L'Atelier Motozo, Torta di Ricotta

Did what passing for running with me these days, 1-min intervals, but only about 20 intervals, and then just walking, due to my knee. After confirming that Viron had nothing new (though the Valentine's cakes were gone), I made a 4th visit to (L'atelier) Motozo in Miguro-ku. They're only open 4 hours a day, 4 days a week now, with no café or bar visible. They do Italian desserts, so not a lot for me. I've already had their mont-blanc (and a variation) and one other cake. This time I went with their cheesecake, Torta di Ricotta, which seemed like my best chance. Still, it didn't look particularly encouraging, reminding of me of a café cake from Kobe, though that one was probably pretty good, now that I think about it. Anyway, it was much better than I expected, probably better than average for patisserie cheesecake overall, which is impressive. However, it's a tough call and I think I have to go with calling this definitely good, which isn't going to be enough to keep it in the quite fine group if I make a cut. Still need to find 7 more better shops, though.

Wittamer, Thé et Raisin

Had some coupons for the food sections of Odakyu. The cake selection is pretty weak, but I never willowed the "fine" list of shops that seem to be just average, so now I'm after getting second cakes from all, which should take a few years. The first of two counters (and coupons), was Wittamer, which is a Belgian brand, apparently. It's pretty widespread, though this was also probably where I got my first cake from them. This time I steered clear of the obvious choices and when with Thé et Raisin, maybe because I previous takeout cake was a basic chocolate cake. As the name suggests, this is tea (Earl Grey) and grape (though it actually is raisin, the dried form), with some rum. It was a well-made cake with no out of place flavors. Good but bland in a competent way. Certainly, being a safe place to get consistent cakes had it's merits, but I don't expect I'll need to visit again.

The above was the cake from Monday night. Full disclosure, I had some non-patisserie cakes of high quality Saturday afternoon as a part of an afternoon tea set. 

I think the ones with berry halves are actually pear, whereas the little one's above are chestnut madeleines, with the larger ones to the left behind the glass desserts being sweet potato mont-blancs. The middle layers was savories and the bottom was mainly tiny scones. This was also at Odakyu, in that it was their 20th floor lounge in the Southern Tower of the Century Hotel at Shinjuku.

Frédéric Cassel, Mille Crêpes Potiron

The last of the cakes on Sunday was from Frédéric Cassel and catches me up with new cakes from them with still two weeks to go until the next month. This is Mille Crêpes Potiron, which has several things going against it. One, is I don't appreciate crêpes, at all, though my biggest exposure is milk crêpe, which makes rollcake look sophisticated, by my estimation, though actually stacking crêpes is does seem more technically difficult. The other is pumpkin (or at leas squash) as a cake flavor. Lastly, decoration cakes, even from good shops often sacrifice the eating experience for appearance. On the other hand, Frédéric Cassel has a good track record for taking types of cakes I've dismissed and impressing me. Also, this is not milk, it's rum and raisin, along with the pumpkin and the ever present FC staple mascarpone cheese (a neutral texture and taste medium for whatever you want to do). As it happens, this was the best of the cakes I had, and definitely good, which certainly puts it at the top of crêpe-based cakes and would make be consider future cakes, though I'll try to stay clear of milk-flavored, really in any kind of cake.

 

Frédéric Cassel, Gateau Halloween

Went to Frédéric Cassel for cake, since they are my top choice of shops having new cakes (though this was the only one, and its only early October). I still need to sort out some overlap between quite fine and exceptional and exceptional and quite exceptional shops (and longer term, the overlap between quite exceptional and superb, though I'm already 5 cakes ahead on Origines Cacao along those lines), but not today. Anyway, I was looking for a different cake, but maybe it's already out of the line-up (no end date was given in the posting). I ended up getting Gateau Halloween, without very high expectations (holiday theme cakes tend not to be the best) but trusting Frédéric Cassel not to give me bad cake. I went there running, by the way, and ran back, as the rain is still light (the heavy rain warning because of the approaching typhoon is still 24 hours away). The cake is mostly kabocha (Japanese pumpkin) on top, a layer of rum and raisin, and a brownie base. Definitely good and probably relatively healthy.

