Sadaharu Aoki, Chou Truffle Caramel

Saturday afternoon, after going to Ginza to get a Pain au Chocolat from  from Camélia (which was definitely excellent, so they're my top priority on pastries, even if I'm not blogging pasties any more, due to lack of time), I stopped in at the Sadaharu Aoki main Tokyo shop in Marunouchi to see again whether they had a yearly shop exclusive yet for the new fiscal year that started in April. The website is still showing last year's. What they did have, and I don't know whether it is an exclusive, was Chou Truffle Caramel, so I got it. I'm pretty sure this is chocolate truffle, not the mushroom type, but I still haven't found anything online about it. It was good but traditional still seems to be best. It's been a while since I've had a new great cake them, so they they've slipped enough that Dalloyau, significantly behind them in number, deserves a visit for a new cake. I keep finding reasons to start hitting the merely fine shops.
 

Le Pan, Yasutomi Yuzu and Praliné Paris-Bres, Gateau Le Pan, & Chocolat Orange

My first choice was Yasutomi Yuzu and Praliné Paris-Brest. The choux pastry was typical. The Yuzu cream was fine. The pâte pralinée was quite dense, like the chestnut paste of a mont-blanc, which I don't have any problem with in general. The cake was good and did balance some different good tastes, though maybe the whole wasn't exceptional compared to the parts. Still, a good cake that increases my confidence in this shop.

The second cake, which I only had one forkful of, is called just Gateau Le Pan and is a standard Japanese strawberry shortcake. It seemed good to me and was confirmed by the other partaker.

The third cake we could agree was the best, the Chocolat Orange. While a traditional combination, the balance is not automatic. This was a very rich chocolate which went with what was like a mikan orange, though I don't know the details. I say rich, but it was not dark chocolate, but rather Valrhona milk chocolate mousse, apparently (I found their whole cake ad). Anyway, it works for me. I'm going to label this was great, as I'd like to have it again, which makes my first great Kobe cake, though that's from a small sample that isn't likely to get that much bigger, as I don't get down here so much as I might have first expected. What I can I say: Tokyo is more comfortable for all evolved. Anyway, next time I come back this shop should be my top priority, as I think I've visited all the main ones that aren't available in Tokyo. I'm curious about the main shops of a couple of those, which might have something to explain their longevity despite the low level of good they exhibit in Tokyo. 

Frédéric Cassel, Saint Honoré Vanille et Goyave

Sunday evening I finally did my running for the weekend, but only to Ginza Mitsukoshi (I walked back). I was willing to be disappointed late on a Sunday but they had what I was looking for, the new cake from Frédéric Cassel, Saint Honoré Vanille et Goyave. Saint honoré were a standard for a while, but it's been 3 years since I've had one from there. Fortunately, they still know how to make excellent ones. 

This brings the net cakes up to 64, which is a nice round number, so it might be a while before I get back to them as I proceed through the list of exceptional, quite fine, and fine shops to bring them up to 8, 4, and 2 net cakes, respectively. Should take a couple years, but I'll probably not wait that long, even without cake-off wins.

Éclat des Jours, Chou à la Crème

The goal today was to bring the exceptional shops up to 16 net cakes, though Éclat des Jours has manged 9 cake-off wins, so this was actually number 25. I went with the Chou à la Crème. These are the kind with nuts, though I think they still called just Chou à la Crème, or some close variation. They are half the price of a cake, so I got two to get a fair sample, though it was more than I needed for that. I ran most of the way, being a little lazy, and there being a good number of lights and me setting off reasonably early. Definitely good and certainly comparable to those of other high-quality shops.

En Vedette, Chou Nougat

From now I guess the last Sunday of the previous month, the other shop I visited was En Vedette. Well, I also visited Éclat des Jours to return some glasses and get a croissant, but I've already forgotten how the croissant was, so I'll just have to get a different pastry from there. The cake of En Vedette, though was more like a pastry than cake, though with extra touches tipping back toward cake: Chou Nougat, where I'm not sure what's in the nougat, but there are some almond slices in there. The cream is crème diplomate, which I need to look up. In the middle there, protecting the bottom from the cream, is a macaron. It's a weird chou cream, but I've decided it's unique design deserves at least a semi-excellent rating. It's small, actually, but only half the price of a normal cake. 
 

