Sadaharu Aoki: Bamboo

There was no running today and will be no running any time soon, nor should there any appreciable cycling, which I think was been part of the problem, or even much walking to some extent. Same problem: seems to be iliotibial band syndrome, but it might take an MRI to find out. Anyway, I'll be using the trains for anything beyond a couple stations for a while.

For cake, after browsing French language study books (now I know where to look for the Japanese ones, including the NHK series, at the Shinjuku Avenue Kinokuniya) and trying to find a flour sifter with a more course mess than I have (my is good for powdered sugar and wheat flour, but too fine for nut powders), I stopped at the basement of Isetan. I tried going to Clover, but it just looked too bad, so I decided to finally get the Bamboo at Adaharu Aoki, which is an "opera" of green tea and orange (I didn't guess), with a chocolate base. This one might not have been fresh enough, as the texture did not seem as good as their usual cakes, although I'm not sure that it was that different and my previous experience with this cake has been that I'm not that much into it. Anyway, I'll say it was good, although at 891 yen, one wants considerable more.

Today was a big 2 km run toward (P.) Le Coin Vert (Kagaruazaka Tokyo) attached to The Agnes Hotel and Apartments Tokyo. The first kilometer was no problem, which is an improvement, though that might just reflect running first thing in the morning rather than after work. Last week's Wednesday 1 km was long and difficult. The Friday one was a little uncomfortable but mostly okay. Today, the end was a little uncomfortable, but not as bad. However, I decided to walk the rest of the way and then walk another 1.5 kilometer to Kitonomaru Park, which was too much. Fortunately, cake cool packs are dual purpose.

The cake was Renard for 500 yen, same as the cake I had recently from Avranches Guesnay. This is caramel mousse with hazelnut. I didn't actually remember what the previous one tasted like or its construction, but I write these things down, so I'm reminded now and know that I like the structure of this one better: I don't like an anchor lump in my mousse cake. This had a flat base with no surprises. I had hard a hard time deciding that it was excellent, but decided that it was and that I definitely want to follow up on this, so that might be where I go next Sunday. I might even make it there just running (although not back again).

As yesterday, I tried to survey some new potential targets added to the map from Sweet Sonobe and had much more luck. I had to walk some distance anyway to get to a train station, so I figured I might as well try before taking the train home, as I decided was the best plan. As it happened, my knee gradual improved so I was not having any problems by the time I got home. First was Palace Hotel Sweets & Deli, which is in the basement shop area. Lots of hotels have cake shops, and I've haven't found one that was especially good yet, so without a recommendation, I wouldn't bother, but this is in a fairly convenient area, so I should look into it, especially now, when my range is limited.

Next, I went to find Chocolatier Palet D'or in the Shin-Marunouchi Building. Actually, I've looked in here before and saw that they have expensive cakes, but I'll actually plan to visit now. On the basement level are igrekplus, which I've tried to visit in Kobe but found them close (Sannomiya) or without cake (across from Kitano Hotel), so I suppose I should try there, and 14 Julliet Tokyo, which looks okay, so I might as well add it as well.

Lastly, I went down to Marunouchi Brick Square to see Echiré Maison du Beurre, where there was a line (controlled by whatever you call those poles and ribbons that are used to define queues) but also mille-feuille, as promised. I also noticed that La Boutique de Joel Robuchon there has cake, so it goes on the map too.

Paris S'éveille: Giverny

It's the weekend, so I went to Jiyugaoka by bicycle, doing some reconnaissance along the way.

Not part of the plan, but I noticed Roulé (by 1904), so I stopped and verified through the window that they have at least a couple cakes besides roll cake.

Failed to find the pastry shop in the Cerulean Tower Tokyu: it's not shown on the floor map, but I've now learned what restaurant it is next to according to the website. 

Failed to find Patisserie de la Famille in Sangenjaya (from Sweet Sonobe), but it seems to have morphed into Patisserie Susucrier, which was advertising birthday cakes prominently; I'll pass till I hear something good about it. 

