Ginza Sembikiya, Setoka no Mousse

I had an excellent first cake, so I finally followed up and got this cake. On the minus side, once you take the plastic away, it's not that good at supporting itself, but so it goes. The official photo is a little better, but they went for texture over strength, which I appreciate. This from Ginza Sembikiya, maybe the least widespread of the Sembikiya. They have a main shop in Ginza, but also a counter at Ginza 6, where I went, since I was coming from Mitsukoshi and it's connected underground, though I guess the main shop almost is. They also had a +1000 yen sponge strawberry cake (which is huge for a piece of cake in Japan), but I passed. This is Setoka no Mousse, where Setoka is a kind of mikan, as one can see. It's really nice and I can say excellent, especially since I don't get so many mikan cakes. The mousse is mascarpone cheese, of course, so it's just a medium. I guess I'm going to need to get back there and try the strawberry cake. Hopefully I can get it when I can split it with someone.

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.

 

Pierre Gagnaire, Mousse au Chocolat au Lait

Sunday, I didn't feel a need to get up early. Actually, I didn't get out until about 10 am. My goal was Pierre Gagnaire, but I started southwest rather than southeast because I wanted to try to get something from an unsampled shop over in the Omote-Sandou west area for bread. Went by Neko Neko Cheesecake, which I should sample for cake now that's not Neko Neko Shokupan, so maybe the gourmet sliced bread boom has faded. Actually, I had two targets for bread along Aoyama-doori, though I ended up getting a Croissant au Chocolat instead one of them, the bakery counter at a grocery store, Kinokuniya International, which has a super slow checkout line because of the extensive packing and general carefulness. The pastry was good, but it's a relief that it wasn't better, giving me a reason to go back. Some day I should see what the selection of chocolate bars is there.

I'm two cakes behind on Pierre Gagnaire because their line-up is tiny and rarely changed, and actually didn't even include both posted cakes, at least not that I ever saw, and I even asked once. Now they had one different cake I've had before, a couple standards, and two cakes new to me. I went with the Mousse au Chocolat au Lait (can't guarantee the auxiliaries), which is milk chocolate mousse in a hard shell. I can tell from the beginning that it was definitely good, as good as any milk chocolate mousse I've had, as far as I can remember, but even with just one cake, a cup of tea wasn't sufficient to get me all the way through this. I know that I've saturated on plain chocolate mousse even years ago, so I should have prepared more. I guess I need to start buying milk for cake, instead of relying only on tea. As I said, it was definitely good, but there was more than enough for me, at least without something varying it. 

In the afternoon, I was back around JR Harajuku Sta. to see what Aux Bacchanales might be like on a weekday (no line), what's in Eataly (short line and a couple brands of chocolates, as well as cookies), and where the heck the elevator that gets you to the Shiseido Parlor (elevators on the lower floors only cover the lower floors). Also, Trip Port Sweets seems to be reorganizing itself (there were people in there discussing something and the upper floors of the building are closed now, though maybe they were always closed).

 

Dandelion Chocolate, H2O Chocolate Mousse & Opera [Hacienda Azul Costa Rica x Hazelnut]

Went to Dandelion Chocolate at Harajuku and the most important thing to say is, don't eat in there, because you're going to be packed among young people who don't.

That done, I would like to go back for take-out. Their signature chocolate seems to be the H2O Chocolate Mousse. I'm not sure I saw anyone else get any other cake. It's an excellent cake, though be warned that you can't expect much in the way of variation, so splitting it with a partner seems reasonable.  

The other cake I got was Opera: Hacienda Azul Costa Rica x Hazelnut. This is a tiny cake, but super rich with buttery nut layers. I'm a little uncertain on this one as well, though I ate more than half, but I'm going with excellent again.  

There are pistachio and almond version of the opera, but looking for a great cake, I should probably try a more varied cake next.

Yu Sasage, Montélimar Noisette

Took a half day off and didn't accomplish many things. That's normal, but I actually did try and did accomplish a few things, as the list of things is pretty long now. However, especially because I mistook the Sadaharu Aoki schedule (there was a new cake today, but only in Nagoya, which gets special treatment from JPH as well), I did go for cake, by bicycle. Yu Sasage is along the borderline between the exceptional and quite exceptional shops and was in line for a cake to try to make the jump. There were a couple promising new cakes, the other a chiboust, but I went with the Montélimar Noisette, which was explained as having Montélimar mousse, which I didn't find informative, since Montélimar is a place name, though I guess I new it was associated with honey. Actually, they were using it to mean honey meringue, which I'll have to try to remember and confirm that as tracking with what other shops mean. Other components are, obviously, hazelnuts, in mousse form, as well as dacquoise. It was definitely good, but is maybe too small and light a cake for me. This might be a case were some fruit would help.

