12.5 km to Aux Bacchanales and back for Mille Feuille

Did another Ginza run to Aux Bacchanales (with two back-ups ready in mind), which actually had several cakes (all familiar). It was 6.6 km there and 5.9 km back and I ran exactly the same time for both, within .04 s of each other, which is weird, but I suppose not that weird, since the numbers aren't random. I decided to give up on measuring small distance (on the order of 1 km) when I'm not on a track: too time consuming. Instead, I just have to run the hilly parts faster or make up time elsewhere. The outbound was fast and the return was moderate, both of which I'm happy with. I expect to rest (well, not really; actually, I have an exhaustingly lot of things planned) the next couple days and then I'm taking Monday off to run (as well as other things, perhaps), and then rest up to two days after that, since my knee is still not happy, but only to a certain extent (it hates walking the most, especially walking after running, and the beginning of running, but doesn't get worse and hasn't bothered me at home).

The cake was Mille Feuille for 465 yen. Yeah, it's not an expensive place, even in Ginza. This mille feuille has raspberries, which is a first for me I think. I like mille feuille and I liked this one. It was good, but I can't say that it was better than that, so calling Aux Bacchanales excellent rather than great probably is fair and I'll update the map.

Yoshinori Asami [@Isetan]：Van Dyke

Didn't run, but decided that my cake was overly linked to my running, which led me to run more days than I should. Or at least that is my excuse for going back to Yoshinori Asami again while they are at Isetan. This time I got the Van Dyke (? written phonetically as vandeekku, which is the correct original pronunciation of Van Dyke, for all I know), which is milk chocolate mouse and cassis mousse. The construction was similar to yesterday's but I was more satisfied with that aspect, somehow. I'm not particularly fond of cassis, but I don't dislike it and the balance was perfect and the mousse was so thick yet good, that I'm going to say that this was Great cake, for 540 yen.

Yoshinori Asami: Royal Chocolate

Did a very slow 1.5 km to the starting point of the Gaien course, partially intentionally and partially just I was really having trouble, because of my left knee and because I was not running toward cake. But when it came time to really run, I could do two laps (2.65 km total) very fast, which was the main goal for today. After that, I went to my start point (NW corner) for the Akasaka Palace course, did half a loop, and then went down to Akasakamitsuke and on to the Inner Moat course, which is 3.33 km and done at a moderate speed. Once around the Inner Course (taking the 5.1 km path) was also moderate, and then back to Akasakamitsuke and to where I left off the Akasaka Palace course to finish that lap, from where I took the unnecessarily hilly route up to Gaien Walk, following it only as far as the Lawson 100 on Shinjuku Street, which is 4.91 km and was very slow. Oddly, although my knee bothers me when I start running, running very fast sort of numbed it out and although it gave me trouble later, it didn't mind the hills at the end. Then walking home after shopping, though, was the worst, so it's stopping and starting that is a problem. Feels okay now. So about 17.5 km, which took a lot of time, so I can't run that far the next too days, because I really need to get some stuff done at home that isn't getting done.

The cake for today was from P. Yoshinori Asami, which is visiting Isetan in their newly expanded space, with really big display cases each holding only one example cake. Seems out of control, but it was crowded before. The cake was the Royal Chocolate for 540 yen. There are a couple fruits on the top, maybe cherries, but I couldn't tell, and a raspberry layer. Then there is a chocolate mousse layer and I think an almond mouse layer, although I need to go back and check the card. Finally, cake on the bottom. It wasn't hugely sophisticated but a long way from homemade-style, as it should be. It was excellent without really telling me what to expect from other cakes, since I selected the most likely to appeal to my tastes. Anyway, I'll need to get back there while they are convenient, which is until next Tuesday.

Aux Bacchanales

Today's run was to Aux Bacchanales in Ginza, which I decided had been unfairly booted from the list of potentially great cake shops. Started out 3.5 km fast despite my left knee. Even if my left knee is not happy, I can go faster by increasing my pace, not my stride length. I took it slow the next 0.95 km to the Inner Moat because there was a hill and I can never make the main traffic lights anyway. Along the main part of the south stretch of the inner mode, I did 1.1 km at a moderate speed. Then I did 1.0 km at racing speed, first just to make the next light and then just to continue until I got to Yamanote Line. From there, I went to Aux Bacchanales, got my cake, and got home, which was another 5.5 km achieved at a moderate space by keeping my pace fast (at least outside Ginza), which carrying cake does not really interfere with, although being tired does. So about .9 very slow, 6.6 moderate, 3.5 fast, and 1.0 racing speed, for a total of 12.0 km, which isn't too bad, but I'm going to need more the next few days to keep my weekly total up.

The cake was a Fraisier au Citron Vert, which is a strawberry custard cake, with icing, flavored with lime, for 465 yen. I forgot/didn't bother to take the ice pack out when I put it in the refrigerator, so it got really cold, which might not have been good for it, but didn't stop me from enjoying it and made it easy to cut the icy strawberries all the way through. The cake part was so moist that it was not that different from the custard part, but I was fine with that. Also, very sweet, which also worked with what is a sort of standard cake (without the lime flavor, which I was not conscious of) and so could be boring. I am surprised to find this excellent, so I guess Aux Bacchanales remains in the running for great. The hard part will be to get more cake, since they don't have many types to begin with and they literally only had two pieces, and I was there fairly early for a workday. I'll have to make sure that I have a backup place next time I go, or conversely that I always check there first rather than someplace else in the area that I'm less worried about selling out.