Failed to find Patisserie Octobre, but only because I was looking at the Plaisir location, so now I know Plaisir has closed up [or perhaps not], although the name is still used for activities at Shinjuku Isetan's New York Week now. 

I had a hard time figuring out a good way to get from there to Paris S'éveille and kept going the wrong way. Finally got to the target Paris S'éveille and got the Giverny for 620 yen, this time take-out, so I could take a picture. This is pistachio and raspberries, which may sound familiar from earlier in the week, but this cake was definitely better than okay. It was at least excellent and I'm going to go with great, although that may just be by comparison. It's pistachio cream, raspberry, bavarian cream, on a pistachio biscuit on top of a lime-flavored chocolate crunch bottom. Quite satisfying in terms of flavor and sweetness.

Escaped without dropping more money at Cuoca, because I was just there and haven't had a chance to try out the recipe I bought the hazelnut powder for (or the carob powder I bought a while back).

Ma Priere: Ma Priere

Went to Shinjuku Takashimaya on cake business: check out the Japanese cake books at the south Kinokuniya (the Shinjuku Avenue shops is definitely where to go among the two), French books (south shop is better), English cake books (south is better), got another box of emergency toilets (okay, not cake-related, but definitely Tokyo related, as we all prepare for the "big one"), looked at aprons (if the one I have is too heavy for summer), bought a pound of unsalted butter (because I'm almost out), and got a piece of cake. I think I got the Ma Priere from Ma Priere at the cafeteria-style counter, but the Ma Priere website says that the Ma Priere cake is strawberry flavored white chocolate, so now I'm not sure.

First, running: I did 1 km again. In some ways, my knee was less happy before I started but I ran anyway, but it didn't mind the run as much and I unintentionally ran faster, under 7'. If things go well, I'll try 2 km on Sunday.

The cake, which was 518 and caramel, although not a very strong taste. The cream layers were like thick butter, which isn't really enough to impress me, although the cake was good. Not sure what else was in it, but I need to go back to confirm the name anyway. From the texture and look, I would guess hazelnut or almond powder (almond powder is always a good guess).

Made a big financier again with the 14 cm tart form, which I'm definitely sold on: I won't waste my time using the 7.5 cm ones for that recipe any more. It wouldn't be bad to make that every Friday (specially if I can time it will pizza making, since they both use the oven at a high temperature, although I wasn't thinking of trying to back them together: that would presumably mess up the humidity in the oven or something). Still not sure how long I should wait before removing the bottom plate (I did it right away, with a knife, this time, because I was in a hurry to go somewhere else), and I had a big air bubble at the bottom again, so I'll have to work on that, although that might be better than it sticking in the middle. Otherwise, it's very simple (didn't even cool the melted butter, just made sure not to heat it up much to begin with).

Homemade brownies

Well, I can feel yesterday's 1 km run in my left knee, but not in the place I'm most concerned about and not as a sharp pain, so I'll try again tomorrow if the rain is not too heavy.

Recently, I made brownies trying to follow my base recipe that I think like and wasn't happy with the result, so I tried again today and it worked out okay, so I'm making a note here.

I melted 57 g (1/4 cup) of unsaltedbutter with 40 g (about 1/4 cup) of (Dutch process) cocoa powder. Not sure what the fat percentage is, but it's Cuoca's powder, so I trust it, although it's my first bag from them. Prior (of course), I measured out 100 g (1/2 cup) of sugar (Japanese table sugar, which is slightly finer than granular sugar, I think), mixed up 1 large egg (which I don't know how much that is, since I usually use medium, which are about 33 g of white and 18 g of yoke, but the whole L eggs, with shell are 68 g), and measured out 47 g (3/8 cup) of "Violet" "weak" flour with 42 g of chopped walnuts, since the pecans are all gone now. Also, I sprayed six 7.5 cm diameter 10-petal brioche forms with spray oil and floured them well with "strong" (bread) flour.