 

Aigre-Douce, Mousse Chocolat Framboise

 This is going to be really short. I went for a new cake to Aigre-Douce because its caramel tart won a cake-off. I've had one other perhaps great cake from there, which I've never seen again, and a couple excellent cakes, and a couple good cakes. The other four were all just ok. I got the Mousse Chocolat Framboise, and this makes a fifth ok cake. The chocolate mousse is inside a sponge exterior, which is a terrible idea. Plus, too much raspberry for me. So soft cake which adds no texture other than to destroy the mousse effect, which is anyway already pretty destroyed by raspberry that includes seeds. And yet, I might be back there in another year if their great cake wins again. I should say, though, that their pastries seem pretty top class, even if I can't understand the appeal of most of their cakes.

 

Yoshinori Asami: Caramel Pomme

Last Thursday I caught Yoshinori Asami and got the Caramel Pomme, which is a modern shaped cake, though it got a little mangled on the wrong side, so I took the picture from the top. The bottom is an apple tart and the main part is caramel mousse with apple compote. I haven't had much luck with these in the past, but this one was definitely excellent, so Yoshinori Asami stays as a exceptional shop.

Ryoura, Récif

Sunday as a big cake and running day. First, I did the run out to Ryoura. I stopped at Hikarie to check Sadaharu Aoki, but it seems to be one of the shops closed during a 1.5-month renovation. Next, I went to Viron and got their Bostock aux Pistaches, which I decided was excellent, though I'm not convinced that pistachios, much less with cherry, are an improvement.

At Ryoura, I decided that chocolate was a dependable choice (plus, I've had most of their line-up), so I went with the Récif, which I hadn't seen before. This is chocolate and whipped cream, with oat and currant sablé and cacao-scented blancmange, which sounds a little weird perhaps, but the taste was a definitely good chocolate cake, but it didn't really stand out. Maybe the interesting ingredients actually cancelled each other out. I'll included the double picture and split up the post, since I don't have enough space for all the labels.

Pierre Gagnaire: Mousse aux Chocolat et Yuzu

Hard week at work. I ran the Minami-Motomachi--Samon-chou--Suga-chou--Shinanomachi--Wakaba--Yotsuya loop of the neighborhood course (successfully, but I'm revising it again) Tuesday late (ending about 10 pm). Wednesday, I was slightly less late and tried to go to Pierre Gagnaire, but arrived after 8 pm and they were sold out of all cakes. I'm still sampling snack places along the neighborhood course, so this time I hit NewDays and tried their little Baumkuchen Vanilla, which as the shown price indicates isn't the top of even their baumkuchen offerings. Actually, though, this was definitely good, better than either of the recent coffee shop baumkuchens.

At home, I also tried something from the organic grocery store Bio c' Bon. They actually have a fresh cake in the form of Benten-dou Cookie Choux from their "Gateau de nature du coeur" line. "Cookie", probably because it's a harder pastry than the soft ones usually found in convenience stores and the like, and maybe a little harder/less crisp than regular choux pasty, though not so different from Oyashiya Utchii's. The custard was a little different from that one, though it's not obvious that one was better than the other except that this one was sweeter, probably than it needed to me, whereas maybe the other would have been better sweeter. Anyway, this one was less than half the price for the same size, so I'm more satisfied with it.

Thursday, I managed to leave work by 7 pm and get to Pierre Gagnaire before 8 pm and they had a good selection. Since it was the end of the month, I figured the chances of a changeover Sunday is large (though maybe after White Day, March 14, is more reasonable; I can't remember the trend last year, but I'll maybe look around March 1 beyond just getting cake for that day). I went with a cake I've seen around for a while, the Mousse aux Chocolat et Yuzu. I keep avoiding it because it's easy to become tired of chocolate mousse and I've been disappointed by (usually dome) mousse cakes repeatedly. There is yuzu gelatine inside as well, so this really doesn't seem like something I should like, but the chef patisserie is not incompetent: the chocolate and yuzu are balanced: it's a true chocolate mousse taste with yuzu for flavor and it prevents one from getting overpowered by the mousse. This cake is fairly firm for mousse, but not gelatinous, which is why it's not trying to a dome, just lets gravity do it's thing. My complaint is they tape the bottom of the box and the bottom of the cake, so I'm in serious danger of destroying it when trying to pull it out, once I managed to cut the clear tape holding the paper cylinder around it and raise it exactly vertically to free it. I suppose a hot wire slid under the plastic try might cut the tape safely but there should be a better way. I decided that this cake was perfect and I had not substitute for it, so I can say its great. Looks like I'm going to be making regular trips to Pierre Gagnaire for at least a little while.

