En Vedette: Range

Finally got to En Vedette, which I wanted to do both because they might be underrated at quite good and because they won a cake-off. This was my first time to go there on a weekday. Still having trouble with the route between Yamanote Line and the river to the east---the roads jig and jag---but because I was going by bicycle, I could make the 19:30 closing time after work.

I got Range (no comment on whether I would choose a cake based on my ability to remember the name), which is layers of dark chocolate, hazelnut, and apricot, I think (and I found some confirmations in Japanese in other people's posts). It was definitely good in flavor and texture, so I'm satisfied for now with my evaluation of them as a quite good shop.

It was shorter ride today, and I hadn't run since at least Friday, so I did a quick run (14+ min) to revisit more of my neighborhood courses. I've already done the ones covering Samonchou, Sugchou, Minami-Motomachi, Wakaba, Sugachou Shinanomachi, Kasumigaokamachi, and Daikyouchou, so I wanted to go up and cover Naitoumachi. It was slightly cooler today, only slightly above 30 degC when I finished running around 8 p.m.

Éclat des Jours: Safari

Éclat des Jours won the last cake-off, so I wanted to try a new cake from there, but I'm not ready to run that far or fast enough to arrive by closing time, so I went by bicycle. Today got up to 38 deg, so it was still plenty hot after work, but by bicycle was fine and was much better than under the sun Saturday morning. I got Safari this time, which I've seen before but hadn't tried. This is passion fruit and a little banana. It was good and I enjoyed it, but banana makes it sort of everyday (though I have cake most days), even though I approve of this sort of cake with a kind of outer shell.

More importantly, I noticed that their great rum raisin cake is back, just it's gone square from rectangular, so I'll probably have it in a second-round cake-off before too long.

Ryoura: Fondant Chocolat

Finally got back to Ryoura again, on the grounds that I promoted it to quite excellent, so it needs to have 10 cakes sampled (for one reason, to see whether it stands up to further scrutiny to deserve that designation, which basically means in bottom half of the top 15 Tokyo cake shops).

They don't open until 11 a.m., I didn't get up that late, and I'm not that patient, so I went out around 9:30 a.m. to fill in some holes in the neighborhood course running map, even though health issues and the current heat has limited my ability to make use of the map, but I'm starting to get back to it.


I had missed a shrine, a café with sufficient cake cred to deserve inclusion, and a Lindt (which maybe doesn't, but that ship has sailed).









I hit a churches that got left off on the other side of Shibuya Station, so I need to revisit my running course over there too, but I'll just post the pictures here from the shrine.

Fondant Chocolat, after several seconds of heat

I got to Ryoura soon after they opened. There were other customers, but no line. I came by bicycle, so I didn't want to try to take the cake all the way home that way, especially in the extreme heat. However, because of the heat, I had to be careful what I choose at least somewhat, though I'm not sure that that effected my choice. I went with the Fondant Chocolat, which seemed safe in various ways. Notice that they used real chocolate, so in the extreme heat, it wilted in seconds. Fortunately, the base is robust, almost fudge-like, so no further melting. This was excellent. Though standard in some ways, I don't really get this type of cake often and my favorite fondant (from Paris S'éveille) is of a different type, at least after you microwave it as recommended, which this type isn't set up for.

On the way back, I also stopped a couple places to confirm the availability of great cakes for near-future cake-offs. First I stopped at Il Pleut sur la Seine, where they did have their saint-marc, and got a Pain au Chocolat, which was excellent, I think; certainly I have no complaint about it. At Bubó Barcelona, I confirmed the Bubó Xoco Deluxe, though that's now I recorded it previously; I need to confirm and update. I also confirmed that they have pastries on the weekend that they don't have during the week, so I got a Croissant Marsipan, which was excellent, but a lot more Danish like than I expected (very fluffy with a sugar coating; not so much marzipan inside, but maybe the correct amount). I know I was greedy today, but I missed a week of cake and pastry from being sick. Also, this extreme heat is more physically draining than expected. I thought I would have put on weight from lack of exercise for a week (of course, no cake, but a lot more cheap discount grocery chocolate) and then limited exercise the following week, but the opposite was true.

