Pierre Hermé, Tarte Infiniment Praliné Noisette

It's been years maybe, but it's finally Pierre Hermé's turn to get a new cake not related to a cake-off win (though it has earned a good number of those so far), as I've already had a new cake from FC and no where at the same or higher level either has a new cake or has had few enough for me to be looking for one. The timing is good, too, because the Tarte Infiniment Praliné Noisette is in the form of their best tarts (the vanilla one is a standard) and also promising in terms of the ingredients, at least for me. It lived up to expectations and was great. Since I've promoted two JPH cakes in the line-up to great, the plan for Thursday became an early cake-off, again sourced from Isetan.

 

Sadaharu Aoki, Chou Ginza Chocolat Pralin, Matcha, and Saya

Sadaharu Aoki has a counter at Ginza Mitsukoshi through August 25th, so I went there last Sunday. I didn't know they would be there that long, and I was buying a snack for two, so I got three special items: Chou Ginza. I say special, because they are different from their usual variety, not being split open, and they have flavors matching their cakes, except the vanilla, though I suppose they have a vanilla mille-feuille. I got Chuu Ginza Chocolat Pralin, Chuu Ginza Chocolat Matcha, and Chuu Ginza Saya. Unfortunately, not very exciting, though all good, and the shop remains in my top three shops for now. Hopefully the vanilla is better, and hopefully they'll have other new cakes soon, either there or their main shop. Under current conditions, they are just trying to get back on their feet, so I can't blame them for doing what they can.

Rue de Passy, Mille-Feuille Praliné Citron

Started my Sunday run by heading down to Rue de Passy in Meguro-ku. They are on my exceptional shop list and were near the bottom, so I had been giving the top of the quite fine group a chance to challenge them but no replacement, so I finally went for the next two cake from them, #8. I ate in, which is usually the most convenient thing to do, but can affect the results. I decided that the Mille-Feuille Praliné Citron was the most promising even before noticing that it was the one recommend by the chef. The chef gave a good recommendation, as this was a great cake. Neither the praliné or the citron was very strong, but all the parts balanced well and I liked how a more buttercream filling rather than custard worked with mille-feuille. Not sure that it was actual butter cream or just there was enough nuts in the praliné to give that effect, but it worked either way. Too great cakes in less than a week: I feeling like I'm doing pretty good.

On the way I kept a sharp eye out for what shops were open, as I found too closures Saturday night and hadn't noticed some others. Lotus is looking different these days, and is hard to spot. I decided that Chavity right before them deserves to be a site on the neighborhood running map, but I'll need a different photo, as I got serious glare on the one I took. I'll also add Candyapple in Daikanyama-chou. Down near the Daikanyama Stn. the entire Tenoha shop block seems to have closed, so I'll probably need to revise that 10.4 km loop, but I'll put it off until its time do that clump.

La Vie Douce, Praliné Orange

Thursday, I was able to stop in at La Vie Douce for a 6th new cake on my way home from work, to see whether they could succeed where Jun Honma failed. I went with the Praliné Orange, but they had a good selection for near closing time (bad for them, but good for me).

For running, I worked on clumps of my neighborhood running course, and also reconnaissance. I was successful on the Jinguumae northeast clump but failed to get the links between loops in the right order (and realized it, so I quit) for the Jinguumae Stn. east clump just south of it. I plan to try that Saturday afternoon. That finishes off the first 22.04 km of neighborhood running course clumps. I also confirmed the new Jinguumae southwest link, which uses two pedestrian bridges, as the new way to get to the Jinguumae--Jinnan loop and all loops west--north of there. It adds about 1.5 km, but it works. Hopefully the next construction won't be to take down those pedestrian bridges, or I'll be resorted to going through Aobadai, which would add a few more kilometers, though it's all good.

The cake surprised me a little, because it looked like the kind of cake that would be pretty heavy, about actually about half of the inside is sponge cake and half is cream, so it's pretty light. It was definitely good, and probably more legitimately cake than a lot of things I like, but still I would like something more dramatic, so they slip below Jun Honma for the moment, which won't immediately matter if at least one of the two exceptional shops can come through with something excellent for their next cake, which I hope to determine Sunday.