Coffee Parlor Hilltop: Laque Noir

The night of Christmas Day, I ran to Coffee Parlor Hilltop, where they had their normal cakes and no crowd, though some one came after me to buy, so they are getting some customers since reopening. This time and was more energetic and ran all the way back. As my cake, I choose Laque Noir, because it looked great, even if the composition is not very promising for me. Namely chocolate mousse, with fruit (potentially too much), and with a chocolate glaze. I dealt with it though. I look chocolate, and mousse, though just mousse can be a texture problem. I chilled it down to 1 degC, so it least started out sufficient firm to be control able. I also avoided putting the glazing directly on my tough, since I was correct that I was not appreciating the Laque(r) part of it, but it worked fine how I ate it. And the orange was not too much and harmonized fairly gently with the chocolate. I'm rating it excellent, so this shop is in good shape to get promoted. There are a couple shops already in the exceptional group that I'd like to hit first though, so I can wait for the sixth cake.

Origines Cacao: Noisette Chocolat

Simple run to Ginza and back. Rain started while I was getting cake, but I had heavy jacket in my bag with a hood, which was enough for the light rain, even in December Tokyo. It was time for Origines Cacao's 25th cake, but still a few cakes behind it's new superb category's target level, as well as dominating the quite superb category, though averaged over a lot few categories, so it's got a long way to go to get promoted again, but today's cake was excellent, which keeps it in the running for now. There were two new cakes, and I was focused on the Noisette Chocolat, though the other was marked seasonal, so I should have picked it. Note disappointed though. Very nice chocolate and hazelnut mousse cake.

Frédéric Cassel, Inspiration Passion Framboise

Managed to get to Ginza and back without seeing the rain that made the street wet. Just under 54 minutes, or 6 cycles at a 1:9 walk:run split, not counting forced stops and underground walking. I've finally got back to Frédéric Cassel for a new cake, in response to probably a couple cake-off wins. There were three new choices, which should be enough for this month. I went with the one cake from this month's inspiration series, Inspiration Passion Framboise, which is raspberry mousse, passion fruit mousseline, and a fairly thick biscuit in the bottom of that dome to balance out the texture. It's not a combination that I see or would think to search out, but I think it was great. Finding the next great cake was easier than I expected, I just needed to get back to the best shop with new available cakes. For cake-offs, it's not so convenient, since it will be gone at the end of the month and will probably never reappear, but that gives it time for the maximum three rounds, so it deserves its chance while its here.

Jean-Paul Hévin: Verrine Mésange, Verrine Chocolat Coco Framboise, Verrine Mascarpone Café

It took me a while to remember at least somewhat what I did on Wednesday, but I'm finally there. I got some sesame bread from Andersen for eat with olive oil. This was different from their Trekonbrod and the name was completely Japaneses (though using "pan" as the word for bread). It was good, but I didn't bother to take a picture. I was at Isetan for another errand, which I forgot to do, though I verified what the next two visiting shops are (both worth visiting, but I'm up to date on both), and saw that Sadaharu Aoki has a very promising tart for just this month at Isetan. The more important errands on the way home I did not forget. For running, I may have tried to do the revised southern Cat Street loop (and failed very early on), as I think I did the revised Jinguumae central loop (which covers northern Cat Street) counterclockwise on Monday and forget to record it.

In any case, Thursday, I definitely tried to do the southern Cat Street again and realized that my route was flawed, so I've had to revise it. I also failed to get food at Steamers for the good reason that their shops close at 6 pm, so I'll have to hit them on a holiday. Instead, I got a croissant from Natural Lawson, which I've added to routes and on the grounds that they have fresh pastries. The croissant was not special but it was not worse than an average bakery one and definitely better than some, so I'm happy to keep them on my routes. There are not that many of them and I'm not sure that I've found any that the route was not already going by for the neighborhoods covered.  They have eat-in space, which is an advantage over most bakeries, though the atmosphere is what you would expect from a convenience store.

