Pierre Gagnaire: Mont Blanc & Tarte aux Fraises

Ended the short (for me) week with a short, slow run (<10 km at 9 km/h) to the ANA Intercontinental Tokyo in Akasaka to get cake from Pierre Gagnaire. Company was coming, so I got two cakes, a Mont Blanc and a Tarte aux Fraises (600 yen each). Nothing unusual about the Mont Blanc, which seemed to be good quality and was excellent. The strawberry tart was also excellent, a very buttery tart, I think, and sweet.

Only ran about two-thirds the current base level this week, but just five days of running after missing a week from illness (and I'm a little off now) and really, I'm running enough that I don't really need to expand my week distance much further. My plan is to try a marathon-length run on Sunday for the first time in about a year, so resting up a little right before maybe is okay.

Plaisir: Cassis Chocolat

Went on a shorter run, but still felt long and was slow (10 km/h out and 9 km/h, 6.8 km each way). I went to Atré at Meguro Station (which is in Shinagawa) to visit Plaisir, which tends to move around (next two stops, Daimaru at Tokyo and Shinjuku Takashimaya), so catching them met a goal. The cake was Cassis Chocolat (カシスショコラ; 513 yen). Couldn't actually taste the chocolate or the orange that was supposed to be in there. It was good, so I'm not disappointed, but I don't need more.

La Base Secrète du GAMIN: Mousse of the Woods

Did a long run down to La Base Secrète du GAMIN by way of Yoyogi (I had planned to go through Omotesando, but decided it is too crowded), where I got Mousse of the Woods (森のムース; 550 yen), which is layers of pistachio mousse and praliné, though I'm not sure what, though there are walnuts on top. Also, some crunchy bottom. As before, this poor cake was put in a huge box with nothing to keep it in place but it's internal cohesion, which failed, so it got a little battered. It was a long run, about 9 km each way, 11 km/h out and 10 km/h back.

The cake was good, but definitely not excellent. Also, maybe a little sweet.

Heritage: La Mûre

Got my most difficult cake shop goal for this week out of the way early by getting to Heritage before they closed (and it was earlier enough that there was a good selection). Unfortunately, I'm not remembering the name of the cake well, so I should have made a note while I had the time. The name in Japanese seemed close to La mûre (500 yen), which is French for blackberry, so I'm going with that rather than L'Amour, but I'm not confident. Anyway, this was chocolate biscuit with maybe blackberry (certainly not as strong as raspberry). It was not a strong fruity taste, not super sweet, not super creamy, or at all nutty, so it didn't really press any of the usual buttons for me. But it was definitely good and over time afterward I decided that I respected it and consider it an example of excellent quality. Certainly, I was happy to eat it and enjoy my tea. So I've three cakes from a shop that seems excellent, which is my currently goal for this level of shop (in the bottom half of the top ~31 cake shops for Tokyo).


For running, I had to start out fast, which was only 3.2 km at 12 km/h, and I took a long way home going past Iidabashi for another 4.5 km at 10 km/h. Then, because that still seemed short to deserve cake, I took the Gaien Walk around as far as the Lawson 100, which was another 3.6 km at a deliberately slow 9 km/h.

Les Cacaos: Tarte au Chocolat aux Framboises

Well, I decided that I had recovered from my cold and took a run. So far, so good. But it was pretty slow, averaging close to 9 km/h over about 21 km (it would have been shorter if I had followed the route, but I zigzagged at lot and overshot by one station). I feel looser now and got rid of the cramp I had picked up over a week of not running, but I probably should have stretched more and definitely should do some stretching tonight.

This was my third visit to Les Cacaos in Shinagawa-ku and I got their third fresh cake (though they have a few other things, such as a cream puff). Specifically, I got Tarte au Chocolat et aux Framboises (580 yen). Besides the solid chocolate and fresh raspberries, the tart shell was chocolate and the filling was raspberry ganache. It was definitely good, but not exciting. The shell was about the same thickness as the filling, which was not very strongly flavored with raspberry. Still an excellent shop, but I won't need to another cake from there for a while, with works out well with the depth of lineup. Maybe they'll have something new by the time I visit again, which probably isn't that long away long (months, not years).

For energy, I stopped on the way back at Dalloyau at Meguro Station (which does not currently have a café) and got Pain au Pistache et au Chocolat (or so I imagine it was named, but don't really recall; 281 yen), which was excellent, for having a strong pistachio taste, which it manages by having only a little chocolate, so I wouldn't mind if they upped the chocolate a little more. A superb place for pastries.