I'll sneak in Friday as well, when I had coupons for a bakery, and could have gotten cake but already had in my mind to get bread, since I had forgotten about the cake, since I wouldn't go there normally. For exercise, I had finally decided on a proper revised Akasaka--Azabudai--Roppongi--Toranomon loop, which I did clockwise. I hope also to do counterclockwise Saturday and confirm this as the newest of verified loops. I also did revised the Aoyama-Minami 1 loop clockwise to take into account the loss of the Croissant cafe, but that only took an extra couple minutes of running, since the new loop is even smaller than the old one, only 209 m to loop around the building with a Tully's. I'll get the other direction when I do its clump, since that's next after the two I plan to try Saturday afternoon.

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.

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.

Pierre Gagnaire: Chocolat au Praliné Noisette

Went down to Pierre Gaganaire, since its two great cakes out of six made it top of the exceptional category and a challenger for the bottom of the quite exceptional category. It a relative near run, but I did the other half of my indoor workout afterward. Also, on the way I could do the tiny Yotsuya loop counterclockwise and check it off as the last of the Moto-Akasaka clump, which includes the southeast side of Meiji Gaien and the Akasaka Palace environs. I choose Chocolat au Praliné Noisette, which has a great name. Unfortunately, it's pretty dry, like a hard brownie (though more tasty, but now it gives me the idea of trying to heat it (after removing the cream and sheet chocolate). Anyway, good but not exciting, so the quite exceptional category can proceed. Found a bakery cafe down there in Akasaka 1 as well, or at least a listing of it on a building, but I'll have to look in detail later. I'm already down with the Akasaka 1 loop, but there are neighboring loops that I've only done one direction.

Noliette, Noisettine

Due to a lingering health problem, I decided to get my cake more locally than I would have and a little out of order by going down to Shinjuku Takashimaya and visiting the Noliette counter (versus Patissieria, which also had 3 of their their cakes, but different ones). This brand is big on traditional forms and I chose Noisettine, which is hazelnut biscuit, hazelnut butter cream, and hazelnut praliné. I like nuts and this kind of tradition cake, so its not shock that I thought this was excellent, which keeps them in the quite fine category for now.

Charmant Gourmand, Moelleux au Chocolat Praliné

I went back to Charmant Gourmand to work on large group of what I've decided to call the quite fine shops, which need to be worked down to 32, and also I need to remove ones faster than I am them, or at least confirm they belong there. 

I had liked the Moelleux au Chocolat Figue last time, so this time I got Moelleux au Chocolat Praliné. As a change, I also microwaved it to make it more soft, as instructed, but that just makes it pudding, which is probably less interesting. Also, I like my praliné more sugary, though that might have gotten lost in the hit chocolate pudding. Still good, but this shop can join the fine shops. 

For exercise, I tried to do the Daikanyama-chou--Ebisunishi--Hachiyama-chou--Nanpeidai-chou--Sakuragaoka-chou--Sarugaku-chou--Shibuya--Uguisudani-chou loop counterclockwise (which is at least more with traffic rather than against it). I know all the sites, but I'm not used to the new order yet and don't know where to turn for the new shops, so where I needed to turn for 7clover. That wasn't the only failure, but none big, so it was good to review and I can maybe do it next time. I decided that I should add the Sakuraoka Park, which just looked more like a parking lot and was used for smoking last time I paid attention to it, but does seem to be a proper park, even if not a green one. Also, I should add M.Nature over in Shibuya east loop, despite not being too excited about visiting them again. 

For tomorrow, I don't whether I'l  I  Not sure whether I'll the big loop counterclockwise again or go out to the Marunouchi JPH for their chocolate muffin (since I've had my cakes for the week). 

