Ryoura, Mille-Feuille Mistral

Finally got back Ryoura a while back for a new cake. I can get their one (available) remaining great cake at Tokyo Midtown, but the selection there is fairly limited so I did a bicycle ride. I wasn't quite as crazy there as last time. They have actually been limiting the number of people inside, but probably I can't remember well. Anyway, even at the main shop, I've pretty much had all their standards already, so it's touch choice. On the grounds that Mille-feuille are a fairly safe choice and I have had one excellent one from there (and one just good), I tried the Mille-feuille Mistral, which is F.Cassel like in having a gelatin layer for the flavor, which honestly I'm not that convince is a good ideal but is a reasonable simple variation. A Japanese source reminds me (not that I probably read in this detail at the time) that its passion fruit and mango mousseline and the gelatin is rhubarb and strawberry, which sounds about right. It was good, but I'm more convinced that gelatin in my mille-feuille is not optimal, but not the worst, as I've found out.

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.

Éclat des Jours, Simoné

Made my second attempt on the Daita-... loop and got about a third of the way before I failed. I needed to go straight, squeezing past the parked van, even though the main road turned. This is the second time that I mistook when to enter a back alley. While verifying what I should do, I stopped at Main Mano and got their Pain au Chocolat. I'll say it was excellent, but note that the chocolate was what I more typically find in Pain au Chocolat, and not my favorite. On the other hand, the sliced almonds are a significant positive feature.

I ran most of the way home and felt that a 2+ hour run was enough. After a half-lunch, I went by bicycle to Éclat des Jours again, in response to their cake-off win, and got a new cake, Simoné, which is pistachio mousseline on a strawberry crust with fresh raspberries on top. A definitely excellent cake. I do have a complaint: I gave them an insulated bag to put the cake in, and they included their own bag anyway. (I protects the box, but really, does it need it?)

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.

Pierre Hermé: Fraisier Pistache

Pierre Hermé started their next line-up today. I went to Isetan thinking that they wouldn't anything new to me, since the web page was not updated last night, but it turned out that not only did they have 4 of their next "feature" (based on passion fruit and pineapple), but 4 strawberry ones that I've never gotten around to. The later group is still not on their website, so I might have to update the name later. Fortunately, I could find an old webpage with the full recipe so I know what's in it. The base is "la dacquoise pistache", which I should have recognized immediately, since I've made it (not this well or this particular recipe, as far as I know, but more of as, as a standard type). The cream is "la crème mousseline pistache". I've had much too sweet fruity candy recently, so this sweet but not too sweet strawberry and pistachio dessert had the flavor and the elegance that I've been craving, so it is easy for me to say that it is great. I'm see whether I can get it into a cake-off before it disappears (I let the Tarte Infiniment Mandarin slip away).

The run was similarly informative. I went down to the southwest part of my completely neighborhood map and found that one of the Akasaka loops doesn't work, because there's a signal light in the way of where I need to cross the street, but it was mostly redundant (under looser rules of being across the street from a landmark is close enough) so I deleted it and just had to extend a couple other parts slightly. I'll keep practicing and get it right eventually.

Addict au Sucre

No running today, but my walking is basically normal again, unlike yesterday. Cycling (to go food shopping for nuts and oil) feels a little funny, but better than running (I ran a short way to make a light today), so I guess the first step is to get where I can cycle without pain.
I got cake at Isetan today from the visiting shop Addict au Sucre: Paris-Brest Noisette Orange, which is mousseline (Hollandaise sauce plus whipped cream) with orange in a feuillantine sandwich, so it is kind of eclair-like, as Paris-Brest always are. It was 561 yen, which seems a little high, but it was definitely good, though I'm not ready to go beyond that.