The chocolate and butter is pretty thick (I turn off the minimum gas flame just before the last butter finishes melting) and gets thicker with the sugar, and only gets a little thinner with the egg and then 2.5 ml of dark rum (because that's the only flavor I have: vanilla essence is really expensive, although that wouldn't stop me if I really thought I needed it). Finally, I preheat my convection oven to 180 degC, mix in the flour and nuts until I can't see undissolved flour and then use a rubber spatula to scrape it into the forms. The batter is really thick, so it would have taken more effort to keep out the bubbles and level it out, but it's all good. And I did a better job of making sure nuts got in every one than last time.

I baked them for 30 minutes. This is exactly the time and temperature that my Better Homes and Garden cookbook says, so normally I should crank that down to 170 degC or decrease the time for the convection oven, but for this recipe, this works better. Note that the original recipe takes 1 oz of unsweetened chocolate, which is a lot less chocolate and but more cocoa butter and produces actual brownies, since it is a fudge brownies recipes, whereas my change makes these more cake brownies, but not like the BH&G cake brownies recipe, which is spongy, no thanks.

Another mistake I avoided from last time was waiting for them to cool (because I wanted to eat diner) before taking them out of the forms. You need to put on oven mitts and shake them out right away. That's also a good time to roll them in powdered sugar (well, okay actually they are still too hot, but as soon as you can stand), which I much prefer to frosting them (plus I had leftover powdered sugar from similar efforts that I wouldn't use for cooking).

So next, besides buying cake, I need to try the 14 cm tart form with the financier recipe and defrosted egg white. I'm saving the fresh egg white (from not fresh eggs, deliberately) for the next attempt at a macaron-type cake. This (the financier) worked well once before, when I butter the form, except it didn't come out will, so I'll use spray and flour like today and see if that works better.

Pierre Hermé: Céleste

After yesterday's disappoint, I went to Pierre Hermé at Isetan. Probably I should finish off trying their regular cakes, since there will always be a new "fetish" of the month, but this month's sounded good, so I went with the signature one, the Céleste for 756 yen. This is a sablé base with strawberry and rhubarb confit (basically strawberry slices in sauce). Next up is mascarpone cream flavored with passion fruit, meringue on top, and a whole strawberry. It was definitely excellent cake, although it was not so great that I won't be able to resist sampling the other cakes in this series and visit other shops. No doubt, there will be something good next month as well, if I make it over there again.

But I skipped the running: as planned, despite knee discomfort, I ran. Not sure if that was bad or not: I get discomfort from sitting at my desk, or from my commuting walk, but less than before, I think. At some point, it is not clear what will make things better. I only ran 1 km, in 7'20'' and it does not seem worse than before, but that's been the case for some time. I'll see how things are through tomorrow night.

Dixans (de Bon Coeur): Gateau Pistache Fraise

Made the mistake of going to Dixans, which is a café that turns out to be part of the (P.) de Bon Coeur group: poor research on my part. The cake is tagged as from P. de Bon Coeur, and the bag has that name on one side and Le Coffret Coeur on the other. Still, de Bon Coeur's cake is not bad, although today's Gateau Pistache Fraise, for 690 yen, was close. Setting aside the high price, the this was too gelatinous, although not by a lot. Also, very weak taste, which is perhaps why the pistachio was completely not harmonizing with the strawberry. This was a waste of food/calories, so I'm tempted to call it bad, but it was not necessarily incompetent, so maybe someone would like this, but this will keep me away from these shops for a long time.

Frédéric Cassel: Violet

Was over near Ginza at night, so I went over to get a ninth cake from Frédéric Cassel, Violet, a seasonal cake, for 777 yen. This is a two-layer cheese cake, with rare cheese mousse over a baked cheese cake. On top and between is cassis, so there is a mild red berry taste rather than a lemon taste. The crust gave the impression of a graham cracker crust. It does not really redefine cheesecake, but it well combines several version and is excellent (and maybe there only another week).

That's two great shops in a row, so I'll aim lower next, probably Tuesday, depending on the weather. I've got my eye on a new place (to me) blogged by Sweet Sonobe. On the great shops' front, I miscounted: Jean-Paul Hevin is up to 15 cakes posted. The others are at 9 now, except Dalloyao, which is 13, and Henri le Roux, which only ever has the same 4 cakes. If I get all seven shops all up to 10, then I'll feel obliged to finally get back to Clover and Piece Montée (which was tonight's backup) to get all the potentially excellent ones up to 2 cakes each.