Michalak, Tarte Pistache

Today, cake from Michalak again, as planned. I tried a second tart, the Tarte Pistache. The base is almond cream flavored with orange and rose, pistachio praliné, with mascarpone cheese, whipped cream, and pistachio paste in white chocolate icing, or some combination of those ingredients, as I got a little lost in the description online. The result is somewhat mild, as one would expect from mascarpone cheese and whipped cream, though still definitely good, and better from me than the previous chocolate one, though similar. This shop is currently beating some excellent ones, so it will probably get promoted from quite good, but it hasn't reached 6 cakes yet and I haven't tested either of the cakes identified as great yet in a cake-off, so I'll hold off a little while long. In the meantime, I'll try a new shop over the weekend, I hope, as well as the planned cake-off to test the first great cake.

Très Calme: Praliné Noix

Okay, my last prediction about my next cakes was almost completely wrong, although I did go to Très Calme today. Sadaharu Aoki does have a new cake that I haven't had, but I just had a new cake from them Saturday, so I'll wait until next, when JPH will also have one, so that's at least two trips to Isetan. It's been more than a week since I had my last Michalak cake, so I plan to go to Isetan tomorrow as well. My feet aren't happy today, so I suppose I'll be seeing the doctor eventually, though they're rarely useful (but make up for it when they are). Today's cake was a new one (for me and the shop, apparently), Praliné Noix, which has a promising name, but maybe making praliné out of walnuts was not a great idea, since there wasn't much walnut taste and the praliné sugar kick was too low to be that interesting to me. Still good cake, and it went with my tea fine, which I ate at home, even though previously the eat-in space was open after 7 pm. Très Calme is an excellent shop and I've found a couple great cakes there, but I'm caught up for now.

Luciole: J'aime, Paris-Brest, & Gateau Meringue

Gateau Meringue

On day 6 of GW, I got cake from Luciole, which is a shop at the Hotel Piena in Kobe, as takeout. I don't recognize the name of the shop, though I've gotten cake from this location before, just the hotel name. Anyway, it's pretty big as a café space, since it might also be the hotel's breakfast space. However, they have a problem with takeout, in that they give you a huge box in a huge bag, which provides some stability, but the protection of the cakes within the box is completely inadequate.

Paris-Brest

There were one centimeter high paper walls to separate cakes, which did nothing to keep the tall, delicate meringue cake (above from their website) from falling over, even with fairly careful handling. I thought I told them something strange last time I ordered at that location that made them just leave the cakes loose inside (and maybe I did), but this time all the blame is on them. That said, the cake was good, better than average from places I've sampled in Kobe when I was sampling for essentially everywhere (which I don't do in Tokyo very widely these days). The Gateau Meringue was still good, but it's just meringue, white chocolate, and some berries in a decorative package. The Paris-Brest had an unusual pastry, not the usual choux pastry, but maybe the soft version used for Japanese-style choux cream. It was good, but I like a much more decadent style.

The final one, J'aime, is pistachio over chocolate. It is much airier/spongier that other dome cakes I have had, which one should guess from the air bubbles, again (like the previous day's) seemingly in keeping with a local style. It also was good and well balanced, but the texture was boringly soft.

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.

Ladurée: Afternoon Tea Set

Got the full afternoon tea set from Ladurée at Ginza Mitsukoshi. I might have done that somewhere, some time before, but I don't remember where, not Ladurée, or when, not in the last few years. The sandwiches were fine. The meringue was fine. The bonbon chocolate (that I had) was fine. Tea seemed fine, though I didn't have much and I don't remember which one, except that it was one of the classics (the first choice was gone). What I had a lot of was the Chocolat Chaud, which was excellent, but not pictured. There were four macarons: the standards were Vanille and Pistache, which were both excellent, though I liked the pistachio more, the seasonal was Fleur D'Oranger, and the special was Ichigo (strawberry), the latter both being good; note that all were judged based on limited experience of macarons in general compared to cake and only half a macaron each to go by.

