Pierre Hermé: Mille-feuille Infiniment Vanille

Felt better today than earlier in the week, so I'm more optimistic. First, I went to Isetan Pierre Hermé and got the Mille-feuille Infiniment Vanille. For running, I did the latest version of my Central-East Sendagaya neighborhood course (okay, I'm lying: I deviated to a parallel road at one point, which added 25 meters, but it wasn't a place I needed practice on). I was slower than I expected, even with more pauses than usual for maneuvering cars and the amount of stairs and slopes: 8 km/h. I only ran about 7 km, but I feel I can raise and the speed tomorrow. I guess I'll try to hit the Marunouchi/Ginza area south of Tokyo Station, but Pierre Hermé doesn't change their line up until next Tuesday and JPH is also showing no changes on their home page, so it might be too early to do the rounds to find out what the new cakes are for December.

The Mille-feuille Infiniment Vanille was reliably delicious, especially after recent experience but they are dependable that way, which is why I rate them highly for a place for new cakes. I'll call this one Excellent, though that might be overly based on my preference for mille-feuille cakes.

Toshi Yoroizuka: MT Chocolat

I felt better today and tried running, though maybe not a great idea. We'll see if I'm still okay tomorrow. Didn't even bother timing myself (though regretted not remembering my watch for the blinking safety light). Sort of wander there, after passing through Gaien, which was lit up for a festival celebrating the trees.

At midtown, I got MT Chocolat, which I had avoided until now, though I hadn't remembered why. The answer is bananas, ack. I should have gotten the chestnut shortcake, even though I don't much appreciate shortcake-style Japanese cakes. Anyway, it was not bad but bananas are usually a bad idea, raw bananas more so, and I'm not sure I've ever had any good cake with banana and chocolate, which this one did not break. There was not that much banana in it, just a thin layer, but was enough to leave a banana after taste. The probably is not that I hate bananas, just I associate them with breakfast and yogurt, so they are spoiled (so to speak) for all other usages.

Schloss Bäckerei: Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte

I overdid it this weekend, I guess, walking not running, though there should have been more eating yesterday before the walking, I think. Also more sleep would be good. Anyway, today's cake was to prevent unhealthy running rather than reward running.

This was a third cake from Schloss Bäckerei, the Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte. I generally avoid Black Forest cake but figured that this was the most cake-like thing they had, according to my definition, and were the appropriate place to get this type of cake. And I was correct about the latter, as this was excellent (though I might not be in the best state to judge). Rather than soft sponge, the biscuit was almost crisp, as I like in order to contrast with soft whipped cream. Also, the cherry was good, not being too tart. Not very chocolaty, but more chocolate would have submerged the other tastes and created a different cake that I probably would not have liked much.

So I'm satisfied that this is a Quite Good shop, down in Hiroo, that I've sufficiently sampled for now.

L'Abricotier: Sisile

Since I was free Sunday, I wanted to go somewhere I could not get elsewhere, even if it is a little out of order, so I went to L'Abricotier in Nakano-ku and got the Sisile (Sicile?), which I saw last time I was there and wanted to try. This time, I was tempted to get their Mont-Blanc, just because they make it for you special (from 11:00) and you're suppose to eat it without an hour, which makes it sound more like a café desert than take-out cake. Anyway, I got the Sisile, and I'm glad that I did. The green is pistachio, obviously from the name, and inside are both raspberry mousse and lychee mousse. I like this structure of cake and the tastes all went together. Not sure how it would stand up against great like such as I had yesterday, but I think it deserves the chance to try, so I'll say that it's great.

The afternoon was more pictures for the seventh neighborhood course, which I've already changed significantly: I'm going to have to relearn the last four courses. Lots of walking yesterday and today (some running today, just where convenient; the cake was actually by bicycle and I ate in), so some muscles are unexpectedly sore.