Jean-Paul Hevin: Matcha and Pyramide

I missed lunch, so it was suggested that it was okay for me to have (most of) two pieces of cake at the Jean-Paul Hévin Chocolat Bar at Isetan. I didn't resist the suggestion.

First, I had Pyramide, which apparently has a slight Cognac flavor in a cake of pistachio and bitter ganache. It was definitely good, and I'm going to say that it was excellent, but actually I can't remember well (I mean, I only remember that I was thinking more about other things than whether I was going to say it was good or excellent). This was 572 yen plus tax. Amazingly, apparently this is only the third of the five spécialités that I've blogged.

 I got it with オーボーデュフル―ヴ (ouboudeyufuruuv), which I've forgotten what it is when it's at home, some sort of herb tea, I think, not exciting anyway.

I also had some of Ghana hot chocolate I think, which was good, and parts of Vanille and Pistache'in maracon, which were excellent and good.

For the second cake, I has Matcha, because it's seasonal and because I didn't have my notes and knew that I had never blogged this, or maybe had it. Actually, it was great (maybe). Besides green tea mousse, which was not particularly strong, although that is the nature of green tea, is griotte (Morello) cherry gel, which is semi-Japanese, and yuzu cream, which is very Japanese. This was more expensive at 680 yen plus tax and is the second seasonal cake, not counting two types of éclair, despite being up to 14 cakes now.

Thursday: Vincennes, Gateau Chocolat

Went to Vincennes for a second cake. This time I chose the simple Gateau Chocolat for 356 yen (a sign on the door noted that prices were going up in June). It was definitely good. It is a drier but soft cake, on the range of these types of cakes. If this were a more convenient shop, I might go back, but for now it will just be a backup (they are open until 9 pm).

The second attempt at a macaron-type cake (or at least the biscuit part) worked better this time, although still not quite stiff enough. Also, I'm going to need to center it in the pan, and possibly get a flat baking sheet to get better convention over the entire cake.

Sadaharu Aoki: Tarte Fraise Citron

Picked up a Tarte Fraise Citron from Isetan Sadaharu Aoki for 880 yen. From the name, it is clearly a lemon tart with strawberries, and then there is fairly thick cream (maybe lemon, although not strongly) on top with I assume half a hazelnut (not enough taste to tell). It was excellent, tasting plenty lemony and yet sweet enough to cut through it. I was skeptical going in of the strawberries, but they work well, so I won't change that. Still, at the price, I'm not sure that I'll ever have it again, although I would enjoy it if I did, or I would split it with someone at one of their cafés.

Homemade project 1 and Avranches Guesnay's Renard

Last night, I did some dessert cooking, cheesecake tarts. I choose this next because I had a lot of cream cheese in the freezer, I needed some egg whites for other projects (the crust got me two), and I need some cream for a project. Actually, I realize now, that I need a little egg yoke, so I should have just reduced the recipe and had some creme cheese on bread, but it's too late now. Anyway, I ate the big one.

For professional cake, I bought Renard from Avranches Guesnay for 507 yen. This was this week's recommend cake, so I put off trying their dark chocolate cake again. Renard is a caramel mousse cake with a hazelnut cluster base and an inner layer of dried, at least to the point of being solid, orange, which worked, but was not a major part of the flavor (because it's not that big, just a few millimeters thick). This combination worked for me, although not to the point that I feel a need to seek it out. On the point of caramel, this was somewhat bitter, so not caramel-candy sweet, but not too bitter for me. Basically, the cake was excellent and I enjoyed it, but I'm stilling looking for a great cake from there after too excellent cakes, which is enough to keep my eye on it. First, though, I want to top up my a few of my great shops to 10 cakes, but I'll also get to the backlog of unvisited shops.