Blondir, Bourgeonner

Monday, I worked late, so I did some neighborhood course confirmation near Tokyo Midtown and stopped for a croissant from Sadaharu Aoki, since they don't have any fresh cake that I haven't had. It was excellent. It says that it was imported from France, but I expect in the form of butter and flour, not already baked, though they could import frozen dough. I completed confirming the Minami-Aoyama east loop and the Roppongi 7 west loop and did the Roppongi 7 east clockwise (all in the National Art Center clump of three loops).

Tuesday, I ran down to the Sadaharu Aoki at Shibuya Hikarie ShinQs and got their exclusive Tokyo-yaki Macaron Chocolat, which is a traditional Japanese cake made from batter and a mold with a macaron inside instead of bean paste. Also, the cake part was mochi-like (chewy) and green tea flavor. I microwaved it for 20 seconds as recommended, and it pretty much recreated the traditional texture despite having a macaron for filling. I'll never do that again. I'll call it good because it was as designed, but if I try another flavor, I'll have it cold, though I don't expect it would be better. Hopefully I'll find better things elsewhere. For the running, I did a one-way neighborhood course run to formally add the newly designed Shibuya east loop and well as confirm my knowledge of it, which completes the Shibuya Station Southeast clump of two loops.

Wednesday, I got cake at Isetan from Blondir, as a third cake from a seemingly quite good shop. This is supposedly pistachio ganache with strawberry soaked in red wine, but then there is Kirsch in there somewhere, maybe in the raisins on top, as they were definitely soaked in something. The feeling was more like a rum raisin cake, but then pistachio is the fruity nut. It was interesting and I approval of the design. Definitely wouldn't mind having it again, so excellent: Blondir will make the cut. Now on to the "C" quite good shops. Running was to Ginza, touring from Mitsukoshi and then (walking underground) to Viron and to 14 Juillet, none of which had anything unexpected.

Bien-être: Martinique

Did a run to Bien-être, since I knew they had new cakes as of last Saturday, so I hoped the Christmas cakes would be over and I could get something my size. New things included a tart, a couple roll cakes, and one fancy cake, the Martinique. This is a thick banana, raisin, and rum tart on the bottom and an ample amount of white chocolate ganache flavored with vanilla. My first impression was that it was probably excellent. Certainly, its a lot of cake for its size, since it's dense. I was hoping for great, since JPH's pistachio mont-blanc is back and I haven't done a first-round cake-off with it. I've got a little more than two weeks to find something, and of course I'd like to do second and third rounds after that, before it disappears again. Unfortunately, this was not the great cake. It was excellent when I was eating it, so I'm sticking with that, but I think especially paired with rum, the banana taste lingers, which I'm really not fond of. Maybe I should have gone with the pastachio and apricot tart. I'm almost caught up with this shop, or at least It's now one of many that I'm ready to get one cake from.

Running back, I worked in some neighborhood course loops on the west side, so I've now got both ways for the Sendagaya west loop and clockwise for the Jinguumae northwest and west loops. Yesterday (Christmas) I messed up again on the west side of Yotsuya, but at least I got clockwise for Sendagaya central and southeast right. That was not a very long run, less than 60 minutes, though intense running up and down stairs cutting through the nation stadium station tunnels and then going through Wakaba and Suga in Yotsuya. I repeated the subway route today in a 90+ minute run, but didn't need to get groceries, so I didn't have to go as far as Suga Shrine.

Très Calme: Allure

Wednesday, I ran to Bien-être and found them closed for renovation, through to Friday of next week; so, after a stop for a few groceries from Nikunohanamasa, I went down to Shibuya Hikarie and got Chocolat Citron from Le Pain de Joel Robuchon. I walked some but eventually ran most of the way back, despite the uncomfortable load in my too small backpack. The pastry was excellent, crisp leaves around chocolate and lemon (I assume, though it could have been some other citrus fruit) cream. That's too excellent ones, so they remain in pretty good standing for further visits.