(Sa.) Cake-off: Éclat des Jours' Cheminée over Jean-Paul Hévin's Orly

Unfortunately, I was not fast enough with my cake-offs and JPH's Macaron Chocolat a l'Ancienne seems to have slipped away already. Instead, I switched to their Orly, although I on good authority that this one wasn't going anywhere this year, or at least until Dec. 23. I ran first to Ginza Mitsukoshi just to confirm the loss of the macaron cake. Since Orly is passion fruit and chocolate, I matched it up with Cheminée from Éclat des Jours, which is raspberry and chocolate. For various reasons (e.g., cake, health, and time), I used the train system coming back, except I walked from Otemachi to Ginza underground, which sort of wiped out a lot of those (I could have doubled back to Tokyo Station after getting the Orly, I just wanted to confirm the underground route to Ginza again.

Both cakes were still great a second time and I enjoyed them equally well, so I had to make a decision based on other factors. I'm giving the win to Chiminée on the grounds that pulled out a complicated combination or mousse, coating, and macaron, and also because JPH doesn't extra promotion, it's already the best shop.

I spent the afternoon taking pictures and the evening updating my map and making adjustments based on what I learned (running a course at night is one thing, but walking around in the day trying to find the sights that supposedly determine the course is another, and both are important).

(Fri.) Schloss Bäckerei: Chestnut Premium Chou

Since the first cake was judged excellent, I changed my plan and got cake again at Schloss Bäckerei at Isetan. I say "cake", but this was a cream puff with the top made up like a mont-blanc (they even warned me when I was buying it that it was a cream puff, not a normal mont-blanc, which I had not noticed but was okay with, due to the limited selection of cake; it is, I'm assuming, actually a bakery anyway).

For running, I tried my South Minami neighborhood running course for the first time, which I'm listed under Aoyama in my map (wish I knew why all the pictures I uploaded to the original Aoyama map are now gone). and found various problems (e.g., not crossing at a cross-walk for a two-lane road, which was true a few places) and later noticed that I left out a little park, so the maps has gotten more convoluted. It was a little under 10 km at a little under 9 km/h.

The cream puff was not even a authentic chou pastry, but the Japanese soft version, and yet, it was actually good. I've complained before about mixing custard and whipped cream, but if you add chestnut paste, which goes with whipped cream, it balances out. The soft shell holding it together was tasteless, but then it is not intended to have a taste and I'm not above enjoying Japanese-style "shuukuriimu". Since the second cake was at least good, I'll have one more on Monday and hold off on cake Tuesday.

L'Epicurien: Regalade

Today's a holiday, and I had expected to go to one of the remaining new places on my list/map but a review had me decide that I did not particularly want to visit any of them more than random unvisited shops that have nothing particularly to recommend them. Since I've already done a couple new shops this week, I was consider L'abricotier, but I thought that it would be a good time to try L'Epicurien again, which has been closed the last several times I went. Since it was going to rain all morning, this fit since they definitely are not expected to be open in the morning. I went by bicycle, and they were actually open, with lots of delicious looking backed goods and no other customers in their dark shop on a narrow street (in a very busy area, so maybe people would be by later). I got the Regalade, which is chocolate cake with a layer of pistachio cream. Generally, carry cake by bicycle destroyed it, but eating outside did not appeal to me and I did not go by a bicycle-friendly park soon enough to be tempted. I expected to have to put it back together at home, but it was fine.

It was definitely good cake, so I was quite satisfied. The pistachio did not really change a standard chocolate cake much, but it was well executed. It's not a priority for me to get back out there again (though the hand-written sign on the door said that they would be open 12 to 19 thru the 25th, so I could), but I'd take advantage of it if they visited Isetan again, if that was how I originally got a hold of their cake.

In the afternoon, only had about an hour of light to take pictures of parks, shrines, and temples in Sendagaya for my neighborhood course map, so I still have a few missed sites.

