Éclat des Jours: Shortcake

Went in the rain by bicycle to Éclat des Jours. I could have used a little warmer clothes, but was fine. I went early for the selection, but decided on a standard cake that I had been avoiding, their Shortcake. This cake is on the top row with the cream puffs and is only 400 yen before tax (not that other cakes are that expensive), so it's getting special treatment, maybe as a staple of Japanese cake shops. Anyway, though shortcake can be among the most expensive cakes, due to using premium fruits, this cake was trying for that. Certainly, the strawberry seemed ordinary, which is fine. It was still a good cake and I'm happy to be able to enjoy it.

Only one more of the accessible (i.e., not Ryoco) quite exceptional shops needs a cake, Toshi Yoroizuka, though new priority cakes should become available next week, so I might not get to it for a couple weeks, though I don't know yet what I'll do Saturday. I'm actually hoping Sadaharu Aoki premiers the next season of cakes early. Even with the above bicycling (1.5 hours), I went out in the evening again by bicycle down to the Ebisu area and made use of a bike parking area for the first time and ran (or tried to run) the local loops. Was able to do the revised Ebisu-Nishi loop clockwise this time and finished confirming the Ebisu-Minami and Ebisu 1 loops, failed on the Ebisu 4 loop. I hope to at least finished off the Ebisu-Nishi loop Friday before so trying the next loop in order, the revised Daita-... loop, Saturday.

Origines Cacao: Saint-Honoré Caramel Poire

Wednesday, I went for my 23rd new cake (I think, updating) from Origines Cacao and finally got the Saint-Honoré Caramel Poire (I hope that's correct). I ran there, but saint-honoré look a little fragile and the shop seemed a little concerned about my being careful (though that might have been my imagination), so I walked back, and also my right foot gives me trouble, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to rest it (though the problem is not obviously correlated with running). I expect to be pretty active tomorrow, probably bicycle first in the afternoon, then do weights, and then run in the evening.

The cake was definitely the kind I like, so although I can't be sure that it was better than the previous two days', it was excellent for me. The shop still is still challenging FC two ranks above, so I think I can justify going back next week.

La Vie Douce, Marronnier

Tuesday, I got a 6th cake from La Vie Douce, which is challenging the bottom of the next shop category, the exceptional shops. I got the Marronnier (horse-chestnut) early, did my non-weights indoor workout (Monday I did the weights workout after running), and went for about a 90 minute run. My target was the highest priority neighborhood loop, which was the revised Ebisu-Nishi west loop, which I failed, as I didn't recognize an old turn (I think they changed the billboard, but I should just remember that it's the first left after incoming link route). On the way, I finished verifying the Higashi north loop and did two new loops clockwise, the Ebisu-Minami loop and the Ebisu 1 loop. Maybe I'll get back there again on Thursday. It depends how I decide to travel to the Tooyou-chou Station area.

The cake, which has hazelnut, chestnut, and cassis/currant, was definitely good. It's a fall cake, so more nutty than sweet. It's really a quite fine shop, I just wish they would make their yuzu Chiboust again.

Viron: Caramel Chocolat au Lait

Ran to Viron Monday night. I didn't really run so fast, I thought, but the time passed fast. Even coming back with the rain getting heavy, it did not seem like a long run, though it's longer than a Ginza run and there was only a tiny bit of walking underground. I delayed posting because I'm really not sure what's in this Caramel Chocolat au Lait. The chocolate is in the base of the tart shell, so it's not visible. This is maybe slightly more caramel above that, that is also not visible, but seemed rather red, so I wonder if there is something more than caramel. I'll have to ask next time I go by. It was definitely good and appropriate for some place that is more of bakery than a cake shop, but not super exciting. I'm not sure that they had another cake (though this could qualify as a pastry tart). Fortunately, it will take Origines Cacao time to finish its run to displace something in the superb group before I need to give Viron it's chance.

Ginza Sembikiya, Banana Shortcake

Finally made a visit to Ginza Sembikiya, in the form of a visit to their the basement of their main shop, which has pasta lunches, as well as the menu of the Fruit Salon on the 2nd floor. As far as cake, it's limited to the current shortcake, which was banana, perhaps the last fruit I would choose (the 1st floor shop has a mont-blanc and a pear tart as well), but that's what there was, so that's what I ordered. It was lunch and dessert for two, so I'll say that the other dessert was a very limited-time (3 days) Le Lectier Parfait. Le Lectier is a French variety of pears that only the Japanese seem interested in. The parfait was good, though I'm not a good judge, since it's an ice cream dessert.