With Bien-être out of the picture, I killed two birds with one stone by going to Très Calme, first to confirm a cake for the next cake-off (though the cake is not actually necessarily seasonal, so I'm not sure why I'm in a hurry for the second round other than Très Calme being one of the priorities among quite good shops since it seems to be better than some already on the excellent list) and then to get Allure as the reward for the shop for winning a recent cake-off (which catches me up), which is a rum and raisin tart under caramel cream/mousse, with chocolate accents where shown. I ate in again, since that is convenient there in the evening, sort of the opposite of Bien-être, so I'm a little worried about getting too attached. The cake was excellent, though I needed to make sure I got a balance of the two parts, since the separate parts are not excellent by themselves, or at least I can confirm that the caramel isn't (I don't like the necessarily level of gelatin to stabilize this). If you balance the parts, then the final flavor is very balanced across all four flavors, which is not something I get to say often.

En Vedette: En Vedette

For cake, En Vedette was at Isetan, so I got their signature cake as my second cake from them.

For cycling, I went down to Tokyo Midtown to see what cake Dean & Deluca had for Mondays, and got a new name: La Garue M, which is pretty far south, where I've never had much luck, but some day when I'm done with Shinjuku Takashimaya for new local cakes, I'll given them a try, though I've also got a few around Yoyogi. I only cycled about 45 minutes, but took a lot of slopes and tried to work hard before going to get groceries and coming home.

My last trip to Éclat des Jours was disappointing not just for the cake I got but because it seemed to replace their rum raisin cake, which I thought was great (but did not seem popular, so I'm not really surprised that it got bumped for the summer tropical cakes). So the even without the name, which suggested it as a point of pride, I was in the mood for chocolate rum raisin. It'e pretty, but pretty hard to head without destroying it substantially, and the sides are a little gummy (sealing in moisture) but the flavor did not disappoint and apparently I'm in an accepting mood, because I'm going to say this cake is also great, which is three new great cakes in one week. Note that this is chocolate ganache, milk chocolate (not sure of the difference), and white chocolate.

Guess I'm going to be late this week with pastries, since I want to take advantage of En Vedette's last day at Isetan tomorrow, now that I'm considering this shop at least Quite Good.

(TW) Jean-Paul Hévin: Tarte au Chocolat Constanza

Did a research run past Marunouchi Jean-Paul Hévin to Viron to Toshi Yoroizuka to Origines Cacao to Dalloyau on Tuesday the first, but only the first stop had anything new. It was not too hot, so I could do 12+ km for 9 km/h.

The cake is called Tarte au Chocolat Constanz, although it was more like a giant bon-bon chocolate than a cake or a tart. Rather than having a tart crust, the tart shell is solid dark chocolate. The filling is chocolate mousse and a few fins of solid chocolate, so the only taste is chocolate, though obviously, there are differences in texture. The main issue then is how good is the chocolate, and it was excellent. The other issue is how eating this was different from eating mousse or just tablet chocolate, and my belief was that this was a nearly perfect chocolate creation. The solid chocolate gave some crunch and encouraged chewing but because it was mostly mousse, I did not have experience of chocolate pieces filling my mouth, like when eating a chocolate bar. It was a great cake and I hope that they make more tarts like this one with other kinds of chocolate. I should say that, as the name suggests, this is made from Dominican cacao.

Since I had a good cake Tuesday, it was reasonably cool, and I was busy (one excuse for being so late writing up these blogs), I did a cake-less run Wednesday. Of course, I still need a snack, so I got a Pain aux Raisins from Hediard at Isetan. It was excellent, as one would expect. The running was 18+ minutes averaging 10 km/h up and down a nearby 250 m long slope. Apparently, it's too flat for Google giving elevation information.

Éclat des Jours: Rhum Raisin

Ran to Toyo (just north of Toyo station) in Koto-ku again, 10+ km each way, 10 km/h there, and 9 km/h back with cake in the rain (well, for several kilometers, anyway). Half the run follows a familiar path, and so passes quickly, but it's a nice path to the Inner Moat and then around to the Tokyo Station terminus of Toyo Line through Marunouchi and Kyobashi. On the main street (Route 1/Hibiya Ave.) running along the east side of the Inner Moat, you can see the newer behind the old on the northeast corner, in this old banking district, and the soon to be grand new big project on the southeast corner.

Then east of Tokyo station, which means canals and rivers. In this case, there are four canals but only Sumida River to cross of the bridges, but night and car headlights inferred too much for my old phone camera.