There were two cakes. One was a standard for the line-up, the Plaisir Sucré, which is a milk chocolate and praliné over hazelnut dacquoise, specifically praliné "crispy", milk chocolate, milk chocolate ganache, and milk chocolate chantilly. I didn't dig into it too quickly, so it reached a high enough temperature that the sweetness was high, which was what it was designed for. I'm a little suspicious of such a blatant appeal to my sweet tooth, but it seemed successful, so I'll tentatively say it was great. I expect that will get quickly tested in a cake-off. The other cake was Saint-Honoré Pistache. That was definitely good, but the pastry was a flaky pie pastry (versus other pie pastry), not choux, which surprised me. That and the butter cream pistachio frosting gave this a sort of American to me. It's not really a direction that I want my saint-honoré to go.

Le Pan: Saint-marc Praliné and Tanba Chestnut Mont-blanc

I ran first and got a pastry from Pane Ho Baretta, a d'Amonde Chocolat (?). Definitely good but heavy, as expected, and pretty messy, as there is chocolate on the outside. They had a lot kinds of d'Amonde, though just a few of each on display.







Just from Googling, I had found Le Pan as a cake source in Kobe. I've probably seen the sign pointing upslope on the lateral road between L'Avenue and Gregory Collet Patisserie, but assumed they just have cake. I got cake for later before putting the borrowed bicycle in working order and going around photoing shops for Kobe Patisseries map, being maybe less discriminating than I should be, since there are places that I seem unlikely to visit, though a note to that effect might be useful later.

The cakes were Saint-marc Praliné and Tanba Chestnut Mont-blanc. The saint-marc was good but did not stand out. The supposed mont-blanc was the third cake in that many days that was not much like the conventional form, or like any other. This one actually had very little paste, though there was a little more chestnut inside. The main body is rum cream. It had very nice flavor and texture, so I'll say it was excellent.

I seem to having a lot more luck in this second pass through Kobe cake shops, though that may because I've sticking closer to the central cluster rather than visiting every neighborhood shop that managed to get in a guidebook. I'm also willing to visit the old brands, like Juchheim, sometime, even though I consider them fairly low-level brands in Tokyo. Like Tooth Tooth, I'd like to at least give them a chance in their own shops (though, actually I don't think I've seen any Tooth Tooth cakes in Tokyo, just they have a French restaurant).

Sadaharu Aoki, Saint-marc Praliné

Jogged to Sadaharu Aoki in Marunouchi for a new cake. Unfortunately, too late for the Baba (I hope I understood right, that they weren't just sold out, it had ended its run). Guess I was too slow. The next new thing is a variety pack of little pieces of other cakes, which doesn't interest me, unless someone visits and I want to give them a sample. However, the main shop in Marunouchi also has Saint-marc Praliné, which I had only had a little of before, not enough to give a fair evaluation.

I also went to Ginza Mitsukoshi to make sure JPH hadn't stuck something into their line-up (since I don't have another good source for information), which they hann't but I got the little Boulette au Marron from Dalloyau again because I thought I didn't give it a fair evaluation before. The problem before was that I put it on top of my cake box for the trip back. I didn't keep it there, but pastries need to be warm and I didn't do anything to heat it back up. I tried it again, eating it as I crossed back west underground to Hibiya Park (I continued walking the entire way home, as Sadaharu Aoki boxes are too unstable to run with, being basically just big enough and in the same shape as their cakes), and I'm willing to change the rating of it to excellent.

The Saint-marc Praliné is subtle, which saint-mark usually are, but they could have gone heavy with the praliné, but didn't. It pretty much took until the last bite to decide that was great (i.e., I definitely want to have it again). I wonder, though, whether there was maple in the top caramel layer or that was harmonization. In any case, happy to find another great cake, even if it's not one that I'll see much after it's gone (I'm not sure whether it will continue through December or March, but I think it started this year as the exclusive Marunouchi cake and will have a one-year run). I don't feel in a huge hurry to do a cake-off with it, so I'll stick with the Mont-Blanc from Ryoura for the next one, but I should get to it next month, if I can find another great cake to pair it against.

Sadaharu Aoki: Citron Praliné

Went to the main Sadaharu Aoki, in Marunounich for two and ate in. They had a couple cakes that I wanted, though only one was out when I entered, so I chose that one as an individual, Citron Praliné.

