Au Bon Vieux Temps: Marjolaine

Did a round trip to Au Bon Vieux Temps in Oyamadai (well, Todoroki, actually, but the nearest station is Oyamadai Station, also in Todoroki but next to Oyamadai, so let's go by that): 25 km. Kept up a good pace, definitely 6+ km/h and not that much slower coming back. Happily, my feet didn't turn red, unlike the big walk last Thursday, so I did something right. Not so sure about my knees yet, crossing my fingers, but I plan to rest tomorrow anyway.

Got the Marjolaine, for, I forget how much, around 500 yen, anyway. 496 yen? They keep their regular individual cakes small, more than do the big international brands, not high priced, unlike their frozen deserts. This was a great cake, and the best Marjolaine that I've had, I think. Not sure whether they made Japonaisemasse as the biscuit, as it is not baked that dark, but it's hazelnut dark and tastes right. They went with powered sugar on top and included a layer nut slivers in the creme praline. The ganache layer is pretty thin, but seems a good choice for keeping the chocolate from taking over from the praline.

Finally, a near-great shop lives up to its designation, so I'll give it a new color on the map and mark it and other ones as such when it's convenient. Not sure when I'll get back to this shop, as it's a good distance, but if the weather ever clears up (typhoons keep bring in rain), I can take the bicycle out for more trips to these farther ones.

Laps and Sadaharu Aoki Chocolat Pralin

Tried to do 7'/lap for 10 laps and failed from the start. I'm sore and just didn't have the will to push myself that hard for that long. I did make 10 laps within 7'15''/lap, but by less than 10 s total, so not that impressive. I knew I wasn't pushing as hard because I wasn't puffing as hard or burning as hard, but my back was not happy so I decided that I was going fast enough. I need to add regular back stretches. I've done 8 laps at 7'/lap previously (as part of 9 laps), so I need 9 laps at that pace to show improvement. I'll try that next or move over to seeing what how I can do with 2 laps around Akasaka Palace.

Cake was Chocolat Pralin from Sadakaru Aoki by way of Isetan for 780 yen. Pricy, but didn't buy cake yesterday (I made cake, and had some today and decided that the evaporated milk recipe is not worse than the cream recipe, and cheaper, mainly because I use less evaporated milk, though it's harder to find). According to the online description, the cake has some orange biscuit, which I didn't notice, but no mention of chocolate dacquoise. It definitely has chocolate cream and cream praline. It has feuillantine (?), which I assume is almond based, but seems accurate from the texture. Anyway, it all goes together and is chocolaty and praline without being overpowered by that. I thought that this was one that I had been indifferent to when I did the sampler set at Tokyo Midtown, but no disappointment today.

27 km to Un Petit Paquet

It was a good run. I couldn't get started until 11:30, but it was not full summer heat and it was cloudy (looked like it was going to rain toward the end). Most of the Tokyo route I'm familiar with and choose because I like it. The long stretch in the middle is Komazawadouri, which I've been on or across many times but have not really thought about it. It's very good; I should use it more. I made sure that I had a 500 ml bottle of sports drink and a small snack at two points along the way. Also, I started with one bottle of water and refilled once, which seemed to be about right for the current level of heat, although I needed more with the cake.

Kawazaki-shi (Kawazaki CIty), however, was very bleak mostly, along main roadways or not well-populated streets along the train line. Part of that is that I have to pick a main route to start with to get into Kanagawa, so I tend to have to stick with it because I am not close to another route that goes the right direction.

Tried some running gel on the sides around my knees. Didn't get a rash, but then my clothes were not soaked in sweat either, so it's not a good test.

At Un Petit Paquet, I got a bostock, which was cut radially, so it was a long wedge rather than a puck. Tasted like there was alcohol, which I have not noticed elsewhere. Along with all the egg and sugar, it packed quite a punch for 220 yen plus 8% tax. I also got Aria, which is the only one I got a picture of. It was 440 yen plus. It's milk chocolate mousse, praline cream, and lemon cream. It seemed like an interesting combination and I was having a hard time finding something that I thought I might like. They had the right shape of cakes (round or rectangular, not wedge; this is just my experience with cake stores; certainly, the round and rectangular ones have to be individually made, but it might have to do more with whether they are trying to make fancy cakes for your friends or cake for children and strangers). I didn't think much of it. The lemon did not do enough to make the milk chocolate and praline interesting. It had an unusually thick base (as it was soft), which seemed gingery, which is fine.

The last one had no name on the card (or the receipt), but was a large almond macaron with hazelnut cream for 440+ yen. Sliced almonds were set in the cream around the outside and the macron was mounted on a little base of cream to hold it in place as a cake. It was very good, although very sweet, so I felt like I really needed to get the taste out of mouth afterward. I wanted to do some shopping, so I was eating outside again, which is just not great after a long run; I'm just not ready for cake, I think. I need to take it straight home and try it later. 

Weekday run to Aux Bacchanales Ginza: Castel

Again, I took the long way straight south to Aoyama Street and then west to the Moat course and on to Ginza, but this time I looped south, around Hibiya Park. Also, I carried cake rather than try to eat it outside, which was fine as it was not so windy as yesterday (the calm before the storm). Today was the land day of the heat wave and the taiphoon-generated rain storm has started. I hope that it lightens up at least by Sunday so that I can take a run, since this week I was able to get some training in (and rain might be better than 30+ degree air temp over hot asphalt in the sun). At least the storm is only scheduled through Friday with just normal rain for Saturday, but these things are not very predictable.