Jean-Paul Hévin: Paris-Tokyo

My head was still a little congested Saturday, so I didn't tempt fate. However, I did not want to miss the other limited-time Jean-Paul Hévin cake, so I went to Isetan again and got the Paris-Tokyo (756 yen), which is a variation on the traditional Paris-Brest. In particular, it has nougat baked on top, hazelnut flavored cream, and Brazilian chocolate pastry cream. Again, Choux pastry is a little too bread-like for me in cakes, but it was excellent.

Jean-Paul Hévin: Religieuse

While recovering from illness (but well enough to work, so no fever), I treated myself to cake. I had calculated that it was time to visit Jean-Paul Hévin again, even if they did not have new cake, which they did. Still very busy with people buying boxes of chocolates, I had to wait a while in line at Isetan, but was able to get one of the two limited-time cakes listed online, the Religieuse (ルリジュース; 719 yen), which is a traditional cake along the lines of an éclair, only as two spheres with pastry cream inside, the red one with rum and the larger chocolate one with chocolate. Though choux pastry is not my favorite as "cake", it was excellent, top to bottom.

[Kobe] Akito: Gateau Chocolat & Yuzu et Chocolat Lait

I've been to enough cake shops in Kobe that I thought I should start posting on them. Also, I don't go to Kobe enough that I need to include areas outside Kobe to start. (I've looked, but can't say that I've had better luck in the richer neighbor towns.)

One place worth visiting is (Patisserie) Akito, which has a café space and is known for its milk jam. Went there and got Gateau Chocolat, which was good, as a heavier cake, where it has what I would call icing rather than glaze (or ganache). The other cake was Yuzu et Chocolat Lait, which is what it sounds like, and was excellent. Yuzu is often combined with milk chocolate with good results. 

Unlike for Tokyo, I'm not going to try to add every shop I've visited already to the map, as most places I've visited are better forgotten (which would perhaps also be true of Tokyo if I visited every single shop I could find rather than just the ones that I have some reason to think might at least be good).

[Saturday] Lily Cakes: Maori

Again, I started by going to Fraoula and was not surprised that they did not have my cake. Then I went to Lily Cakes, over southeast from Shinagawa Station, not keeping to my planned route very well around the Ebisu Station area down to near Meguro Station.

I ate in having the Maori, which is pistachio cream layered with cherry. This was the "chef's recommendation". It was good, I suppose, but it still did not convince me that I want cherries with my cake. The quality seemed good, though, so I won't want to discourage anyone from trying there, but I don't need to return.

My route home was similarly not very direct, though easy to follow. This time I did find the tunnel north of Shinagawa Station and guess that I really don't need to use that, since the 1.5 m clearance is pretty inconvenient for running. Total, I took 23 km, which even at a slow 9 km/h average, put be slightly over my running budget, I decided I should rest for Sunday.

In the evening, I tried Morozoff's standard Danish Cream Cheese cake, the 1000 yen size. It's good, but not special.

Dalloyau: Chou d'Amour Chocolat Tannea 72

Decided to combine a run to Dalloyau with researching Plaisir. Plaisir was where it was supposed to be (according to the paper posted on their home shop door), Meguro Station Atre and they had cake, so I'll head down there again to visit them before they shift operations again. Running was a little over 14 km, averaging a little above 10 km/h.

Maybe because it was Friday night or maybe because this was not the main shop, they didn't have any actual cakes I hadn't had, but I was resigned to trying one of their chou a la creme. Putting off trying a chou cubique, I got the Chou d'Amour Chocolat Tannea 72 (540 yen), where the name refers to the chocolate used in the cream. For chou creme, it was good. Compared to just cake even, and it was fairly cake-like, to the point that I used a fork and knife to get started, it was definitely good. Still not something I need to repeat, but not disappointing. I'll go to the main store in a week or so, though I have a good list of other places to go.

Cake-off: Classic Chocolat over Rhône-Alpes

Yesterday, I tried to catch Plaisir at home, which is apparently impossible. Since I was so close, I tried La Base Secrète du GAMIN and found out that Wednesday was its closed day, which is good to know and information that was not available from my other sources. I chose to swing back through Hikarie at Shibuya Station for research purposes rather than go somewhere new for cake, such as Lui's cafe. About 16 km at 10 km/h. So that left me down one cake, meaning today I could do cake-off.