Cooking project number two, was to try to make meringue-based cake. It failed again: wasn't stiff enough, but still very edible and the Silpat demonstrated its usefulness. Could double the amount of nuts, though. Not shown is project number three, which was to make rum (because that's the only flavor I have right now: if I get into making chocolates, I'll buy more, smaller bottles, but my interest is still mainly cake) chocolate truffles. I did not manage to get them round, so I'll have to do some research before next time, but the taste seemed okay.

Paris S'éveille: Comme Newyorkais

Went to Paris S'éveille and actually parked my bicycle at a legal parking spot. I've never used there and did not really realize it was so close (although it is on the other side of the RR crossing). I also obeyed the little sign on the table that I had not noticed previously, which said don't take pictures, as it disturbed other guests, which is reasonable but unfortunate.   

I got their New York style cheese cake, Comme Newyorkais. Here's what it looks like:

I have no complaints, as far as it being as advertised. The little cookie-like topping tastes like my traditional pie crusts, so I assume it is oil-based rather than butter-based, whereas the bottom of the cake is a sponge to soak up some of the moisture, which works. I'd say it was excellent, but still not a priority for me. I tend to like it more during than after. This was 580 yen and they let me not order a drink, which I appreciate, because the drinks are more than the cake, so presumably that's where the profit is.

Later, I also got a Choux Creme from Glycine for 380 yen, which was very good, but I realized that I need to stop getting these, because I don't really like Choux Creme that much, or at least, I don't like them enough that I want to eat a whole one, but I would split one with someone, much like ice cream (which they are closer to in taste than cake).

I also went to Cuoca, mostly hardware but some chocolate and decoration-type cocoa powder. I stuck to the about 1000 yen/200 g chocolate rather than the 4000+/200 g stuff because, wow, that's why chocolates are so expensive.

Viron: cherry mousse cake

Got cake from Viron, which I thought was Pompette, but maybe it was Pampette, although I get more hits from Polpette, but nothing showing cake. I guess I just have to go back to find out, since as usually, I can't find any other posts showing this cake, which is not part of the regular lineup. It has Kirsch mousse I remember, which I didn't even have to look up to know what it is from the Japanese, because I just looked it up yesterday for a cake recipe: it is a transparent, not sweet, cherry brandy. So whatever it was called, it is a cherry mousse cake with some whole fruit. This was good, certainly, although not really it was cherry cake, which is something I would normally avoid but I was willing to give this a try (and had limited options for new cake). This was good, but not really 734 yen good. And it was definitely not great that I could tell, so Viron is too hit and miss for me to keep it as a "great" shop, so I'm downgrading it to "excellent" (so I probably won't be back there again soon, except for bread).

Thursday: Andersen Walnut Scone

Didn't run, nor will I be running for another couple weeks, but went to Andersen Isetan and this time I got actual bread: a Walnut Scone for 248 yen. Besides walnut, it seemed to have maple in it, but in any case, it was excellent.

I also tried cooking. I've got some new ingredients around the house, specifically, at lot of almond powder and also powdered egg whites, so I looked in the Super Patissier Book and found something that I could sort of do: I have the ingredients for the cake part (but not the filling, which is way too complicated, as they often are), which is macaron-like, and thus starts out like meringue, which I've failed with over and over again. This time, it looked reasonable, although still, merginue is a mystery to me, since there are hints not to over-whipping it or you'll break the proteins and they do it in just a couple minutes on yuutube, and elsewhere I've read and been told that it takes a long time (one recipe recommends 9 minutes for the degree of stiffness required), so I'd like to see whether I can get it a little stiffer. Just case, I also prepared ingredients for financier, in case I found myself with just a bowl of egg whites and sugar, but those went back in the refrigerator. I don't have the baking supplies for the recipe though, though, so the bottom was still a mess, but that didn't stop me from eating it. One project for the weekend is to buy a Silpat and that thing you squeeze pastry out of with 1 cm diameter nozzle.

Blondir: Tentation

Ran again today. My left knee was still not happy, but it was not happy at the beginning after a day of office work, so I ran anyway and it didn't get any worse, nor is the discomfort where I was having trouble initially there. This run was under 7 min/km, so a little faster than I intended and went 3.9 km, which was a little farther than I intended but still okay: still only 7 km in three days, so I'm on track for 15 km this week.