Friday through Sunday I was busy, but I was indulged. Friday night, I sampled all three of the new verrine from Jean-Paul Hévin, though I failed to take a picture. I was busy. If you hurry, I you catch them on the website. These were Verrine Mésange, Verrine Chocolat Coco Framboise, and Verrine Mascarpone Café. The first is Peruvian chocolate mousse, matcha Mousse, and passion fruit gelatin and was not really very exciting, but good. The second is chocolate mousse and coconut mousse with raspberry and lychee gelatin in between again good but not exciting (particularly the coconut mousse). The last is basically a verrine version of tiramisu, but the mascarpone mousse and coco powder is really excellent; I would prefer it without the coffee, but it didn't make me sick, so I'll overlook that. I'm hoping for a different version without the coffee if are more verrine at the end of the summer, but I'm expected to be disappointed.

L'Abricotier, Illanka

Once again, I was back in Nakano-ku to visit L'Abricotier. My excuse, besides that I can only visit on holidays, is that I planned to do a cake-off with their cake next week, so it's a priority not to get behind on them, even though otherwise Ryoura and Éclat des Jours (which doesn't require a holiday, but it's become harder to get something new late in the evening), which are also in the quite exceptional list, probably deserve turns first.

I ate in, as I usually do for new cakes there. I went with a new cake to the shop again, Illanka, but I was not that impressed. It was good, though a little melty, but not any more than advertised, cherry and chocolate mousse. Of course, that combination could have gone very wrong, so I'm not discounting that it was good, but I need something more at this point. Someone more into cherries might be able to better distinguish what's special about this cake, or maybe a more refined appreciation of chocolate.

The bicycling for the cake took a couple hours (I'll say that unconsciously I wanted more exercise, and that's how I got so offtrack on the way there). I ate a half-lunch and went out again walking to see how my feet are doing. I practiced too neighborhood running course loops from memory, the Akasaka 7 and 8 loops, which form their own clump of routes, though total they are only about 2 km, less than the one-way distance to reach them. I was successful (Akasaka 8 is trivial and 7 just has one tricky bit) and no great problem with my feet despite a fast pace and having already done bicycling, though I was pretty tired afterward (not running tired, but still). I might repeat tomorrow night, this time counterclockwise for each, since I plan to get cake from Isetan, though really I should do my indoor workout and maybe some cleaning to free up time later in the week.

Jean-Paul Hévin, Verrine Chocolat Café

For cake, I went to Jean-Paul Hévin to finally try the Verrine Chocolat Café, which will probably be in for this month from them.

For exercise, I tried to verify clockwise the new Daikanyama-chou--Ebisunishi--Hachiyama-chou--Nanpeidai-chou--Sakuragaoka-chou--Sarugaku-chou--Shibuya--Uguisudani-chou loop (south of Shibuya Station) by bicycle and did well enough (I made mistakes but could immediately correct myself). Next is counterclockwise. On the way back, I say a bicycle and motorcycle collide, but I think they both stayed upright. The motorcycle was turning and the bicycle was trying to go straight. Probably the motorcycle had the right of way, but the bicycle was pretty much doing the normal thing, which is pretty standard for Japanese traffic regulations: safe in theory, except too strict for people to follow, though bicyclists are perhaps the worst offenders in general.

Verrine Chocolat Café was pretty much as good as I could expect. The chocolate mouse was delicious and the coffee part certainly tasted like coffee, much more than the mint did in the mint verrine chocolate. Didn't make me sick, but I'd need to eat a lot more of these (over a period of time) to get used to coffee enough to want it again. I'll call it good.

Jean-Paul Hévin, Verrine Chocolat Menthe

Monday, I first went and got cake from Jean-Paul Hévin, as well as pick up knives from Isetan. It's verrine season, which is not my favorite, but I've allowed them as fresh cake and JPH doesn't have as many new cakes as I want. This time I got the Verrine Chocolate Menthe. I don't like mint in general, at least with my chocolate. Chocolate mints are usually pretty bad, except as a sweet way to consume mint. Still, I expected it to be better than the coffee one.