The cake was Rhum Raisin, which I did not have great expectations of, but it was the right shape (I don't trust wedges) and otherwise was not something I had developed negative expectations of. Still, just good was what I expected, but actually this was clearly definitely excellent and, maybe I'm just in a positive mood after 20+ km of running, but I left it was the best cake of this type that I've had and I'd like to have it again and compare it to other cakes, which is a way of saying it was great, so that's too great cakes in a row from them. Guess I'll be making more long eastward night runs. Also, this cake traveled almost double the distance as the last cake and did not even lose a raisin (until I bumped it trying to get it out, but I put it back).

Yu Sasage: Fraisier Pistache

Did a long run, with research and a 7th cake from an excellent shop. The run was okay, at least no problems and most of the navigation went well where expected and no worse than expected where not. Kept a steady speed of 9 km/h over all three legs totaling about 32 km: To Bigarreaux, where I got a great Pain au Raisin (300 yen), very buttery (or maybe it used a lot of egg yoke, as it was very rich);

then to Yu Sasage, and finally home. I was worried for the heat, as it was 25+ deg Celsius but was dressed for it and drank a lot. The cake was definitely good, with the pistachio filling being fairly solid, which was good for the long trip. The fruit dominated, though, and while not bad, were not exciting (you need pretty firm strawberries, but really sweet ones would be very too ripe, perhaps.

Henri Charpentier: Sachertorte

Well, I avoided them for two years, but illness and cake lust drove me to finally go to Henri Charpentier, which was most convenient at Isetan. My avoidance was because they generally have soft boring cakes, which I bypassed this time by taking the Sachertorte (540 yen), which is a relative heavy cake, even there. And the balance with the apricot and sweetness (the chocolate probably matters, but is relatively weak, which is what I would expect) means it was unexpectedly excellent, so I can't dismiss them as uninteresting, though I've never thought they were incompetent, so it's not a shock. On my personal list, they now come on the newly arranged "Quite good" list, which is the bottom few dozen of the top several dozen Tokyo cake shops, most of which I've only sampled from a two or three times. Only one cake means I should get back there and try something else sometime relatively soon.

I haven't had any other fresh cake lately, but I got some Mohave Raisin and Walnut Brod from Andersen, which was excellent toasted and buttered (so it's not really fair to compare it to untoasted and buttered bread), and Cinnamon from Hediard, which is very heavy on the walnuts and good, but not better than my modest expectations, both again via Isetan, which is about as far as I'm up for currently.

La Base Secrète du GAMIN: Mousse of the Woods

Did a long run down to La Base Secrète du GAMIN by way of Yoyogi (I had planned to go through Omotesando, but decided it is too crowded), where I got Mousse of the Woods (森のムース; 550 yen), which is layers of pistachio mousse and praliné, though I'm not sure what, though there are walnuts on top. Also, some crunchy bottom. As before, this poor cake was put in a huge box with nothing to keep it in place but it's internal cohesion, which failed, so it got a little battered. It was a long run, about 9 km each way, 11 km/h out and 10 km/h back.

The cake was good, but definitely not excellent. Also, maybe a little sweet.

Shirotae: Ganache

Revamped my training run of 300 m intervals as 12+ km/h, since yesterday showed 11 km/h was too slow. I only did two intervals to start with (and the first one was too fast), then went and checked out Tokyo Midtown (which is getting more crowded), and then to Shirotae for cake. I got the Ganache （ガナシュ; 350 yen), as they did not have the rare cheesecake that I wanted and there was not much of a selection left. Being not far from home, I waited to eat it. Total running ended up about 4.6 km at 9 km/h, 2.6 km at 10 km/h, plus the two fast intervals (next week I plan to do four).

The cake was only okay. There is a little actual dark ganache (presumably) on top and very light ganache, maybe, on the outside to give it shape, but there is sponge cake inside, plus a cherry and a couple raisins. So there was a reason why I never bothered to post about them before.


I'm not sure whether I should get cake tomorrow, because I've got friends coming in and maybe we'll go out for cake (my preference), but I'm not going to force the issue. However, I want to run and I want some excellent cake, so I'll probably go to Isetan and visit Sadaharu Aoki. If I get more cake later, then I'll just do some running without cake next week.