Since there was a new visiting shop at Isetan, I went there first and got Tentation (?) for 518 yen. At first, I thought it was pretty good, but my opinion faded afterward. It's rhubarb I think (the website is pretty useless and does not even have store hours, nor does the business card they were handing out: I think they just moved), with pistachio cake underneath maybe, although the sweet red fruit taste dominated and the texture was okay for mousse on the top and a soft bottom (it's leaning toward the camera, but it was that way when they gave it too me). Ultimately, I'm less satisfied than with a seven-eleven donut, but I'm going to stick with my average impression, which is it is just good. Maybe it is not fair, when I like chocolate and nuts, but I had a Great rhubarb cake from Toshi Yoroizuka, which was what was on my mind when I picked it.

Le Petit Mec: Flan Tart

Went to Le Petit Mec for bread, but ended up with a Flan Tart, which is sort of cake and was good.

Sadaharu Aoki: Cheese Cake Citronné

Raining today, so I went to Isetan first and got Cheese Cake Citronné from Sadaharu Aoki for 730 yen, since I haven't had great cake for a few days (although I went to a couple potentially great shops that I've since demoted to excellent or potentially excellent).

It was raining but I still ran. It was not running that hard and I was not planning to run that long. My upper limit of running for the week is 15 km. My knee was not completely happy from the beginning, but it did not seem to get worse. I jogged 3 km.

I'm not a big rare cheesecake fan, but this was very delicious, from the crust to the cheese. It's lemon cheesecake. Citronné apparently means "lemon juiced" as a verb. I liked it very much and I'll call it great.

Sunday: Ryoura, Extreme

Sunday was cycling. First, I tried to visit A Tes Souhaits! But I arrived around noon (they open at 11) on Mother's Day (if that mattered), so there were a few dozen people in line and it sounded like they were warning new people that they couldn't promise they wouldn't sell out. I hadn't prepared and I need to update my map in that area, so the only places I knew were Jun Honma, which I didn't want to visit again, and L'Epicurien, which wouldn't begin selling cake until 13:00. I'm not sure whether that is just a Sunday thing, but the closest thing to an official website lists 13:00 as opening time now, although the door isn't locked, so they might sell you something besides fresh cake. It was obnoxious, but now I'm curious to go back. If I had remembered, I would have gone to Arcachon, in the basement at the station. Maybe I would have tried the Joshi+ recommended café Patisserie Tigre, although my plan is to skip this one. I was on a bicycle, so I gave up on the north and went down to Ryoura in Yoga, which is not close, but closer than home and a little closer to home and anyway in a more familiar area of town.

I got the Extreme for 560 yen. It's not really that extreme, although it has some sort of famous brandy in it. It's a little unstable for eating outside (very narrow and the layers tend to separate) but it was excellent chocolate cake. I'd enjoy having it again, although I could not say for sure that it was great, so I'll consider Ryoura an excellent shop and get around to having a third cake there after I've visited the great shops a little more (at least the less frequented ones that actually have more cakes that I haven't tried).

I was out riding for about four hours, so it did not seem overly greedy to also visit Bigarreaux, which is the excellent shop nearby that I'm much more familiar with. I got Le (?) Kouign Amann, which is not a French cake, although I've never seem one that was spiral, so this was quite different for cakes of this name, although the general flavor was still Kouign Amann, just no filling.
It was 300 yen and also excellent.

Saturday: L'Abricotier

Today's project was to walk the Yakushi "Peaceful Wood" Walk, which is the first part of the Suminami History and Culture course. Actually, the main point was to visit L'Abricotier, and the walk was a convenient associated activity. Unfortunately, we ate lunch after the walk and just before going back to the shop, which made me too full, although I didn't notice until after eating the cake, but it might have affected my evaluation.