What was surprising, was that the banana shortcake was excellent. I generally have a banana everyday, but I haven't had a good banana like this for a long time, I think. I suppose you have to go to a specialist fruit shop. Also, I wouldn't mind shortcakes of other fruits from them, judging from this one. This excellent cake puts this "sembikiya" at the top of the pack of three, though one excellent cake only qualifies it for the fine cake shop group under the current system, which only rates one cake, though it is secure in its position and a second cake is allowed, just not called for. We wouldn't mind going back and visiting the second-floor salon for just desert, though that's not convenient on a weekend, since a line develops by noon (for the basement, as well).

In the afternoon, I needed to kill time in the Tokyo Station area, so I did pretty fast walking from shop to shop without discovering anything much. I got a Croissant for Toshi Yoroizuka. As bread it was maybe excellent, but as a pastry, I'm going to have to say that it was just okay.

I also got the Croissant Chocolat from Sadaharu Aoki, though it was getting late by that point, about 4.5 hours after opening, so not ideal. It was still excellent, but if I can get one within 2 hours of opening, I'd like to reevaluate. Right now, Sadaharu Aoki is the best place I know for pastry croissants, so a repeat is reasonable.

There was a couple hours and hard walking and another hour or so of slower running, but I was tired enough that I decided to use a bicycle to get to Tokyo Midtown as a starting point for doing a counterclockwise run of the Akasaka--Roppongi route, which I was successful at, so that revised loop is confirmed. I might try the same strategy for Nishi-Ebisu, which is next in priority. It's a pretty small loop, so I might try a few other loops nearby as well, if I can use a bicycle for the first/last 4 km.

Cake-off: Jean-Paul Hévin's Duja Pistache over Pièce Montée's Mont-blanc

Changed my plan and did this weekend's cake-off early, Thursday afternoon. After a half-lunch, I ran to Pièce Montée in Ginza and got their Mont-blanc. They let it just slide around in the box, so I planned to take the train back and do a bigger run later. After stopping at Origines Cacao to confirm the ingredients of their Saint-Michel, I went to Jean-Paul Hévin and got their Duja Pistache, which is not seasonal but I'm not sure how long it will stick around, so I'm glad I didn't wait too long to get the first-round cake-off done. I'm more worried about availability of a cake for the next cake-off, but it requires a full day free, which I'm not going to have this weekend. I also noted that Lenôtre still has their Feuille d'Automne, along with a red version, so the second cake is definitely available, and the backup is this week's cake-off. (The Concerto is gone from Lenôtre, but I wasn't expecting to getting around it its third round this year.) I also swung by Rire Ginza, a "Sweet/Cafe Salon", just to confirm that I could find it, but I didn't climb the stairs in my jogging stuff with my cakes just to peek inside. I did feel free to go inside Sadaharu Aoki in Marunouchi, hoping to find a Croissant Chocolat, but they just had the Croissant Matcha (still an excellent choice), so I'll have to keep looking. I was hoping to try the Tokyo Midtown location Saturday morning (I'll have enough time for that), but it looks like I might get grounded by rain.

Neither Jean-Paul Hévin's Duja Pistache or Pièce Montée's Mont-blanc disappointed me, but neither stood out dramatically from the other. My preference for chocolate, though, led me to the Duja Pistache in the end, though the Mont-blanc remains outstanding as a simple Mont-blanc, why I'm still not sure.

The run was a revised Akasaka--Roppongi loop (fun running from home and back), though it ended up starting at 20:00, due to a nap, video chat, and indoor workout with weights. This time is was revised due to shown picture, which my old course passed behind. Now if only Google maps hadn't stopping letting me upload pictures, I could add it to the map.

Origines Cacao: Saint-Michel

Wednesday, after several tries, I finally got a new cake that was better than good. It was time to visit quickly rising quite exceptional shop Origines Cacao again. I still haven't managed to get my first choice of the new cakes before it sold out, but I thought I would try the Saint-Michel (over the pumpkin one). Running was a direct there and back, though I of course checked out things at Ginza Mitsukoshi and used the tunnels to cross from there to Hibiya Park and avoid a lot of traffic lights.

From the description, this cake seems to be a round Saint-Marc except for the vanilla part being "bombe" cream (they didn't spell it, but I've assumed the French word). The next day, I asked what that meant and they just said it was a really light cream, but I assume it's pâte à bombe (whipped egg, heavy on the yokes, with sugar), maybe mixed with whipped cream. Certainly there seemed to be some other flavor than just vanilla and chocolate in there, but I've already forgotten. Could have been egg. Anyway, it was excellent, so Origines Cacao maintains it top priority status. Still needs 6 more new cakes before I can consider promoting it to superb.