Asterisque: Rubio

Was back at Isetan today, for Asterisque, who is visiting from not that far away. I got their Rubio　(ルビオ, 590 yen), which is hazelnut mousse under chocolate glazing, accented with rum and raisin. Not that it is alcoholic tasting at all, but has a slight fruity flavor that I could not identify (sure, I read that it was rum raisin when I bought it, but after running, I couldn't remember one description from another, so I was half convinced there was a little orange in there instead, although I couldn't believe in the passion fruit that I remembered being paired with orange). The hazelnut as a mousse is not very strong, but definitely good, and it's not trying to be a kid's cake, although the decoration is a little over the top for me. Still, I'll say it's excellent and try to follow up on Asterisque soon. From what I remember, it's an elegant shop and it has a fairly good reputation online among Tokyo cake shops.



The run was 1 2/3 laps around Akasaka Palace and then to Lawson's 100 for groceries, for 6.4 km at 9 km/h (which is actually a floor rather than a ceiling value today, despite the hills), plus a kilometer or so at 8 km/h to get there to begin with. They were saying rain for tomorrow, and certainly cold, but I'll probably do a run down to Tokyo Midtown, just as something different, and then come home and bake, since I already got cake at Midtown Saturday without running.

Un Grand Pas: Fig

No running, of course. My leg actually felt like it was definitely improved today, but then started hurting bad at the end of the workday, although not more than the worst last week. I'm still worried that it's a stress fracture and isn't getting any better because I walk on it (because I need to go places and do things).

One thing maybe I don't need to do is go to Isetan, although it does not add that much walking to the day. I did though. Weirdly, where I thought Chez Cima was on Tuesday, the sign was covered and there seemed to be something else going on (Valentine's day is coming up, so some temporary rearrangement is expected for that madness), but I didn't look closely, as my goal was Ma Patisserie, which is (Patisserie et les Biscuits) Un Grand Pas, from Saitama City, this week. 

I got "Fig" for 420 yen, which has no figs, so my guess at an English spelling might be wrong. This is pistachio marzipan around rum-soaked raisins and currants, I think, on an almond cookie base, so it's like a fruitcake tart, almost. The cream layer in between is coffee, which I kind of noticed and could have done without, but it didn't ruin it for me, so it's probably best that I didn't know, since I'm not sure that anything else they had would suit me. Eventually, maybe I'll get used to coffee, but I don't accidentally eat it that often. Anyway, it was still excellent. I'm a little worried that the pain and medicine is making me loose my discrimination, but it is Isetan, after all, so I shouldn't be surprised that it's not bad. I might go back again while they are still at Isetan, since I don't know if I'll ever go that far north again, even if my leg recovers, and I've got enough to do in Tokyo.

Imperial moat course and Shiseido: Amaretto Raisin

Got my cake first, from the Shiseido Parlour counter at Isetan. I'm not sure whether they have cake at any of their other outlets. Haven't see it if they have. I got the Amaretto Raisin for 453 yen, which is reasonable. They only have a few cakes and the milli feuille, mont-blanc, short cake, and shu cream (puff) are usually going to be among them, so not a huge selection, but worth being aware of.

Jogged comfortably over the the imperial moat course and timed myself for one lap: 25'38''09, which is consistent with my best times elsewhere, even using my older heavy shoes. Special features of the course are that, starting from the middle of the west side, where Shinjuku Road runs into it and there's a park and a guard post, it's at its steepest going downhill. It's maybe flat along the south side, but then turns to a steady uphill for the next half the course, even after you turn the corner onto the west side from the north. Also, it's crowded, although I didn't run into huge problems. At one corner, there were a couple people holding signs promoting some race Jan 29, so maybe it was the Shinjuku half marathon, although I didn't recognize that as what they were saying.

Back home, I had the Amaretto Raisin, which is named for the liquor, which it has, but it was not noticeably alcoholic. I didn't know it was so I asked, which made the clerk look it up. Actually, what she told me was apricots, which is what amaretto is made from, that and almonds usually, I guess. Actually, she confirmed last that I was okay with it having alcohol before finalizing the sale: she's not irresponsible. Now, if only clerks did that for things with coffee in them. Lots of fruit in this cake, including raisins, of course, with just an outer wrapping of mousse, which worked for me: excellent cake. I'll have to go back and read the description, but I wonder if the actual outer bottom cake part (which is shy of 1 cm thick, I think) reminded me of ginger, although maybe that's the Amaretto flavor. Counter is worth keeping an eye on.