For exercise, before doing my indoor muscle training (excluding legs), went out to do some minor loops related to my recent neighborhood course. I did the little (600 m) Akasaka 3 loop, near Akasaka-Mitsuke Station, and did the Akasaka east loop next to Tameike clockwise correctly and varied the existence of a couple coffee shops, a Tulley's and a Starbucks, that give me an excuse to add a couple loops to the east and call the three a new clump, so I don't need to include the Akasaka east loop in the clump with the huge main Akakasa loop, which means I don't have to finish confirming it until I get to some clumps that are closer in.

I cake the verrine and it started like others, since I don't mix it up, but work my way carefully through the top chocolate mousse. When I got the mint part and mixed it in, I couldn't even identify it as mint, though there was a change in taste that harmonized with the chocolate. Partially in relief that the mint didn't destroy it, this seemed like the best verrine yet, so that I almost would call it great, but I'm not sure that I really need to have this particular one again, just my expectations for future verrine has improved and I'll call it definitely excellent.

I'll lump in Tuesday, since I forgot to take a picture, but I went to Théobroma(who supply Cacao Store) and got their Chocolat Classique. It's on the dry side of the classic chocolate cake spectrum, but not very dry. It was good but not remarkable. This is actually an improvement on the previous two cakes from there, which made me put off visiting, despite designating their signature chocolate cake as great. BUt it means that it's not at the top of the quite good group, so it won't be the one that will be a priority to explore to possible replace the low ones in the excellent group.


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Maison Douce: Macaron Chocolat Mon Amour

Le Poulpelin

Maison Douce, which I've only had two cakes from, though one was initially rated as great and got a first-round cake-off (neither was declared a win and I demoted both, the only time I've done that), so by in terms of a place where I might find a great cake, it has more potential than some supposedly excellent shops, so it was a high priority to resolve where the shop belongs among my grouping of Tokyo shops. Unfortunately, they are a minimum 35 kilometers out, they don't have eat-in space, and it is not weather for eating outside (see snow above), so I run there and take the train back. I did a 45 km run recently, no problem, so I figured that I would be fine as long as I kept at the same pace, but my right little toe is giving me trouble, and my whole foot tenses up trying to protect it. The shop last told me I need narrower shoes, which might be true once the swelling goes down. I wore new socks with toes this time, but that doesn't really help. I'll use a lot of petroleum jelly and consider taping it, though I'm not sure that I have the right kind of tape now.

Maison Douce: Macaron Chocolat Mon Amour

On the way, I stopped at Le Poupelin whose chef was on the NHK sweets show I started watching. I got a Chasson au pommes, which I'll say was excellent, though it's 27 km, so maybe not in a good position to judge. If I run that far to try them for cake, I think I'm going to get two.

As it happens, I'm probably not going to have to worry about how far out Maison Douce is. I really didn't like the chocolate in this. I suppose it's the chocolate whipped cream that makes for a really weak watery taste. I've had this experience before with chocolate cakes from specialists, so maybe it's just my physical condition. Still, it was ok, but ok isn't doesn't justify going anywhere. The shop still has some potential above shops that have given me nothing better than one excellent cake, but I don't expect it to make the cut to stay in quite good shops.

That clears some excellent shops, though now I saw some other partially challenged by Les Cacao and En Vedette. I hope I can get a visit to Les Cacao next weekend, even if I don't get cake there. Now, I'm really looking forward to a cake-off tomorrow, though reviewing, I'm convinced that Fondant Chocolat au Rouge is just a slightly differently decorated Foondant Chcolat aux Framboises from Yu Sasage, so I've got two choices from them to go against JPH. I need to ask tomorrow how long the two Yu Sasage cakes will stay in the lineup. I need to also review Numero 7 to see what's in it: maybe it's been give a more appropriate name and also can be found in Yu Sasage's line-up without me realizing it.

Yu Sasage, Ardèche

Did a west run to Yu Sasage in Minamikarasuyama, Setagaya-ku, in response to their cake-off win with Perfum, the only cake of theirs that I've put to the test. I tried to take pictures along the way, though I only seem to have a few. Anyway, the weather was cold and there was a little snow, so I didn't want to expose my phone with a cracked edge.