L'Abricotier, Choux a la Crème

Wednesday, I hit L'Abricotier for a new cake, since they are challenging the bottom of the superb shop category (taking turns with two other quite exceptional shops). I've run out of regular cakes that are coffee-based, so I went with Choux a la Crème. These are cheap (which should have told me something), so I got three, being equal to about one piece of cake, though as it turned out, I didn't need so many. Based on previous experience, after walking there, I ran the whole way home, since that's easier on at least certain parts of my body than walking.

These are the kind studded with nuts, which haven't been my favorite in the bast. It's a relatively solid pastry. Custard is fine, but nothing special, so this get's marked as good, and L'Abricotier loses it's place as top of the quite exception group again.

Ryoura, Éclair Jardinage

Tuesday, I ran out to Youga again, this time for new cake. Even more crowded than before, with children literally stepping on me in a line that was not following social distancing, but how much can I complain about whole families crowding into a small shop (which at least was making people line up outside, but only to the point that people inside could have avoided physically touching each other, except for the little kids dashing around) when I didn't urgently need cake from there, just it was on my list and open. (If Sadaharu Aoki had been open, I would have gone there, though eventually I would have visited Ryoura again).

Backing up, I stopped for a pastry at Bigarreaux. I wanted their almond croissant, but they didn't have that. Instead, I got their Kouign Amann, which was different. It was a loosely packed, so to speak, as they go, and inside there was actual melted butter, in liquid form, which I've never had in one of these butter cakes. I'm going to have to say it was great just because I've never had another like it and it was worth having again and comparing to other types.

Back to Ryoura, I survived with no problems so far and got as my new cake one of their Éclair Jardinage, one of two types of eclair currently running, eclair being one of their regular things, and I've had an excellent one before. The major ingredients of this one, besides the pastry, are pistachio and tayberry, though there is some strawberry. Unfortunately, I couldn't get too excited by this. Maybe tayberry is too subtle for me. Still, it was good, so I'm sticking with Ryoura as a quite exceptional shop.

One note is I walked home, which was a mistake, though one I mad the day before. That time it was after quite a long run. This time, just a fairly straight run to Ryoura, but walking uses different movements and is hard on my hip and feet. The next day I jogged both ways (though to a nearer shop), which turned out much better, and I could even still run in the evening (though thunder sent me hope early).

En Vedette, Saint-Honoré Rouge Pistache

As the noon run on Saturday, I went out to En Vedette in Koutou-ku (which Shibuya Scramble Square is shut down), looking around and taking photos of sites on future neighborhood running course loops in the areas northeast from Yotsuya Station. I took the longer route rather than go past the main Mitsukoshi in Nihonbashi, though that is shut down as well. I came back by train, which had about three people per car, so I felt relatively safe. Also, I'm now running wearing a mask, since someone ahead of me might have coughed, though I also avoid trailing in people's wake.

As a new cake, I got the Saint-Honoré Rouge Pistache, which combines a lot of things I like. Red fruit, not so much, but a little fruit goes with choux pastry better than heavy things like chocolate, as well as being a much better accent for pistachio. In this case, the cream puffs are filled with fruit sauce rather than pistachio, which I might not have chosen, but the balance was fine. The pistachio cream was more whipped cream than the thicker paste I was expecting, but again, that might be for the best, this was excellent. This shop continues to impress me and should easily reach the quite exceptional shop group, even if I'm going to have to have to get further from my preference in their line-up. Unlike Pierre Gagnaire, their residential base area lets them have a full line-up. They recognized me, of course, from my trips to Shibuya and thanked me for the visit.