I thought I was going to get cake at Jean-Paul Hévin, but apparently White Day rules still apply and there was a huge line at Isetan. Since I already reserved a Classic Chocolate from Atelier Kohta and needed to get it by 8 pm, I didn't stick around. Instead, I went to Amitié, which is within 400 m of Atelier Kohta, and got the Rhône-Alpes and took both home before going out again for some non-cake errands (well, mainly I needed a new fastener for my running backpack, which is related to cake). Another 10 km at almost exactly 10 km/h average, despite the kills and cake-running.

These were both cakes from small shops that I've not visited so much but made a strong impression at the time. I've had a lot of chocolate cakes since then, though, so maybe I wouldn't rate either as great now, but they are still definitely excellent. The Classic Chocolate has layers of chocolate whipped cream, as well as the whipped cream on top between chocolate biscuit, whereas the Rhône-Alpes has meringue tubes on top which, I still think are nice, and ganache, maybe, between thicker biscuit layers, . But I have to give this match to the Classic Chocolate: I'm warming to whipped cream over time. Actually, I've only had one other cake from Atelier Kohta, so a third cake would level it up with it's neighbor Amitié, which I'm not quite ready to drop from the excellent list, although it probably will end up sliding down to a quite good list eventually, when I get around to needing that. All depends on several newer shops, of course.

La Base Secrète du GAMIN: Winter Mousse au Chocolat

Had enough time to try a longish weekday run to a new shop, La Base Secrète du GAMIN, which is new within the last year but is actually part of a whole GAMIN group of restaurants. This one is down in the north Sengenjaya Station shopping area (you can just see it from the north east-west shopping street if you look diagonally at the right moment). Shortest way is through Shibuya Station, so I looped down the usual way turning past Aoyama Gakuen University (which has a huge mural poster up on their Ekiden running team) to the next crossing sound and came back (although I missed a turn and went a little bit out of my way on the way there). Windy today, and cooled off fast. I might have seen some slow flakes, or maybe just it was they way the streetlight reflected off stray drops in the air. I managed 11 km/h there, but with the huge sack they have me (with a huge box, relative to the cake), only 9 km/h back (over 8 km each way). That's okay. Yesterday I ran without cake, doing about 10 km total but earlier on did eight 200 m speed intervals with 14.0 km/h as the target, but five were actually 15.0+ km/h and one 16.0+ km/h, which is as much as I need of those faster speeds for now, so I'll either need to get onto doing 15 km at 11 km/h at the Moat track, or see whether I can keep up 13 km/h for intervals of 1000 m. Anyway, since I did speed and then slow jogging, that maybe counts as fat-burning training, though the method I heard was two 1000 m (separated by 3 minutes) intervals fast enough to be out of breath.

The cake, in it's huge box and bag, blown horizontal by the wind, did not stay stuck to it's plastic base, but for a mousse cake, it was fairly firm, so it was less battered than it might have been. It's mousse, but maybe with meringue for firmness? It's flavored with Yuzu and orange Bavarian cream, which is where the winter part comes from. The chocolate flavor is not strong for a mousse, but it's there and harmonizes well. It's easy to for me to say that this was definitely good (and better than a doughnut), but only over time did I final decide that I should call it excellent, requiring me to get back there fairly soon (although the selection is not huge, so I don't have to be in that big a hurry, but maybe if varies).

Les Cacaos: Cuba

Went back to Les Cacaos for a second cake, but on the way I stopped by Lily Cakes to verify their location (which I had conflicting information on) and that they were worth visiting, which they seem to be, though I didn't quite get the route right, so I need to make an earlier left turn or end up needing to plow through the crowd around Shinagawa Station (versus taking the tunnel north of the station to cross the tracks).

The cake that I chose this time was Cuba, which is a chocolate (what else) mousse dome flavored with orange. The orange is more subtle than I expected, or at least less acidic, which is probably good thing, and the chocolate had an usual usual but somehow nostalgic  flavor. I have to wonder whether it tastes like American chocolate, even though USA ('Hersey process') chocolate is famous for tasting like crap. It had a sort of syrup-like taste, though I was not other conscious that it was overly sweet, so I'm not sure what that means. In any case, it was clearly definitely excellent, and since the taste was unusual and I'd like to have it again, that qualifies it as great. So this place is quite excellent so far, but I'm not sure that they have more than one actual cake left for me to try (a tart, actually), their other similar items that I can recall being a cream puff (which I consider no more cake than ice cream in a cone is cake) and a verrine, which I've disparaged in the past but am willing to give a new look.