I always have trouble choosing, as my mind is not that organized after running and people are waiting in the cake shop so I feel pressure. The thing that made me pause was that they have a Fondant Chocolat ? Rouge, whereas I've been looking for their Fondant Chocolat aux Framboises for cake-offs for a few years. This is apparently the correct season, as I had it originally in Feb. '16, so the current Fondant Chocolat is probably a close match, but maybe not. Instead of finding out, I got Ardèche. This is very similar to the JPH cake I want great cake to match against: a chocolate cylinder with a hard coating. In this cake, the inside is very moussie: chestnut mousse and (Western) tea mousse chocolate, along with chocolate caramel ganache. This is actually a fairly mild cake, almost a milk chocolate taste, whereas I'm easily impressed by less subtle applications of sugar and nuts. This did have some crunch in the base, along with the coating, so there was sufficient variation in texture.

I'm not sure how it will hold up against further scrutiny, but I think it's not unreasonable to designate it as great. I'll try to get it again Monday and put it in a cake-off against the JPH cake. I don't have anything to match the loser against a second round, though, assuming that I still think that cake is good. My best bets are if 14 Julliet has reintroduced Au Lait Noix (they were back with having small cakes again last time I checked, but a smaller different line-up that definitely didn't have that one) or Les Cacao has put Cuba back in the line-up (haven't seen it since 2017). Not sure that I'll have time to check that latter this weekend, but I wouldn't mind an east run Tuesday or Wednesday, not to let F. Cassel go too long without a visit.

Libre: Fleure Pomme and Paris-Brest Marron

Friday afternoon, I took off, so I visited P. Libre down in Shirokane, which is peripherally connected to the neighborhood running course, but requires a long detour, so I haven't plotted out the specific path that would include it. This is the first shop recommendation taken from Sweets Magic! (see your local NHK Premium listings). The eat-in capacity is 11 or 13 people, and it's hard to image that many people there. Besides the chef (who took my order) and three other underlings there was a man and woman in black who were also staff, which was more than really fit in a place not that much bigger than my living room. They were busy though, so I suppose they were preparing for the night French restaurant time, as cake time was about over. The guy in front of me ordered 5 packs of 3 large bonbon-sized chocolate "pyramids" for >4,000 yen.

The closest thing they have for cake are the "fleure", which are mousse or sauce in a shell in a jar. I saw him make just little balls like that by dipping frozen mousse or sauce in the coating. If you eat in, you can probably see him do it, because the bar counter is both the eating and preparation surface. I asked for the apple version, Fleure Pomme.

The other like that I allow as cake is their Paris-Brest. They only had the Marron, but I didn't have a strong preference, so no problem. They both survived the train ride home. These are certainly interesting, and good. They were nice as something different, and excellent as art, but maybe too far from what I'm looking for in cake to take me back unless it is for the restaurant, which I bet would also be interesting.

Qu'il Fait Bon, Lectier Pear and Cheese Soufflé Tart and Red Fruit and Chocolate Mousse Tart

Friday, I was busy. Saturday, went to a neighborhood (running course) café for cake sets for two at Qu'il Fait Bon as a first visit. This down near Omotesandou Station, in Minamiaoyama. I've seen some long lines there, so I had wanted arrive at first opening, but there were other things do, so I wasn't even close. However, no problem; not sure why. It was a little strange, because the café section is small and on one side and then there's a big glass case in the middle with their tarts and then they are doing sales of those on the other end. No one was on the café telling being who want to enter what to do, but we just had to sit down in an open seat.

We got two tarts (and drinks): Lectier Pear and Cheese Soufflé Tart and
Red Fruit and Chocolate Mousse Tart. I didn't choose but I was consulted. The pear tart was a custard tart (the cheese was fine, but acted as a sort of base) and the pear was quite nice; I didn't really have an idea what lectier pear tasted like, and maybe I still don't know what's distinct about it, but it was good and went well with the custart, and the crust seemed nice too. We agreed that the Red Fruit and Chocolate Mousse Tart was not as good. Chocolate mousse is that that simple to combine with other things; this tart would have been better without in (though I suppose that would depend on what they replaced it with). One definitely good cake/tart and one so-so kind of good tart means that I'll likely never get back there. It was also agree that homemade fondant were better, though I still need to get back to developing those. Instead, I did a cake-off and lots of running, but I don't have today to write about that.

In the evening of Saturday, I did a neighbor run and was successful in all four loops: Samonchou loop clockwise (I expanded it, so I had to do it again), Sagachou loop counterclockwise, Minami-Motomachi--Wakaba--Yotsuya--Sugachou--Shinanomachi loop clockwise, (trivially) the Shinanomachi loop counterclockwise. I'll need to do the first and third again counterclockwise before moving on on the review.