Presqu'île Chocolaterie, Chocolat

Couple kilometers past Shinjuku Station.

Did a long run today, about 28 km, plus another couple kilometers walking under Shinjuku Station and near Kichijoji Station. It rained in the morning and was cool to the point of being cold in just my mess running shirt, though the rain did not return despite the dark clouds all around. I knew it was a long run, so I was running between 8 and 9 km/h the whole way.

Getting near Kichijoji Station

Mid-way, in car country.

My intended target was L'epicurien, but there is not good information on when they are open other than not particularly during the posted hours, at least for cake. Today, there was a sign on the door saying that they were closed for today, though I did not read it very closely, for one reason cause it was 1 meter away, do to a shutter over the entrance. Last time I went there and they were not open for cake, at least you could go inside and see that they were not open for cake (they were just selling the non-fresh-baked baked goods, like cookies).

I had a couple alternatives that I wanted to get to in the area, so I made a second visit to Presqu'île Chocolaterie, which was open (which is kind of amazing in itself, as far as not being out of business, but someone was buying before me, so maybe they sell enough). I got "Chocolate", which is classic chocolate cake with thick layers of ganache and enough biscuit for a reasonable texture. The chocolate was a beans-to-bar Granada chocolate, which they also hard bars for. It's a little basic, but definitely excellent. That's two excellent cakes from them, so if the Excellent shops ever make room, Presqu'île is perhaps the top candidate among the Quite Good shops for promotion.

In other news, September starts tomorrow, which means we've left hottest month behind and shops can move away from summer substitutes and get back to cake. Jean-Paul Hévin has four great cakes that are being reintroduced to the line-up, one for just a month, so it's going to need to be in the next cake-off, as well as their regular Chocolate Tart, which I have not blogged yet, so maybe I'll get it (with something new from Sadaharu Aoki as a back-up, for the previous cake-off win). Another JPH great cake is thru Oct., and another is the Mont-Blanc, which is an old favorite that would otherwise be the top priority based on when I first blogged that it was great.