The selected cakes were Desir and Savarin for 450 and 480 yen (before 8% tax). The Desir is a chocolate mousse with raspberry mousse inside. It was definitely good, although I'm not easily impressed by either raspberry or chocolate mousse these days. This was high quality but did not really try to do anything original, beyond decoration. Savarin is definitely not my thing, nor are pears, although this was good and the chocolate cream in the middle was a nice touch, as well as the chocolate cream visible on top, so this was definitely good too. This is a definitely an excellent cake shop, which is probably the best it can be in its location, where it can't specialize in only great cakes, like shops in core shopping areas can, but has to meet the local market. It is similar to my other excellent shops that I've made several visits to. Also, they are cheaper than the great shops of course.

Interestingly, there was another hardcore cake eater in the shop with us, evidenced by having 4 plates. He also was carrying some pretty big water bottles, so I suspect he was a cake urban hiker. It would be fun to track down his blog, but haven't been able to.

We also got a couple things for the road, which we ate much later but before reaching home. These were a Tranche Orange for 230 yen, which is candied (?) orange partially covered with chocolate and was good, and an Angadine, which is a sandwich cookie of nougat and walnut and was excellent.   

Thursday: Jean-Paul Hévin, Choco Passion

Last day of Golden Week holidays was shopping. Fortunately, we went by the chocolate bar just when we wanted to rest and it was nearly empty. I ordered the Choco Passion cake, which I had completely forgotten I had had until I saw it. Fortunately, it is great for 647 yen. Obviously, it is chocolate cake flavored with passion fruit, but also rum-flavored ganache and feuillantine for crunch. Not sure what the nuts on top are.

I also got the Nectar of the Day which was passion fruit, which was ultimately too sweet. Should have gone for tea.

The other order was Apéro Gourmand "Affogato", which is chocolate ice cream with apricot sauce/nectar for 1,322 yen. Not my thing, but it's good.

(P.) Avranches Guesnay: Mille-Feuille Vanille

Cycled to (Patisserie) Avranches Guesnay in Bunkyo-ku. I was worried that it would be too crowded an area to park a bicycle, but the shop is between exits for Kasuga, so most of the subway traffic doesn't need to walk past.  

I got the Mille-Feuille Vanille for 605 yen, as this was the only one marked as "recommendation". Being a standard cake, it's hard for it to be great, but on the other hand, it's something that I like, so I'm not likely to rate it low. I struggled between rating it good and excellent, which looking at previously posts on mille-feuille did not much help with except that this was definitely better than Fraoula's good mille-feuille, which was the kind where only flakes are used rather than whole biscuits, making it easy to eat but without a main feature. Since this is a newly visited shop for me, I decided to call the cake excellent, and thus tentatively the shop, and visit them again soon. The picture didn't turn out so great; not sure why it's zoomed in so much.

It was short trip, so I swung through Ginza on the way back and verified where I could park and walked down to Tokyu Plaza Ginza in order to verify that Esquisse Cinq has takeout cake, as reported by Sweet Sonobe. I know the café is really expensive, so I gave up going there unless the cake turns out to be really good (in which case, I could go for my birthday). The takeout is also expensive and limited, but I'll probably still some time. A better choice for me for a café would be Cacao Market by Mariebelle (Hinka Rinka 3rd), which was empty around noon on the holiday.

Ryoura: Tarte Chocolat Caramel Salé

Cycled out to Yoga in western Setagaya to visit Ryoura, which seems to be a hot topic right now, seemingly for good reason. No line near opening time, which is late, 11:00 am, but it's a nice shop. They had Tarte Chocolat Caramel Salé and I read the description as far as "nuts", after which there was no reason for me to resist my impulse for chocolate. I'm very biased, but think this is great. If other places would make more chocolate, salt caramel tarts with nuts, maybe I would become more discriminating but until then, I'll appreciate this shop's accurate anticipation of what I want. Also, the price was 520 yen, which is reasonable for great cake. This is basically a standard chocolate mousse dome, complete with (bavarian) cream, on top. The base is a tart shell, a layer of chocolate biscuit/cake, and then the caramel. Also, the outer coating is obviously very reflective; not sure what I could have done about that for the photo.