Cake-off: Éclat des Jours' Baked Cheesecake over Sadaharu Aoki's Cheese Cake Citronné

Went out in the morning, about 9:30 a.m., to Éclat des Jours to get their Baked Cheesecake for a cake-off. Even by bicycle, it was plenty hot and today is a cool day compared to what's forecast for next week. This was chosen as a good challenge for Sadaharu Aoki's Cheese Cake Citronné, which was the next available cake in my great list of second-round cake-offs. Éclat des Jours' cheesecake, which has stronger citrus and sweetness, dominated this contest to the extend that it is not clear that I need Cheese Cake Citronné among the list of greats. Unfortunately, this type of comparison doesn't really allow for subtlety.

Jean-Paul Hévin, Mousse au Chocolat Annam

Went to Jean-Paul Hévin at Isetan after work for their first day with a new cake item and there was a pretty full selection and no line, which was convenient, but scary: I don't want them to go out of business. It's so hot, getting cake requires a commitment to get home soon. Mousse au Chocolat Annam had excellent chocolate, but as advertised, basically just mousse, which is limiting. Specifically this is mousse from chocolate from Vietnam (i.e., Annam).

I ran afterward and visited Tokyo Midtown just to see whether they had different Ryoura cakes than previously but only saw one and it was one that I've had and seen there before, so probably I'll go to Ryoura Sunday (I know, I'm still two shops behind on rewarding past cake-off winners, but I'll get around to them eventually). I continued around the far side of Akasaka Palace to reach Lawson 100 for groceries. Messed up my timing around the 25 min mark in Akasaka, but I estimate 40 to 50 minutes total running. I might get out tomorrow running, but I plan to go by bicycle for the distant cakes, due to heat and the need to rehabilitate my right arm (not doing is not getting better).

Bien-être: Mille-Feuille au Cheries

Ran out to Bien-être, which took about 33 minutes, long enough at this stage of my recovery (and summer). As usual, the eating space was full, so I got the Mille-Feuille au Cheries, which is the American cherry version of their mille-feuille, and walked it home. Not sure that I have to take it that slow, but I'd hate to wrong the other way and I wanted my cake to be in good shape when I ate it. I'm willing run longer tomorrow, though the weekend will probably be cycling again (which is much easier in this heat, or would be if my arm were fully recovered).

The cake was much like their "au Raisin" version, except for the substitution of cherries: it's heavy on the mille-feuille and fruit and very light on the custard. It's not dramatic, but it's nice to just enjoy mille-feuille. The mille-feuille is moderately loose/dense as mille-feuille goes, which works well; a lot of dense mille-feuille would seem overly dry, I think, and I'd actually want more custard, and too loose..., well, not my idea of cake. Anyway, it satisfies my criterion for being excellent.

Le Grenier à Pain: Saint Honoré Pistache

Another day of proper running and another first cake, this time an actual first cake. Le Grenier à Pain is at Isetan, and though they are a bakery, they have cake, apparently. They have a shop out in Kojimachi, so they are practically local, just a little bit on the wrong side of the north boundary. I got Saint Honoré Pistache, which is just what it sounds like. 

For the running, I worked on revisiting the neighborhood course from yesterday, only approaching Lawson 100 from the reverse direction. I wanted at least 30 minutes of running, but ran almost 48 minutes, which is the longest I've done in months, though it was pretty slow in the 30+ degC evening weather.

The cake was good, but the pastry part (versus the custard and cream, which was normal) was fairly hard (not a bad idea, to avoid sogginess) and frosted like Christmas cookies, which was just weird. It's not a taste I've run into with cake before, and its not one that I need, so I'm not sure whether I'll take advantage of them again for a second cake during their week at Isetan. I assume that they are there for a wekk, but the Isetan webpage with that info has been blank or missing all day.

It is possible that I'll go Friday and get a pastry, if they are not sold out (on a Friday, I may end up walking around the entire Shinjuku 3-chome area and finding everything I might want is sold out), though my first choice is the new chocolate tart coming to JPH, for which the odds of my getting on its first day after work on Friday are close to zero.