Schloss Bäckerei: Sachertorte

Took advantage of Schloss Bäckerei being at Isetan and got their Sachertorte (have to check and update, as they probably called this the Sachertorte Schloss Bäckerei), though it seems more like a truffletorte with nuts, since it has nuts and I couldn't taste apricot (again, I need to check the card and update this post). Still, it was a good solid German cake after a number of less impressive ones, so, as a first cake, I feel this was excellent and I'd like to have more before they go (not sure whether I could make their 7 pm closing time on a weekday). Still, the selection of fresh cakes is pretty limited.
The run was confirming my last change to the Jinguumae 3&r+ course (which I also shaved a corner off of). Not sure sure about the loop around Franzè & Evans, which could be shortened slightly, but I'm really to move on to the next neighborhood. I explored a little bit among the intervening neighborhoods and at least used the designated entrance for each but did not try to complete them in the light right. It was about 9 km at 9 km/h. Rather than other Ralph Lauren display window pictures, I'll note that these two buildings are next to each other on the north end of what at least becomes Cat Street to the south. This area is more street fashion than high fashion and the buildings are eclectic. I assume it developed to its present popular state by being old and relatively cheap.

(Tu) Tokyo Fuugetsudou Ginza: Framboise Chocolat

As a safety measure, and because of problems in the past, I avoided running for a full 48 hours after my flu shot. To enforce no running, I got another cake from the (self-proclaimed) patisserie next to Yotsuya Sanchoume that is within my neighborhood. It's been years since I've tried here, but not without reason. This is more of a café and it is also a chain. They've got a pretty big seating area and lots of packaged baked goods for gifts, for when you need to bring a present of food and you care enough not to just get what's sold at the convenience store, but maybe not beyond appearances. They also have a regular cake counter and probably take orders for whole cakes.

I got the Framboise Chocolat, intrigued by the idea of a chocolate raspberry dome cake. As I suspected, this was a bad idea, and it was not executed poorly, though not incompetently, so I'll hold my rating at "ok" rather than "bad". (Also, bad really requires a bad taste, and though the raspberry was not good and the chocolate left no impression at all, it was okay). Not sure why the bottom chocolate layer had a sort of chocolate ball in the middle, which was not significantly different in texture from the rest of it, being a fairly firm but not gelatinous mousse. No reason to go here instead of a chain coffee shops, at least for fresh cake. I assume that they continue to exist here because there isn't another patisserie near this station, it's part of a big chain, and the building is old so their rent is probably low, though it could be a matter of being a franchise and the owner not really having a better option at this point.

(Mon.) 14 Julliet Tokyo, Nuit Saint George

This will be quick, as there was no running. Actually this cake was reward for getting a flu shot and not running on Monday. This was the sixth cake from a potentially Quite Excellent shop, 14 Julliet Tokyo in the Shin Marunouchi Building. Unfortunately, this cassis doom cake with a layer of vanilla Bavarian cream was only good, so 14 Julliet Tokyo joins Clair de Lune down with Excellent shops and L'Abricotier rejoins the Quite Excellent shops, were Bien-Etre is the only remaining probational Quite Excellent shop. In the near term, besides new shops, I'm working to get it up to 8 cakes, Toshi Yoroizuka up to 16 cakes, and Pierre Hermé up to 32 cakes to catch up all the probational ones. Not that I'm likely to get to any of those this week, as Isetan has a new visiting Tokyo shop tomorrow for the first time in a while, Thursday is Labor Thanksgiving Day, so I'll go out by bicycle and research what great cakes are available and visit one of the few remaining recommended shops that I haven't hit, Friday will probably be a rest day from cake, though not from running (though I might get a pastry somewhere; one idea for next year is to get my pastry ratings organized and start doing at least one pastry a week), Saturday will probably be a cake-off, and then I'll hit another new shop by bicycle Sunday.

(Sun) Franzè & Evans London: Pavlova Meringue Cake and White Berry (Mini Pavlova)

Walked a little through Naitoumachi (?) and then cut over to Gaien for Ichou Namiki Avenue. Even though the temperatures dropped down to mid-December levels, not all the leaves have turned yet, but enough for them to close off the street and the crowds to show up. This is not so bad, as crowds here go, though I was happy to escape.