I was cycling, so my route was somewhat random and I ended up going past Patisserie Main Mano again, so I decided to stop and see what they had. I was thinking they were more a bakery, because their other shop nearby (both in the Yoyogi area) is a boulangerie and café, but they had some cakes. I had already had cake, so I got a choux cream for 200 yen. It was good. Also, they filled it after I ordered, which seems to be the best way. It rolled around a little before I took this picture, so don't judge to harshly.

Went over to Takashimaya and verified that they have Ma Priere cakes, so I don't need to run out there tomorrow. Already have plans to visit L'Abricotier on Saturday and expect to get cake at Isetan earlier in the week, so my best bet for unvisited places hard to go to on a workday is Avranches Guesnay. I got it from Joshi+, which isn't that reliable (since its priority is to go some place new and it's been running for a years now), but the online info looks okay and it's close on a rainy day. Guess I need to dig further into Sweet Sonobe to make a plan for Sunday, unless I want to get out to Eclat des Jours, which didn't look quite as good, I think, but still worth visiting.

Jog to Bien-être: Harmonie

Actual running today, the first in 10 days. Took it very slow, which I'll call jogging, as it was a little more than 7 min/km, which I'm fine with. Didn't know how long I could do it since my foolish run before which aggravated an old knee problem while not doing the current one any help. As it happens, the old problem didn't make trouble, so I'm not worse than 10 days ago before that run, I think, but on the other hand, the dominant behind-the-knee problem remained, so I only ran just over 7 km and then walked. That will probably be it for running until maybe Sunday, but I've got cycling planned a couple days and there will be walking a couple days.

The goal was Bien-être. Sill not a huge selection, but I'm a little more optimistic that I can find a few cakes worth trying (and at the rate I visit, I can keep getting something new). The cassis mousse dome, Harmonie for 540 yen, I think (although their website says 450, but I don't and didn't have 50 yen change and Joshi+ went last Sep. and reported 520). The harmony is with jasmine cream. I chose well, as this was excellent. The outer gel did not bother me (maybe I'm getting used to it) and the flavor was great. Still don't really know what jasmine tastes like, but if it works, I'm happy.

P. Asako Iwayanagi: Crème Chocolat Caramel Cake

Still cycling today, for a rare visit to a new place out near Todoroki Station on the street running parallel to the tracks, Patisserie Asako Iwayanagi. It's a new shop with a new feel and the clientele seemed a little too upscale (groups of ladies) and the clerk, or maybe it was Ms. Iwayanagi, spoke too formally for how I was dressed, so I didn't try to eat in, which is why the cake is not presented as well as it could have been. I've always had trouble finding a park in this part of town, so instead I was on a little mound with some sort of archaeological significance, although I was not the only one crammed into the green space there, probably for the same reason: nowhere else to go walk the dog (one person) or escape the house (assuming the old guy who was washing his feet at the bathroom at the base when I arrived was not just a local homeless guy, as I first thought). But I digress.

The cake I choose was the oddly named Crème Chocolat Caramel Cake, or maybe I'm making it French for no reason and it's Cream Chocolate Caramel Cake. It was 626 yen for a caramel crème brûlée above chocolate cream above chocolate sponge cake. It was good, but probably not a good choice for me, since it's not sweet or nutty. However, I don't respect soft sponge cake, so I'm going to assume that this is not the place for me. But the shop is sophisticated, so I would probably try again if it were more convenient for me, so it may actually be excellent.

I kept my greed more in check than yesterday and rather than get something pricier at Au Bon Vieux Temps, along the street to Oyamadai Station I stopped in at Vent de Ludo, a new (although I suspect there was something similar there before) bakery café that looked pretty nice. The selection was not exceptional, but the chocolate doughnut was kept in a refrigerated case (with some other fancier things) and was good for 140 yen. Better the Seven Eleven, but not dramatically (nor dramatically different in price).

Cooking today was an attempt at chocolate madeleines, but they were not an improvement on brownies. I should get some lemon zest or a workable substitute next time for normal madeleines, although I've had the scary/wild idea to try ｓansho, which is potentially a literally electrifying idea. Need to get some granulated sugar before I try anything with that recipe again, though.