Okashiya Utchii, Choux Cream

The Monday morning began with a snack from a new boulangerie in a new hotel next to a new park. Actually, it's a tiny space in a corner (with it's own door), that share a staff person with the hotel cafe, but I imagine they do good business across form the new National Stadium. I've seen groups of runners and groups of cyclist meeting up in front of there. I went with the reliable Pain au Chocolat again. This one features an uneven outer surface, which allows for powdered sugar, and a hotel breakfast style of softness to the interior, but it wasn't under-baked and it worked, so I'll say it was excellent. Not a big variety, they all beautiful looking. This place goes by the name The Grove Bakery.

Got to Au Bon View Temps between 10:30 and 11:00, as planned, well enough after they opened for everything to be be out and got my cake. Unfortunately, it didn't travel well, so I'm not sure whether I'll tweet it and I didn't eat it first, so I'll move on. The reason I didn't go earlier is because coming back I got off the tain at Kitasandou Station and went to Okashiotchii for the first time, a kind of patisserie in Sendagaya that is relatively new and I haven't visited, so it's a priority in terms of the neighborhood running course. They didn't actually have many items for sale, which I expected (not sure what they do; maybe ordered items). The closest thing to an individual cake was the Chuu Cream, so I got that. It comes with an explanation (of why it's so expensive) of how it uses top-class organic eggs. Certainly it was different, but I don't have a deep knowledge of custard, so the difference was mostly wasted on me, I think. It was still good, but not enough to take me back (not that there was much else for me to choose).

My next run was on the Minami-Motomachi--Samon-chou--Suga-chou--Shinanomachi--Wakaba--Yotsuya loop, where I failed (I was successful the next day) because of a new path that I was not sure where it started (I choose a dead end one the first time), but I still did the full route, to fill in some pictures of new sites. Early on, I decided to give Doutor Coffee a chance that they had something worth getting, and choose their packaged Baumkuchen, which I imagined was pretty hard to mess up and was right: it managed to be good.

Fiorentina Pastry Boutique: Paris-Brest

Working through catching up the established exceptional shops that aren't under threat from below before going back to Hilltop, I did the short run to Fiorentina Pastry Boutique, with the plan to do some non-weights indoor working out afterward, which I did. As a 7th new cake, I choose the cake Paris-Brest, which in the tradition of many Japanese cakes, is in almost now way what it calls itself: it's not tire-shaped and no hazelnut praliné. Instead, it's custard cream, whipped cream and strawberry sandwiched between choux pastry, which is also pretty common. Actually, they got the balance of ingredients just right for me, whereas usually I don't like mixing custard and whipped cream, much less popping strawberries in. It's still not my thing, but it was definitely good and I enjoyed it.

Viron: Choux Rétrodor

Last Monday, ran to Viron in Marunouchi and got their Choux Rétrodor, which is a cream puff using their Rétrodor brand of flour, in both the choux pastry and in the custard. Note sure that it made a difference, but I've learned to appreciate the simplicity of this dessert. Excellent. I took the long way, looking in on Ginza Mitsukoshi on my way back.

Pierre Hermé: Paris-Brest Classique, Carré Blanc, and Cheesecake Céleste

New Year's holidays are almost over, so I should catch up, though there was less cake and running than usual. Monday (Dec 30), I ran to Paris S'éveille, where I expected and found two reasonable cake substitutes. One, however, includes coffee gelatin, which I'm pretty sure would not agree with my mouth or stomach, so I'm going to ignore that. The other was Crème Molle, which seems to be a (custard) crème brulée, so I went with that and ate it in the shop (didn't have to wait). It was excellent, as a change, but I'm recording it as "other", not cake or pastry. Future visits will probably be either for cake-offs or pastries, but I'll watch for the rare new cake, since this is a superb shop.

The next actual cake was New Year's Eve, when I visited Pierre Hermé at Isetan to get new cake because of a recent cake-off win.

I was particularly interested in the Paris-Brest Classique, but it was cake for two, so there were two more cakes that I had half of: Carré Blanc and Cheesecake Céleste.

