13 km to Dalloyau: Dalloyau

Today I used part of the new route to Akasaka Palace, and then to the Inner Moat, from which I ran to Dalloyau to get my cake and then the shortest route back home.

Tried to take a night scene shot when stopped at a light, but haven't got it down yet, so it's just cake for today: didn't keep my hand steady enough.

This is Dalloyau (ダロワイヨ), the shops signature cake (note the edible name in chocolate). The texture hides that the left side seems a little collapsed, maybe from the run. For some reason, they did not seal the box shut enough for a 5 km run home, but it stayed in place better than the one I walked home from Isetan yesterday.

This maybe not quite great cake from a great shop is 540 yen. It is caramelized almonds and hazelnuts around hazelnut cream with a base of Dalloyau's original meringue (although I'm not sure what is special about it). Actually, the taste is very light and yet sweet, so I'm not sure what it goes best with, maybe tea. I need to get there with a partner and go to the cafe. I love nuts, though, and though not really an exciting cake, it is a nice recovery from the Japanese-pudding-type caramel flavor of yesterday, plus I'm trying to get to each of the great shops for this blog, so it was about time for them and I know I haven't had this cake this year. They've got a lot of different cakes, so I need to get back there again as soon as I finished hitting the rest of the greats: just a few more to go.

Rest Sunday: Seijo Alpes and Andersen

I also got bread bread, but this sweet, Chocobar (チョコバー), was 360 for the box of three, so I could not resist. Energy- and flavor-wise, it might count as three cakes, even if it is less than one cake in terms of price. Very delicious, maybe great pastry. Andersen at Isetan is maybe my favorite bakery. 

The iPod is crippled, so I dug out a ten-year old digital camera which I hope to use from now on. The bread photo was fine, but I had to take a dozen pictures and fiddle with various settings (with unfamiliar icons or Japanese) before I could get an in-focus picture of cake (I don't know what the auto-focus thought I wanted a picture of before I got it right).

After loading up on pastry energy from the bakery, I went out scouting my normal weekday running route to see where the up and down slopes are within the Yotsu neighbor west of Akasaka Palace, which is usually the first place I go to from the National Stadium. I don't have time to jog longer, so I would like to introduce more slopes (but I don't want to do laps). There was running, because time is limited, and even running with heavy groceries. Amazingly, I managed to not break anything, despite having two bottles.

After the groceryrunning (shower, laundry, and eating a vegetable), I ate the cake that I had bought at Isetan. I know I've seen Seijo Alpes before, presumably at Isetan, but I don't seem to have any records. Maybe I hated everything I tried and/or it was before I started collecting the cards. This is Brenda (?: ブレンダ), which was 460 yen. It's caramel, which is always difficult, as there is variation in the taste of caramel. This was the same caramel taste as in standard Japanese pudding, which I hate. Maybe it's not sweet enough, and that's why it has a smoky taste that makes me think of coffee (which I don't drink and actually has a definitely much worse taste that lingers on and on). Anyway, this failed for me but I won't hold that against them. I had the chocobar earlier, so I don't need to go out and get anything else. Still, I'm not sure whether I'll try to hit them at Isetan again or save them for a Saturday run, when I'm ready buy cakes from multiple shops anyway, so I can be prepared with great cake from somewhere else. Speaking of which, I need to prepare my next Saturday map (and pizza dough for tonight). Trying a place that was convenient to my normal haunts this weekend did not work out so well, but I want to try Quatre anyway. Then I've still got to get to Bigarreaux and maybe Jun Ujita, which I stopped by once and got something simple and confirmed that they are okay. After that, there are some remote ones that are coming into my running range that I might visit. I figure, as long as I start in Tokyo, it counts it's suitable for this blog (and these are places that have visited Isetan).

22 km to R Okusawa: Rouge and Mazetto

I ran to (Patisserie) R Okusawa today. The run was okay, but I cracked my ipod screen, so that's three things broken in not more more than a week. (sigh)

The river part between Hiroo and Ebisu, C-D (or the hook around Ebisu Station, D-E, for that matter) was no so great, so I'll try not o use that again. Following the river and then the northwest branch of the green promenade to Ring Road 7 was fine. Actually, I checked and it continues to Umegaoka and beyond, so maybe I'll do that part next for the 24-mile run. The endpont will be closer too, unless I change it.