Still got a couple counters at Isetan that I definitely need to blog/add to the map, and maybe a few others that I might eventually. Oh, and there's Rose Bakery on the third floor: I assume that you can get takeout from there.

Run to Shinbashi and Piece Montée: Batan Chocolat

I ran to Shinbashi, but that was overshooting to go to Ginza, where Pièce Montée is, so I had to reorient myself. Once there, I got the Baton Chocolat for 800 yen, which is nuts and raisins in a very dense chocolate cake. There are chocolate pieces and chocolate cream on top, although you're going to need more delicate handling than I managed to get them off without making a mess. It was very good, I think, but I was not happy that they just gave me a box, although (i) I didn't try asking for a bag and (ii) it was so windy that a bag would not have been that useful. Still, I felt that the service was not great. I ended up walking back to Hibiya Park and then just eating it there, so no picture. It was good, but messy under the conditions and left me thirsty and thinking again about making brownies next. Ultimately, I can't get too interested in there and no one has recommended them, so it's going down as visited by not of particular interest. I don't need everything from everywhere, and they are not particularly convenient even compared to Dalloyau, which is also in Ginza.

It was in fact, too cold for how I was dressed and the wind, although not fatally. Since today was the peak daytime temperature, I won't try again to go without a jacket, even if I get sweaty. No running tomorrow since rain is forecast, I need to do my indoor workout, and I need to stay home for a postal delivery. Hope to get something from Isetan Thursday, maybe a shop I haven't blogged yet, then do laps, either try for higher speed laps at Meiji Gingu Gaien, or a couple laps around Akasaka. Then Friday maybe back to Amitié, since I liked the first cake and they were reasonable. I haven't had much luck with places I've chosen from just seeing, but I still might try Louange Tokyo soon, which does not quite fall in the category since I discovered them online and they are maybe too new to have gotten a recommendation from Isetan or Joshi+, which are my two sources.

19 km+ to Matériel

Had a timed run to the patisserie Matériel. As for Aigre Douce, I paused for stops, which eats up a couple seconds each time but obvious I'm getting some rest (actually, I'm stretching my back, which was still in bad shape today). This was a no backpack and thus a no run, but it was simple enough that I was only got off track a block or so a couple places. Yamanote doori was great for running the whole route, which is good to know for future runs. Total distance was about 19.65 km and the time was 1 58' 58'', so just over 6 min/km, which I'm happy with. I think I'd like for next weekend a 25 km run to see whether I can maintain a similar pace (hopefully, without the back pain, although that will mean another couple kilograms of weight from the backpack and contents).

I had the Negrita (a kind of rum, apparently), which is a rum raisin cake on the right, for 490, and it was okay. No complaints. The other was Moderne, which I picked despite not looking very promising because it was difficult for me to find anything that I wanted. This was also 490 yen. I regret not getting the simple chocolate cake or nothing, as I didn't like this. It's chocolate mousse and caramel (the not sweet kind) with some lemon for aroma (which I didn't pick up on). I'll say that this is a shop that I don't want to bother with in the future, although I suppose if I lived in this area, I could find something else worth getting, such as their one of their fresh baked goods.

Stopped by Isetan coming back. The Pistachio Opera from Atelier Kohta looked promising, but I resisted. Same selection as the shop though, about 6 cakes, several puddings (or whatever: stuff in glasses that I have no interest in), and a couple tarts for the refrigerated fresh stuff. Also, in defense of Laduree, the Isupahan at Pierre Hermes was exactly the same size and price, but Pierre Hermes is more convenient for me (and I having a savings club card, so I save about 8% at Isetan shops).

In the past, I would be anxious to immediately go out and get cake from some great shop to diminish the memory of the bad cake, but I don't feel so traumatized today (except by my back: time for more drugs), and I didn't really run that far, so I'll see whether I can stick with two pieces for today, which should be enough. I'll make kabocha pizza later, which should be great, although I need to get some flour, and maybe defrost some cheese cake tart (one of the burnt ones).