The Paris-Brest was standard, as expected, with choux pastry and praliné cream. Carré Blanc was very fresh tasting, based on mascarpone cheese with I can't remember what kind of herbs and spices--maybe this had ginger, though I'm also thinking something more herb-like. What I do remember was it was not trying to be subtle about the herbs/spices, nor should it, since mascarpone by itself would be quite blank. The cheesecake followed the featured "fetish", céleste, which is strawberry and rhubarb. All three cakes were good, though none of them stood out, so this shop will probably remain a cake-off only visit going forward, as it will probably have to give up its place in the superb category, where it's already had more than it's share of cakes anyway.

Sadaharu Aoki, Paris-Brest Chocolat

Wednesday, I went to Isetan to pick up my already reserved Paris-Brest Chocolat, though this time they had extras in stock, even though I arrived significantly later: the newness has worn off. As with their last "Paris-Brest", it is not a Paris-Brest, but rather a cream puff with some hazelnut praliné cream. Then even called it a choux cream when they brought it to me, so they know, but so did I going in. It was good, but pretty mild, as chocolate and praliné don't really stack well, as it were. They just changed over the new cakes, so I'll have to wait at least a little before any specials appear. There are a couple cakes with fairly short and unpredictable line-up times that I'm watching for.

For exercise, I tried some of the revised Sendagaya loops, confirming one, failing one, and getting one way for one, so maybe I'll hit them again tomorrow, as well a couple farther away, as I'll have more time.

Origines Cacao: Saint-Honoré Caramel Poire

Wednesday, I went for my 23rd new cake (I think, updating) from Origines Cacao and finally got the Saint-Honoré Caramel Poire (I hope that's correct). I ran there, but saint-honoré look a little fragile and the shop seemed a little concerned about my being careful (though that might have been my imagination), so I walked back, and also my right foot gives me trouble, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to rest it (though the problem is not obviously correlated with running). I expect to be pretty active tomorrow, probably bicycle first in the afternoon, then do weights, and then run in the evening.

The cake was definitely the kind I like, so although I can't be sure that it was better than the previous two days', it was excellent for me. The shop still is still challenging FC two ranks above, so I think I can justify going back next week.

Michalak, Religieuse

Monday, I was obsessed with the recently revised, than re-revised, then revised again Daikanyama-chou--Ebisunishi--Hachiyama-chou--Nanpeidai-chou--Sakuragaoka-chou--Sarugaku-chou--Shibuya--Uguisudani-chou loop. I'm still a little fuzzy on navigating the stairs at Daikanyama Stn./Dixsept shopping center, but I don't have to be so strict there. However, I noticed "it Coffee" off my course and shifted the course to add it, so Sunday's success was nullified, and I turned too soon after the new chocolate shop, so I failed Monday near the end. I was, however able to do the updated/corrected Shibuya central loop clockwise, so there was progress, and the run was really refreshing until the 10 km mark, when suddenly my hip was tired (this loop might have the most stairs, especially now, at least until I get to the part I split off from the main Akasaka loop).

Cake came on Tuesday, which is also the first day of the month, a good day to go to Isetan. I had the afternoon off, so I sent to Isetan and got two things. JPH's new cake in the lineup is an excellent one I've had before, so I didn't need get cake from them, but Michalak had their Religieuse, which I haven't had and I was two cakes behind on them. Unfortunately, they removed the almost identical Paris-Brest, which I hadn't done a third-round cake-off with yet, but I can wait a year. The other thing I got was a fresh viennoiserie (avoiding the vaguer term "pastry") from Andersen, the Choco Stripe. I had the latter first, before going out for exercise. It was good, but the concept sounds better than the practice, I think, because having the chocolate layered in loses crispness.