We also had the Dégustation Royal, which included a couple bites (that I had one of) of the other cake that I was instrested in, the Saint-Marc Praliné. The Citron Praliné was of their usual standard, excellent. The Saint-Marc Praliné was good enough that I still want to have a full piece to rate it, but am not in a hurry.

The drinks were also good, of course, Ceylon Citronelle and Special Aoki Pomme Caramel, I think.




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Tadashi Yanagi: Praliné Croustillant

Friday, due to not feeling totally well the previous two days (maybe a mild cold), no running again, but I had skipped Thursday and needed to look at computers again (still using a loaner, which is very nice, except being tiny, though that was what made it easily portable so that I could borrow it), so I got cake in the Shinjuku Station areas again, again at Takashimaya; I'm nothing if not a creature of habit. This time, I could and did choose from Tadashi Yanagi a new cake (apparently) called Praliné Croustillant, which, besides the totally obvious, has chocolate. This cake has some of my favorite elements, so it should be no surprise that I like it. That and erring on the positive side, I'll say that it was excellent. This brand might be the best choice at Takashimaya, though as a shop, I recommend Au Bon Vieux Temps, just I'm not sure that their best stuff gets to Takashimaya.

Frédéric Cassel, Tarte Noisette

Decided to do the cake for Frédéric Cassel's last cake-off win. I went a long way relatively fast yesterday, so I just did 9 km/h both ways for about 9 km. The US visit police presence and road barricades around Yotsu Station and Hibiya Park were gone, not that they affected me much either way.

The cake was Tarte Noisette, which is, bottom to top, praliné, hazenut-flavored chocolate ganache filling, and white chocolate & Guérande salted hazelnut whipped ganache. It was excellent nutty goodness, as expected. Glad to get a chance to try this. Of course, they have a couple other hazelnut things, as this month's theme, that I probably won't get to, as I'm behind on other shops and the theme will change again next month, no doubt.

L'Abricotier: Chocolat fumee

Had time during the day so went for an about 5-hour cycling tour of cake shops, although I probably could have done the meaningful parts in less than 2 hours with better planning. My original plan had been to get cake from Toshi Yoroizuka and do a cake-off after a training rul, but apparently Tuesday is the wrong day for doing that. The shops are only partially open (Kyobashi's salon is closed and only the dessert bar is open at Tokyo Midtown). I may try tomorrow, but getting two cakes for a cake-off is always risky after work, whereas today I was off.

Anyway, I went out to Kichiyoji by the new bicycle, where both both shops I checked were closed (the second one was a last-minute thing, and probably they are always closed on Tuesday, but they were sort of on my way anyway and I wanted to check the route, so I didn't check my notes). At Koenji, both shops were open (which I could and did check) and there were no changes from last month. One of those was L'Abricotier, which I was ready for an eighth cake from, so I got the Chocolat Fumee (their spelling), which is smoky chocolate mousse on top of a chocolate cake filled with bandy and, I think, crème brûlée seasoned with caramelized almonds, and although I couldn't really tell except for the almonds, which were mostly just the ones on top (I only found one more inside). It was a very interesting taste, as far as the chocolate mousse, and definitely good, so I was ready to call this excellent, but I had to admit later that it was not something that I was very interested in eating again, so "definitely good" is going to have to be my finial review.

Went off north, where it was demonstrated that I should not believe a shop's Facebook page which says "open now" over their general schedule (that they are closed the second Tuesday of the month). Did get by another shop and confirm that they still did not have Chiboust. However, and here's a shop I could have checked in on when going to Toshi Yoroizuka, since I essentially passed it on the way, At Sugino Hidemi, they told me that the cake I was looking for was a Fall thing and I should look for it in a month, so I'll look forward to that for a cake-off in October.

After that long a ride, I thought I deserved a second treat, so I got Praliné from Viron nearby in Marunouchi, which is a puff pastry with sesame seed sized granular praliné as filling (same as between the "fingers"). It was definitely good (it would be excellent, since there's a lot of competition among sugary puff pastries, so I'm not sure) and well appreciated.