Cake-off: Théatre over Quartette

 Today was a winding, not particularly in control run (in terms of route) from shop to shop, though relatively short for a weekend run.

First I went to Fraoula, where they still did not have the cake I wanted.

Then I stopped by La Base Secrète du GAMIN, to see whether they had actual had cake, which they did have, a little of, so I guess I'll try them as a weekday run some time, if I can find a route I can keep track of (which today's wasn't). I was about 1 hour in, so I tried their Pain au Chocolat (350 yen), which was mille-feuille-type, though still fairly soft in the middle, which I think means less butter and more flour, though I've yet to make this kind of pastry. It was excellent.

Then I managed to get to Rue de Passy without overshooting too much and verified that they had the cake that I would have paired against Fraoula's, so now I know.

Then I went to Origines Cacao, where they still didn't have the first great cake I was looking for of theirs, but I forgot about the second one I was looking for. Still no customers there, but they were announcing reopening in Ginza, in Ginza Six, so I hope that works out.

I then verified that Paris S'éveille had the cake I needed before proceeding to Au Bon Vieux Temps to get Quartette, which required standing in an actual line for the first time there (more than a dozen deep, when I left, but about half that when I arrived, but slow). Mostly, people were buying little baked cakes and cookies of the gift type, which involves conversations about how many of different things they need, in how many boxes or bags, and how long they are fresh for. So it took a while.

Back at Paris S'éveille, the line for cake was not so long, but there was a long line at the register and they to had relatively more people buying gift-type package items (in the area were they usually have little baked cakes, they had packaged macaron sets). There are three possibilities: noon to 1 pm is a terrible time to go, so everywhere that isn't a creepy second-floor shop on the farthest edge of the shopping street is super busy (probably always true); White Day is coming up on Tuesday, so people are buying things, although it wasn't just men buying and they were not buying white chocolate; today is the 6-year anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear reactor disaster, and people are sending gifts to friends and family in that region (I've never heard of such a custom, but that is the topic of the day, and if people were visiting people in a consolatory visit, these would be the kind of gifts that they would need).

Took the train back, because my experience with Quartette (as well as some other Au Bon Vieux Temps cakes) is that it's melty. So today it was about 17.5 km at an average speed of 9 km/h. I'll probably run a little farther Sunday, but not that much, so I'll have a good deal of running budget for Monday thru Friday.

The cake-off this time was easy to decide: Theatre is great but I couldn't see what was special about Quartette, though it was still good. They are both chocolate, although more so Theatre, which also has some crunch, whereas Quartette includes some white chocolate, but is just creamy (supposedly it's mousse, but it's not fluffy). In the past, the richness of Quartette impressed me, but I wasn't feeling it today.

Pierre Gagnaire: Tarte au Chocolat

I'm not sure how far I'll run tomorrow, so I'm not sure whether I'll stay within my running budgets (now I'm tracking weekly and biweekly, as well as considering 1 day and 3-day, though I don't exactly have budget's in those cases, just I compare with my recent maximum to date), but I ran tonight at about 10 km/h a little over 9 km to go to Pierre Gagnaire's Pains et Gateaux in the ANA Intercontinental Toyko Hotel, in Akasaka, which I'll just call Pierre Gagnaire, since that's what's at the top of the card and signage.

There was limited selection left, but I got the Tarte au Chocolat (600 yen), which is chocolate on top of caramel. It's somewhat simple but exactly what I like and high quality, so in keeping with the same spirit has my last tart from Dalloyau, I'm going to go ahead and say that this was great and worry about how it compares to similar tarts in the future. This is a fairly convenient location for me for weekdays, so I hope their other cakes are of similar quality, though their line-up is not huge even earlier in the day
.

Dalloyau: La Fraise

Back to Dalloyau, Ginza, by the long way through Meiji Jingu Gaien, which is a little short of 7 km, at 11 km/m. There was some sprinting in the middle there to make two lights in a row that I know require high speed to make both, so maybe that's one reason why I was tired coming back, when my speed dropped down to 9 km/m (and it's uphill and I carried cake, but mostly I was tired). After getting my cake, I stopped by Frédéric Cassel and verified they had a cake I might need for my next cake-off as a backup as second cake if I get my first choice of first cake.