So R Okusawa: not so great. The Rouge was 490, as you see, and was white cheese (pretty tasteless) with a layer of berry gelatin. There were also a couple fruity disks inside, but whether they were cheese mousse, as claimed, or more gelatin there, I could not tell. If I were richer and had not run 22 km and in need of the calories (although I had 480 ml of yogurt drink), then I would not have finished it. Not that it was nasty (besides the outer berry gelatin), but it did not have anything good going for it except some fresh fruit.

The second one seemed to be Le Mazetto, although with reflection, it is hard to read. I'm going to try to use a different camera and leave the broken ipod at home. It was 450 yen and hazelnut cake, I think, which is kind of a standard thing. It started off good, but I'm used to thinner cake layers (actual "normal" cake) and more cream or nuts between, so by the end I ruled it a fail. The cake seemed a little too moist for me too.

I don't know. Cake for children or guests you don't care enough about to go one train station either direction for one of the better shops? Of course, it's near the station and small, so it's convenient if you live there (there's another cake shop or tart shop across the street and a place that has a sweets buffet on the other side of the tracks, too).

Thanks to the yogurt drink (and a carrot: I don't eat sugar on an empty stomach, usually), I was full, so didn't buy more cake at Jiyuugaoka, despite the temptation. I was not really that tired, so I took the long way home (not because of cake, but to use used book vouchers before they start expiring). So I also took natural solution to bad cake and bought cake from a great shop, in this case Toshi Yoroizuka, near Ebisu Station (although I've visited the Tokyo Midtown one a lot. 

This is anja or annya (?: アンニヤ・アンニャ), which was listed as staff-recommended at 560 yen. I hesitated at rhubarb, which I avoided as a child, but realized that I actually don't know what rhubarb tastes like, so I should find out. Maybe I still don't know, since it was not that strong and there are berries. Note that the flower is an actual flower, so I didn't eat it, but the stick is white chocolate. The base is crumb crust (or it was once I got it home), with cheesy custard or custard-like cheese inside, although the whole cheese thing might be in my mind and it was just baked custard: I need more custard experience. The top part is rhubarb mousse I assume (real mousse, not gelatin, although there could be a little for stabilization). There are berries and sauce on top, as you can see. Great cake. Why would you not eat great cake if that was an option? 

Reverse run from Pierre Hermé: Carrément Chocolat

The first reverse part was I bought cake from Pierre Hermé at Isetan, took it home, and then went for a run. I did go by Neues and confirmed that I could catch them open, with cake, but not the cake I was trying to get info on. I might have gotten bread, but 400 yen for half a little loaf is too much, even for German rye.

The other reverse part was I mainly did the reverse course of last time except excluding where I got lost and a double back near the Diet Building. There was a demo there against the U.S. base at Okinawa (judging from their sign) and war (which was all I understood from their chants). I liked the drum, but there was a crowd of people leaving along some streets. It was a change from (tobacco) slaves and (phone) zombies, but still a little in the way. I added an extra up-down early on that I would usually skip.

I took a picture of this patisserie that I have some affection for, although it has only simple things: A la Bon Heure.

Cake was Carrément Chocolat from Pierre Hermé, one of the great [superb] shops, for 756 yen (one of their cheaper ones). The layers are a chocolate square on top, chocolate glaze over everything, a 1/4 layer of chocolate cream, a 1/4 layer of chocolate mousse, and then chocolate "biscuit", which seemed to be a couple millimeters of hard chocolate as base for the upper layers and then a dense 1/2 layer that together gave almost a crunch but not quite. Great cake, although I ate it straight and by myself, so by the end I wished that I had prepared a beverage to cut it with, because it is very sweet.

Can't find Neues: 14 km

The weather was okay, so I did run (sorry, Google Maps is unreliable and the map disappeared), a lot, but no cake. I went along the usual history and cultural routes, which go by some of the Soka Gakkai buildings, who are an active Buddhist movement, and so kind of cult-like compared to the usual passive sort.They have a lot of money and political power, and like to get together on Sunday mornings, apparently, judging from what I've seen around there then. This Yotsu area has a lot related buildings, for example, for education and publishing.