47.5 km with Nishiarai-Takenotsuka History and Culture course and P. L'Automne

Rain in the morning, so I waited an hour before it at least was thin enough that I could not see the splashes in the street and someone was not bothering with an umbrella. It still rained light for a few hours.

Had an okay run. Went very slow the whole way, which was 47.5 km. I was very tempted (after 4 hours running) and willing to extend the run to go back to L'Abricotier, since they are a top priority in a sense and I would just have to change where I turned to go by them, but I finally talked myself down into sticking with the plan. Left knee was not happy most of the time, but doesn't seem any worse and I don't feel anything when I'm not running (when I rested for a little, it felt completely fine and didn't really get more than annoying for the whole run). I'll try more complete rest for 48+ h and taking anti-inflammatories for the next could days and see if things go any better.

Still trying to figure out my next run. I'm busy on the weekend, so I'm taking a Monday off (also, to catch up on shopping, sleep, laundry, or whatever I'm low on after being busy). If I did them in order, after this one should be Shimabata H&C course, but that one goes by La Rose Des Japanais, which is a far shop I really want to get back to but is closed Mondays. Instead, maybe, I'll jump ahead to Sunamachi-Kasai-Mizue, which is less far but long. Originally, I planned to visit a shop I remember as being good but haven't posted on, but then the run would be little long for my next run, if I try to keep my increases to 10%, so I think I'll skip that cake shop, which is not a high priority and not so far by itself. I can pick up cake when I come back through Ginza or go by Isetan later. With that shop out, I save 3 km. Of course, then I'll have to think once again about how to increase Shimabata H&C course run, which I already added visits to Chiba and Saitama prefectures to stretch it to 49 km.

Today's target, the Nishiarai-Takenotsuka History and Culture course, comprises the Shimane-Rokugatsu Temple Tour Walk and the Ikou Temple Town Walk (according to my translation of the Japanese names), as shown on my map and is just over 7 km by my calculation. It's okay. There are few nice temples to go by and much of the last bit is on a stone paved sidewalk along an artificial irrigation channel (which sounds better than drainage ditch). I don't really need to come back up here, though, probably, but I haven't planned that far ahead.

The cake was at L'Automne, which I remembers as good without really evaluating it here. It's a nice shop, spacious, modern, and elegant. There are three two-person tables for eating in, which I did, and they didn't make me buy a drink (milk or yogurt would be great, but I think they just had tea and coffee), though had some reasonable cake and drink specials. I stuck to just the one cake, though. Not sure how that works out for them. They have to wash dishes, but save a box and bag. The custard and fruit was a nice touch, but the glass of water was more important. The cake is call Collage, for 540 yen, and is a thick layer of chocolate mousse, a medium layer of pistachio mouse, and a thin layer of raspberry between, covered in chocolate with a crunchy nut base. And it was definitely good. The raspberry is gelatin, but the mousses are without I think, or at least I remember being told that about their cakes on another day when I said it would take 2 h to take some mousse cake back home (back when I was doing long walks). Everything was good, and sometimes chocolate mousse is not for me, so I'm actually satisfied (it was better than today's Seven-Eleven donut, which was a Sweet Cream Donut, I think), but there was not really anything to make it excellent. Still, they're nice, so I'll look forward to getting back there some time.

L'Abricotier: L'Abricotier

No running, in preparation for tomorrow's run (definitely no running Monday either, unless tomorrow's is rained out).  I was reminded that riding a bicycle in Tokyo is not particularly pleasant (too many people and cars), but I was doing some shopping that required carrying things and I preferred exercise.

The signature cake of L'Abricotier (the apricot) is L'Abricotier, which is 460. The apricot comes in as gelatin, which is fine, whereas most of the cake is almond mousse (thus the almond on top). There is a small cake disk toward the bottom which I think uses hazelnuts, and a crunch bottom that is almond. It's possible that I have the nuts reversed on the last, as the nut pieces were fairly big and did not look like they were cut from either, although I suppose it's hard to tell. Mini macarons were appreciated, as they almost always are. I'm going to say that this was great (even if I don't expect other cakes from here to live up to this level).

De Bon Coeur: Passion Mousse Chocolat

Tonight, despite cooling off more than I had hoped and a somewhat strong wind, I did my longest round trip workday with cake (I say without checking the previous hundreds of entries). I went to De Bon Coeur, in Shinagawa, which you get to going south of Meguro Station (if you want to go to Meguro, you need to go west: the station is in Shinagawa, whereas Shinagawa Station is in Minato-ku, which doesn't need a station because it's in the middle). It took me 9 km out, slightly slow, and 8.8 km back very slow, with a little rain and carrying a Passion Mousse Chocolat, which I got for 691 yen.

The run and route is okay, mostly familiar, along a history & culture route for much of the last stretch.


The cake is a fairly solid mousse (which is I suppose good, since I ran it almost 9 km and a gelatin-less mousse would just puddle with that much vibration, maybe). I have to wonder if there is cheese in it (didn't read the card that thoroughly, as usual), just because that seems to be a general specialty, or it's just gelatinous for the usual reasons. The chocolate is coating on the outside, some mousse in the middle and some cake on the bottom. The passion fruit is just the small section on the right. Note sure what the large white section is, since there is no taste, which is why I wonder if it is cheese. The is good, as far as being good quality and not bad tasting, but no better, so I'll switch the rating of the shop to "Good?" on the map and look at other potentially excellent shops that I've had less than two cakes blogged from.