The exercise was once again practicing the Daita--Daizawa--Hatagaya--Kamiyama-chou--Kitazawa--Motoyoyogi-chou--Nishihara--Ooyama-chou--Shouto--Tomigaya--Uehara loop. I could go about an hour before I didn't have it memorized correctly. I added a shop with Australian sweets to the loop near Shim-Kitazawa station and shifted the course after that so I go by the Kitazawa Koushindou (a kind of traditional road-side shrine). Near the end, coming south from the northern most point near Hatagaya, I added a site marked Myōdōkai Kyōdan on a plaque, which is a Buddhist society, although the building just looks like a really nice residence. Still, I like this route more than staying on the main road, so I'll keep the change, and keep practicing until the route stabilizes and I learn it.

The Religieuse (which French and English authorities agree is a pastry but is cake for my purposes) really tasted very similar to Paris-Brest, but I prefer the latter. Still, excellent, so I don't begrudge them the variation, other than they timed it to coincide with JPH's introduction of Religieuse, which was announced a month ago. I should say that, though they told me hazelnuts, the recipe they showed me indicated, besides mostly caramel cream, pate almond. The top is whipped cream and a little fudge square.

Cake-off: Jean-Paul Hévin's Saint Honoré over Sadaharu Aoki's Éclair Caramel Salé

Got an early start (from having slept most of Sunday) on the Monday holiday, leaving at about 6 in the morning to try loops in the Azabu area. I was successful in 3 out of 4 cases, leaving a split: I did the very recently revised Nishi-Azabu--Minami-Azabu loop clockwise, and then finished off the Minami-Azabu west loop. Of course, the Azabu-Juuban loops was trivial to complete, the the tricky Moto-Azabu--Azabu-Juuban loop defeated me two places, both which I can put down to fatigue, since it was in execution rather than knowledge that I failed, though the latter was not perfect overall either, just it was not necessarily what tripped me up.

I had time before shops opened, so I went back over to the big loop circling Shimo-Kitazawa that I haven't updated the name for. I spent not much more than an hour, so I only traced about half what I did last time with only slightly better knowledge. I did find one place where a seemingly unneeded detour could be removed. I feel that I've forgotten another place that needs correctly, but perhaps I was just thinking of a Starbucks that I need to add (I should also find out of the next nearest one closed) on a loop I passed coming back.

For cake, I was not planning to do a cake-off, but just get two cakes from top shops that will only be round for a couple weeks. First I went to Hikarie close to opening time and got the Éclair Caramel Salé. For the second, I went to the Jean-Paul Hévin Marunouchi shop, since they open later than Isetan, so I figured I would have a better chance of getting the new cake starting today, and I was right. The danger there was the small supply, but rain probably was keeping people away and I had Ginza Mitsukoshi as a back-up, which also probably has a smaller demand than Isetan.

I ate Sadaharu Aoki's Éclair Caramel Salé first and decided it was great, both in terms of the caramel filling and the pastry. Of course, Jean-Paul Hévin's Saint Honoré is very similar in both, but I decide that it had more complexity, which was working for it, so I selected it as the winner, since they both seemed to be great. These two are probably going to dominate cake-offs for a while, which I may have to do extra ones for. I'm consider my cake budget for this month.

Ladurée, Religieuse Fraise

Saturday, I planned to run, but ending up with a headache, so no running that or the next day (or cake the next day). I wanted a new cake from Ladurée, which got promoted to the exceptional shops when I redid the rating metric a while back, but was dominated by some cake shops ranked below, so I needed to deal with those first. I choose Religieuse Fraise, which was chancy on both fronts (not that I'm against religieuse in general, but I haven't ranked this shops choux pastry based cakes that highly, which was most of their new cakes). It was very strawberry, as cream as well as pieces of fruit. Compared to other strawberry cakes, I though this very good, so I'm going to rate it as excellent, giving it somewhat the benefit of the doubt. I'm still one down on this shop, but I have at least a couple other places in similar positions that I want to hit first before coming back to this.