The cake from Dalloyau was La Fraise, which seems so basic, that I wasn't really believing I had never had it before, but it wasn't on my list. Maybe I had it before starting to blog. Anyway, it's strawberry mousse, I assume, since it was certainly mousse but it's so light, that it's hard to say. It was still good and, one nice thing I can say for it, it's really a fresh taste, so no aftertaste problems. However, obviously no exciting and not so much my thing, so I'll just label it (definitely) good and add it to the list of Dalloyau cakes I've tried.

Accueil: Luire

As part of my effort to revisit cake shops I've sampled but not blogged, I ran down to P. Accueil (versus their Ebisu café, Accueil), which is between 6 and 7 km each way, and I ran the usual 11 km/h down and 10 km/h back.

The cake was what I'm calling the Luire (リュイール; 518 yen), which is a standard chocolate mousse cake with pistachio. I'll say it was good, since there was nothing wrong with it. I couldn't see that the pistachio was doing much and there was nothing special about the chocolate, so I won't be back soon, but I didn't dislike eating it. Probably, I should have tried the Japanese chestnut Mont-blanc instead.

Noix de Beurre: Mille-feuille

Went to Isetan, thinking I was going to Morozoff, but remembered why this shouldn't be a priority: they don't have fresh cake (I like baked cheesecake, but, like pound cake, it not the same as "fresh/raw" cake, in the Japanese sense). Also, I need to buy a full 1000 yen pie-sized cake, so I'd rather wait until I'm buying for more than just myself, although it is something that having leftovers would be okay, so it's always available as a backup plan when I can't get anywhere else.

Instead, I followed up on getting a different cake from Noix de Beurre, so I made the safe choice and got their Mille-feuille (540 yen), which they don't assemble until you order it. This was excellent as expected as well as being reasonably priced and convenient to obtain, so more evidence that this shop/counter is quite good.

The run was going to the Akasaka Palace course to see whether I could manage 12 km/h. So I lasted all of 8 days before breaking my promise not to run hard when it's 5 deg out. What can I say, running is addictive and makes me do crazy things. But this time I took a day of rest since my long weekend runs, so I'm expecting to be okay. I only know the 1 km and 2 km marks for the course, so it's hard to pace myself. Plus, the slopes are not evenly distributed, so the goal isn't to keep a steady pace, but get head on the first half and not lose too much on the uphill parts in the second half (although there is also some downhill again). Since I wasn't really confident that I could make it, I just tried to run as fast as I thought I could keep up the full 3.3 km, based on how hard I was breathing compared to when I was doing 13 km/h last week. This meant about 4'30'' for the first kilometer, and maybe 4'45'' for the second. In the end, I finished before the target 16'30'', at 15'29'', which is actually above 12.5 km/h, so it's not impossible that I could do 13 km/h some day, but it's not seeming very likely and trying is not a priority.

Just as full disclose, on the "rest day", actually I had to do a couple hours overtime and I got a half of a Baguette Meule (I think) from Le Petit Mec, which was definitely good break, but not my favorite of theirs.

Limevert: Pruneau

For my long run of the week, I went over to Limevert again, taking a longer path of going south to the middle of Aoyama Cemetary before heading west to Roppongi Ave and then over to my usual route down to Old Oyamate Ave. (though I took the southern branch for some reason) and then down to follow Meguro River northwest and then the green path to Umegaoka, and from there along the train line.

I ate in again (obviously) and got chocolate again, this time Pruneau (580 yen) according to the French, but the Japanese name seems to be phonetic for "Brick" (though wrote down "Buritta": hard to write those cards). This is a couple solid chocolate sticks on top, then cocoa powder, chocolate mousse, chocolate cream, a little unlisted chocolate sponge (probably for cohesion), chocolate ganache, and finally a feuillantine base for crunch. I'm not completely confident, but I'm going to say it was great and look forward to testing that in the future.

From there, I went back a different route so I could stop by at Fraoula because I had overlooked that theirs was the first cake I rated here as great, so I should have started with them (I was greedy back then and had two great cakes on that day). Unfortunately, though they were happy to see me again, it seems to be something that they make on an irregular schedule. They offered to give me a call when they made it next, but my schedule is a little more complicated than that and I don't mind stopping in occasionally. I bought there Croissant d'Almonde, which was great. It is the soft kind, maybe with almond syrup, but the powered sugar definitely was part of the appeal for me. More than for cakes, this is a quite excellent place for the few pastry they make, so I need to get there more often just for that, though I'm not sure whether I've missed anything at this point.