The cake was Castel for 475 yen. Was able to take pictures, although the name card failed fo focus and my Internet access is crap, but I got the index of cakes to load eventually. This is apparently a specialty of Aix-en-Provence, being hazelnut dacquoise as the cake and praline cream in between with whole/pieces of almonds and hazelnuts (besides the creamed nuts in the praline). A simple and focused cake in some ways, but great for a nut cake lover. This is the main reason that I call this a great shop, since the cake selection is not that deep or varied, but the two cakes I've posted about are great. I should try more of the other cakes, and plan to. Note that the lighting is golden: the plate is actually bone white, but the white flash-photo looks awful so I still used this. I guess I'll use the other overhead light next time.

24 km to Quatre: ruban, tarte fraise, cassis

Actually, I overshot my west-east turn around and turned too soon and ended up reversing for the east-south turn, so maybe it was more like 25 km, but then I actually start earlier than I up on the maps and Google is not exact on the distance, so who knows.

It was an okay run, though I need to simplify the turns, because I'm not up for complex navigation after about half way and I might be reaching my limit, but not so much that I couldn't walk home. The end point is in front of Quatre. No pictures, sorry: photographer camera preparation failure. Also, I purchased foolishly, so no need to document that. The Ruban is 432 yen and is chocolate with praline cream (almonds). Basically, it's a standard little rectangle with layers of cake, cream, and mousse. The cake was soft sponge, though, and something harder would have been better, I think. I should eat these thing in the shop or take them home and bring their temperature down rather than eat in a hot park, but in any case, my impression is that it was not so great. Cassis (black currant) is a popular flavor in Japan, so I decided to try the so named cake for 420 yen, just as a change, but it was a mousse cylinder with a layer of fruit gelatin on top and the cylinder was kept in shape by a clear plastic ring that one could not just peal off like on the other cakes, so I had to sort of eat out from the middle, which was messy. The taste did not justify the engineering shortcomings. Finally the Tarte Fraise was a cut wedge of strawberry tart for 475 yen, and it was actually good as tarts go and I appreciated it more than the other two, but I prefer more a tartlet, so I don't need to ever go back. Maybe the bread is good, and they sold various other things, quiche, hamburgers, chocolates, and cookies. It was pretty full service.

In that neighborhood, Gakugei Daigaku (University) Station area, I recommend instead Rue de Passy for fancy French cakes (though not quite great, I've had better things there than at Quatre) or if you want something more American (if cream cheese based icing with sponge cake is American), then I recommend Matterhorn, which was doing a good business, as always. That's two shops in a row that I chose without recommendations that did not work out, so the next two should be ones that I've sampled from Isetan, which I can manage from recent visits. Nevertheless, I jotted down the name of a place I ran past for future reference, Lettre d'Amour, so maybe I will try there next as an unknown place.

Bad cake makes be crave better cake. I considered Maison du Chocolat on Aoyama Street near Omotesando Station, because I've never bought cake there, perhaps because it is expensive and the explanations generally only include common ingredients like butter, flour, and egg (but also gelatin), although they are little chocolate layer cakes. I went with Le Pain Quotidien [Which has since closed at this location, Kitaaoyama, Minato-ku] and got the raspberry chocolate mousse (ラズベリーチョコレートムース) for something like 600 yen. I know, mousse again, and the base was sponge, but it was fine, better than the earlier cakes, although not great. I think I've had better there. I'll have to try again to get great cake tomorrow perhaps from the unhelpfully named Pastry Shop. As you can see, the cake got a little beat up. There was a cardboard spacer with an ice pack, but neither the cake nor the spacer was taped down. I don't know what she had been planning to do with the fork and napkin before I stopped her. 

10+ km to Aux Bacchanales: Trianon

I didn't calculate the exact distance but I went through Yotsuya and up and down hills and got a little lost (although I'm not sure that I took any different path than if I had a map), so let's call it 10+ km and leave it at that. My knees were still a little sore. I think I need to start doing some speed training and sprinting rather than just hills, to break up the weekday runs. Maybe I'll try around Gaien first, since that's short. I need a loop so I don't have to stop for lights (which are also a danger to life anyway). I suppose I'll use my flip phone to time. Now I'm interested in the iWatch, or whatever it is, but I'm sure the price will cure me of that.

So the goal (successfully reached, and still no rain) was Aux Bacchanales. This is more of a cafe (a busy one), and not every branch has regular cake, but the Ginza store does [but quit since the original post], with a separate wait person. I first ended up there when Dalloyau failed me. Before that, I mostly ignored it because (a) it seemed ubiquitous and (b) the one nearest me doesn't do most cake, just fancy bread and is a big cafe/bar in a rich area. I've updated only the shops in this old map.

This is a Trianon (トリアノン). I've lost the receipt, but the website says that the cake was 515 yen, so 556 with tax. I think I paid about 550 yen, so close enough. On a dacquoise (base almond/hazelnut meringue layer: ダコワーズ) base, supposedly there is crushed crepe (フイティーヌ), praline cream, and chocolate mouse in there layers. Of course, there is chocolate coating and you can see pieces of I assume chocolate, which the official description calls fichinu (フイチーヌ), which, like much of the description, Google translate wants nothing to do with. Again, I need a Japanese-French to anything (Japanese, French, or English) dictionary to figure out what most of these terms actually mean, and it has to be flexible for the Japanese spelling, since it doesn't seem to be standardized for all terms.

This cake is a success. It's chocolate cake, with layers of mouse and layers of cream and all is chocolaty, but not overpoweringly, and the almond on top gives away that some of this is almond base. The base is moist yet a little crunchy. It is great cake, so I think of this as a great shop, and it's not their only great cake, according to memory. Comparing this shop's cake with other places' is one of my ultimate goals.