Jean-Paul Hévin: Paris-Brest

Only a tiny bit of running today. I started by cycling to Ginza Mitsukoshi to check out the special classic series at Jean-Paul Hévin. I've been watching for this for a year without realizing what I was looking for, just that sometime they sneak in cakes there unannounced and checking once a month is not enough. For the first half of September, is Paris-Brest which is new, which differs just slight from their Paris-Tokyo, which has chocolate sheet in the base. It's excellent. I'll able to get a new cake from JPH next week too, since they have one other new cake, but otherwise I need to get the second one from the series the second half of September. The one for the first half of October is excellent, and the one for the second half of October is maybe great, so I'll want to get it in at least one cake-off within the two week window. Haven't checked in on Sadaharu Oaki in person, but the Maron Fruits Rouge is back thru November, so I'll be able to get that in a third-round cake-off before it disappears again.

After getting cake, I went out again and did what I had suggested last time, which was ride out to the Dougenzaka south loop, which is one largish block, and do it counterclockwise to check it off, which I did. Then I went to get groceries and rode past a Natural Lawson that should be on the Maruyamachou--Shinsenchou loop next door, so I'll have to redo that one, which, which the added block, becomes 1.33 km. One step forward, two steps back. I had originally planned to do indoor exercises, but it was more than 2.5 h after all the shopping, so it will have to be tomorrow, when maybe I'll also ride down to the Maruyamachou--Sinsenchou loop.

L'Abricotier, Saint Honoré

Friday, I did an indoor workout. Before hand, I went to Isetan to get their Koonie Chocolat Pecan, since they won a cake-off but don't have any new cakes (in Japan). Koonie are their cookie-brownie hybrid, covered in chocolate, and there are several flavors. I approve of the combination, and can call this an excellent baked good. Hard to tell the size from the photo, but reported weight Koonies on the French website is 20 g each.

Saturday, as planned, I rode to L'Abricotier to get a new cake, also for a cake-off win. This makes the 19th cake type from them for me. This time I got Saint Honoré, which I was surprised to find as new to be from there. It's very traditional in construction. As Japanese choux pastry goes, this was fairly robust, which I appreciate. The caramel is bitter caramel, which I did not appreciate but can respect, so I don't have probably saying that this was excellent.

Other errands appeared that I was not expected, so I was actually pretty late getting back, but went out again at 4 pm to confirm neighborhood course loops in the south Jinguumae area. This time I could confirm my Jinguumae 5&6 and Jinguumae--Shibuya loops counterclockwise, and take care of clockwise for the Jinguumae 5 and Jinguumae--Kita-Aoyama south loops. Along the way, on the first of these four, I finally sampled Coco-Agepan, which is not open in the afternoon, though you'll still see the truck it's run out of parked in the same spot. Agepan means fried bread, and is a staple sweet to an extent. They fry it after you order it, but it doesn't take long. It's basically like a long yeast donut. I choose the Cinnamon Agepan rather than the Coco one (which I assume is chocolate, not coconut), one of several flavors. It was good and reasonable snack for runners, though photographing it in the rain was awkward.

Michalak, Paris-Brest

Thursday's vain attempt to get the 7th year anniversary cake item from Sadaharu Aoki at Shibuya ended with me betting the Dutch Crumble from the Granny Smith counter. It was okay, but I can't say that cold cooked apples with soggy crust is good, though I'm not sure what was different from good pie. There would be more cinnamon and sugar in the recipe I know, and maybe I should always heat it up. Certainly. vanilla ice cream would be traditional, but I was never a big fan of adding to the sogginess. I can image trying the cheesecake or maybe even the French apple pie version, but I'd rather have cake.

Friday, I had other things to do, but it took me to Isetan, where I decided to make up from only one (normal fresh) cake during the work week to get cake from Michalak. Since I was not impressed by the previous tart, though I see how my choice was not likely to suit me, I went for a different type of cake, their Paris-Brest. This is a sugar bomb of praliné creme, which is just what I like. It was great. I will stop complaining about things being called Paris-Brest even though they are not wheel-shaped. Since other great Paris-Brest I've had was a slice from a large cake, scale clearly matters for the texture and balance. It should be possible to get a delicious balance of praliné cream and choux pastry regardless of shape, but I won't begrudge the maker their choice of how to achieve that.