Les Cacaos: Madagascar

As my Saturday run, I tried a new place down in Higashigotanda, Shinagawa-ku (since Toni Coni is closed and F.O.B.S. is now open later on weekdays). It would be 8 km if I could follow a route, but ended up 10 km each way, for different reasons, at the fairly standard speeds of 11 km/h out and 10 km/h coming back.

The place, Les Cacaos, is actually a chocolate shop mostly, but they have a few cakes and related items. I took my chances with their chocolate mousse cake, which is a type I have a love-hate relationship with (they attract me, but often disappoint). In this case, it was the Madagascar (550 yen), which has red fruit gelatin inside, but nice gelatin/fruit and not a lot. The chocolate flavor was quite good and went with the fruit, so as far as chocolate mousse cakes go, this seemed excellent, especially giving the benefit of the doubt to the first cake, so I should go back next week and try the chocolate tart, for example. I should be able to get the distance down below 9 km each way, now that I'm more familiar with the area (if I'm patient enough to wait at the pedestrian signals).

Heritage: Ambre Noix

Cut out of work as soon as possible (maybe rudely so, but success/failure depended on just a few minutes), and made it to Heritage in northeast Shinjuku-ku in time, though, of course, not many types of cake left just before closing. It's only about 3 km each way, which I did at 11 km/h out and 10 km/h coming back using some unfamiliar back roads.

The cake is Ambre Noix (アンブルノア; 550 yen), I think, since "amber walnut" makes more sense than "jet" (ambre noir). This is walnut, though I didn't read so carefully as to remember walnut what. I suspect some egg, like a meringue or chiboust rather than cream (chantilly), though there were multiple layers, so actually I expect both. In any case, walnut is not a common taste I get with this type of cake and I appreciated it, making this a second excellent cake from what seems to be an excellent shop, so I should get back there again in the not so distant future, although my priorities now are Limevert, Dalloyau, Noix de Beurre, and Morozoff, as well as new places.

It's been a while since I could run long two weekends in a row, so potentially I'll expand my recent two-week top amount by 10% or more, so I don't need to expand my one-week top amount this weekend. Reviewing where I went wrong last Monday, I've found that I was at 118% of my old three-day top amount, which is maybe okay, but I shouldn't be doing it at maximum speed on a cold day, for example.

Dalloyau: Tarte Fruits des Bois

The rain slowed and stopped and my health seemed improved, so I could take a long run to Jean-Paul Hévin to confirm that they had nothing new I needed and then to Dalloyau. It was about 13 km total, with half at 10 km/h and returning with cake at 9 km/h by a not very direct, or flat, route. No running budget issues, since I missed a day and ran short yesterday.

The "cake" was Tarte Fruits des Bois (594 yen), which is to say a tart of fruits of the wood, which in this case are a strawberry, blueberries, and raspberries on a dense almond tart base. This was plenty sweet for me, in a good way, and I found it really satisfying and was not bothered by the simplicity. I haven't been a big fan of fruit tarts, but I'm calling this one great because I enjoyed it and it is the best of type that I can recall. I'd be interesting in making it and want to eat it again.

Cake-off: Fraise Chantilly over Bernard

After Monday's fast intervals in cold weather after long weekend runs, I had sinus problems and had to talk yesterday off. Actually, I probably should have taken Monday off, so I need to revise my schedule.

Today though, I was feeling better, so I finally called Toshi Yoroizuka and reserved a Bernard and then went to Isetan (specifically, Noix de Beurre) where I could successfully get their Fraise Chantilly (though they currently also have custard and chocolate versions, so I had to be specific). There was light rain, but I was committed and it wasn't so cold, so I dressed warmly and did an easy 10 km/h jog to Tokyo Midtown, which is not much over 3 km away.

The cakes were as I remembered them, pretty much, and it was a tough choice. In this case, though the Bernard is still composed of things I like, such as chocolate and pistachio, I can only rate it excellent. Not that the Fraise Chantilly was exciting, but as previously, I rate it great for being the best cake of this type I know and I appreciated the clean fresh taste of just lots of cream, a little strawberry, and sponge cake it a sensible design.

Toshi Yoroizuka is still an excellent shop, and I'd like to get to their new Tokyo shop to eat in (not that I can't do that at Tokyo Midtown, just my café dining timing has not matched up and I'd like to see the new shop). And I don't mind having to blog a third cake from Noix de Beurre soon, which is conveniently located.