I went off the usual route to add a new down slope 

and then a new up slope to my route.

As usual, I got a little lost and went out of my way, although it does not look too bad on the map. Neues was closed (but they were in their cleaning up) again, so I can't count on them for late cake. Maybe by 8 pm works (today was about 8:30), but I usually want more running than that on a weekday now. Not that I had planned to get cake; I had just wanted to find out the name of last week's cake and maybe buy some bread. Instead, I went down to Tokyo Midtown to Asanoya, which puts their bread 20% off late. I didn't choose well though, or I should not have tried microwaving for 30 s to heat it up. Maybe I'll have better luck next time.

Back: ~9 km to Aigre-Douce: Fraicheur Framboise

I've been not cake-running in Tokyo, so no posts. There was a lot of running at least one day and exercise everyday, and much searching for good cake in a land where rollcake is king, putting sponge cake in tarts is apparently okay, and even places that are trying to make high-class French cakes use too much gelatin (which usually means any gelatin, but I don't make cake myself, so I'll allow a certain amount might be necessary structurally).

Anyway, I got a run in, only there was other less runnable shopping than cake and some busy streets, there there was maybe 1 to 2 km of walking involved. I went to Aigre-Douce, near Mejiro Station (目白駅), which is a great shop. I got the "nouveau" Fraicheur Framboise （fresh raspberries: フレッシュール フランボワーズ) for 530 yen. I can't read the text in my photo of the card, but something about the cacao in the chocolate is strong, and of course there are raspberries. The peaks are not hard, so maybe it does not count as a meringue. So, once again, I need to go back to update this entry. No problem for this great cake from a great cake shop, although it is out of the way.  

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Look, my photos line up: progress. This second cake is from Avançons again, which is not so far, being one station away and on the way back. This time, I got a great cake, so there is a reason they sell out when I have to work during the day. This one is called Bonheur (ボヌール). The base is a tart and the top mousse part is mostly caramel, I think, although maybe there was currant in there besides the one that slipped down when I automatically yanked the little decoration with the store name off without thinking. Whoops. The cake was 450 yen and I think great, but I might just be thrilled to be back in the Tokyo cake-running business. 

Tomorrow is rain and Isetan's visiting store is a rollcake place (even in Tokyo), so maybe no running or cake tomorrow.

12 km to Neues: unknown recommended cake

I ran 12 km, but otherwise, I ran into various problems. 

First, going by the Prime Minister's place added time, because I forgot that I needed to cross to the other side of the street, and there are a lot of lights anyway (though not streetlights: a little dark on the sidewalk). 

Then I got a little lost toward the end and got to Neues just after they had closed. Not that it was close to 11 pm, just they close whenever they want, apparently. The guy bringing in the sign made sure that I was looking for carry out and not dinner before letting me in. Another customer came in after me, also looking for cake and then a blond lady, although she left when she saw that they were sold out of almost all the bread, waving at the guy in the back kitchen area through the glass. 

I asked what the guy who let me in recommended, and there is it below (I may need a better camera than my iPod), whatever it is. It seems to be chocolate layers, probably with nut cream layers. There was a little texture like coconut in there, but it could have been chopped nuts: I should really dissect these more thoroughly, but I didn't see coconut. The cake was very good, but because they were closing, there was a guy behind me also buying cake, I was really tired, and it has some German name (or Austrian), I don't know what it was. Their webpage is here, but it's way out of date as far as cake that they actually had, and I could not find a picture of mine (at least not today's) at the Tabelog restaurant website.

Anyway, it was 480 yen, I think, and very good, as I wrote, so I'll go back there again (and update this on what it actually was), but I always need to keep in mind that they might decide to close early and be prepared to head over to nearby Tokyo Midtown, assuming that they are not closed yet (or I could go back to Libertable, who I passed going through Akasaka, and has expensive cakes and is open late, though the two cakes that I've tried so far, while very interesting, were not to my taste: Luxe, a chocolate black truffle cake, and Robuste, which has banana and passion, along with chocolate and nuts).