugaoka, I went to the nearby Au Bon Vieux Temps, where I did get the good thing that I've had before, the Sunobu for 561 yen. This is mainly pistachio buttercream mousse. The description just said red fruit and some katakana French that I didn't recognized and don't recall. Elsewhere, I've read raspberry, which might be correct. It's mainly a coating with just a little mousse (?) inside. It melts pretty fast, which is a problem because there are just no parks in that area. I need to try going south, where the map says there is a university. Maybe they have some benches that are better and/or closer than the next alternatives. My other observation is that this was ice-cream rich, like their other cakes, but also "painfully" (if you know what I mean, where you sense that you are eating poison, not unlike alcohol) very sugary.

My search for a park and general vagueness meant that I came home a different way and I ended up going by Lettre d'Amour [Closed], so I gave in and bought a Carrefour (?, カレフール) for 560 yen. It had to ride home, so it slid and lost some decoration. The top half is hazelnut and caramel mousse and the bottom tart-like base has a mix of roasted hazelnuts, almonds, and pistachios with semi-dry figs. This was great, better than either of the other cakes, so I'm designated Lettre d'Amour as a great shop now. Still, no other customers there, so I'm not wanting to get too attached to them, since I'm not sure how they stay open.

9 km to Neues and Tokyo Midtown: Esterhazy Schnitten

I guess today's run was a little short, but still plenty hot. I stopped at Neues and got the Esterhazy Schnitten for 500 yen. Very good (but again, not on the on-line menu). The frosting was frosting sweet, so it would have been better with a drink, but this was in the middle of a run, so I didn't want to stop that long. Love this cafe, though. This is a kind of standard German (well, Hungarian) tort with spiced buttercream sandwiched between almond meringue dough (at least traditionally: this was a nutty cake, but not sure that it was meringue).

I stopped at Midtown to visit their nice grocery because I was interested in caramels for melting and topping my cheese pie with. I talked about caramel here previously but had not realized that the flavor I know as caramel is actually milk caramel ("caramels", as in the candy), or maybe caramel sauce, but full on caramel cooks all the water out, so that's probably why sometimes when I order caramel things they taste funny to me, because I'm only used the taste of sweetened caramelized milk. Found the same brand of milk caramels at Midtown as elsewhere for cheaper, so I went ahead and bought them. Don't know whether I'll have time today to experiment, but I'm thawing a pie.

Weekday run with cake at Neues: Dobostorte

I ran down to and three quarters around Meiji Ginguu Gaien and then tried to time myself on one loop around Akasaka Palace, but failed to reach even my previous time, which had been after several timed loops around Meiji Ginguu Gaien. It was really hot, even at 7 pm, so timed runs may have to wait for October. On the second loop, I stopped and had Dobostorte at Neues for 500 yen. It was very good and I was quite satisfied. Wikipedia shows this cake with a picture from Gerbeaud, which has a cafe the opposite direction down Auyama Road just past Omotesandou Station, although I bet it's more expensive there (and I can't remember it being better, at least if that is one of the ones I've had there, which I think it is). I'll keep visiting Neues. It's comfortable and convenient and has good cakes.

Amazingly, I have some occasional readers, some of whom are highly knowledgeable about cars. Is this an interesting car? This was taken on Aoyama Road near Akasaka-mitsuke Station. (I could have taken a picture of BMWs, but they did not seem noteworthy.)