The goal was to down the shopping street through Jinguumae and end up at Franzè & Evans London, where I've never eaten before. We had lunch, which was good and not unreasonably priced, considering, but the goal was desert. It's not patisserie cakes. I went for the Pavlova Meringue Cake as the most promising and my date went for the White Berry (Mini Pavalova). I almost switched to the NY Cheesecake, though it had Oreos sticking up out of it, which doesn't earn my respect. Fortunately, these two cakes were different beyond just the berries. I'm not sure whether the whole cake is the more traditional version, but the meringue was much softer. 

The outside of the mini is a sweet hard meringue shell inside which is the cream. I actually preferred the more sugary latter, so I'll say that it was excellent, and this café rates Quite Good so far; not that I'm that organized about my café visiting.  

Full disclosure, we also ended up at Doutur (because there were no seats at the Marui Starbucks) and someone wanted to try the Two-Layer Cheesecake, which is just ok, as one would expect.

(Sat.) Vegetable Café Dono: Caramel Poire

I was busy this weekend and before, preparing, so I'm days behind. I'll mention first that Friday was a run without cake, as promised. I verified that my adjusted course through southeast Sendagaya was reasonable. I did check my map once, but sine it confirmed what I suspected, I shouldn'T have any trouble with the new part.

Saturday was cycling. It was colder and wetter than I would have liked. I need to dress a little warmer next time, though I was much heavier dressed than I would for a run that did not involve snow. The goal was to visit Yu Sasage and see weather a cake I had in august would be available for my next cake-off, which it won't back, so I've have to rearrange my line-ups. I'm down to just a few cakes that are available, but I'm I'll only do one before December, when I except some new cakes will be available (Viron told me to expect one and Jean-Paul Hévin still has a number of things that I did not get to last time around.

The nearest new recommend place was Dono, which is a vegetable café, but I decided that I'd give them a try. It was good that I was running late, because I had written down that they open at 10, but they actually open 11, and they did not open on time. They are in middle of a complex of city government buildings, sort of like a juice stand in a quarry. However, there was a group picking up prepared lunches for some group before me, so apparently even on a Saturday, some people find them. There were only a few cakes. Actually, I choice the Caramel Poire rather than one of the actual vegetable ones (I can only remember clearly one cake than mine, but there might have been some sort of roll cake). The pear gelatin put up more resistance to my fork than expected, but the texture turned out to be okay. It took most of the cake to decide, but ultimately I resolved that it was good cake. It was less than 200 kcal, so pretty low sugar for caramel, but that worked in its favor, so they have my respect even if I prefer much more decadent cake.

Cake-off: Jean-Paul Hévin's Feuilletine Praliné over Bigarreaux's Le Plaisir

As planned, I took advantage of Bigarreaux's simultaneous reintroduction of their Le Plaisir and their visit at Isetan to do a midweek cake-off. I took a chance, in that I didn't confirm that Bigarreaux even had their Le Plaisir at Isetan or that it was not sold out before buying the  Feuilletine Praliné at Jean-Paul Hévin because I saw that there was only one of the latter left. Fortunately, it worked out fine (Bigarreaux's was not mobbed on a Thursday; Friday would be harder day, but I would have asked to reserve me a cake for tomorrow if either had been sold out and I hope that it would have been possible, though I've never tried it).

The run was to try my neighborhood run around Omotesando Hills. I had included some more little parks, including one I've now just labeled as No-name Shibuya-ku Park, since it is maintained by that park system but does not seem to merit a name (which is understandable). Also, I expanded my runs farther into the interial, which I'm less thrilled with. Narrow dark streets are not so fun (it was nice to reach the temple and graveyard, as that is a lot less creepy than in interial road going by a dark educational institute---at least that as much as the sign told me) and streets with fast moving taxis are also no fun, so I'm bumping my made back to the main street and shrinking a new loop back to just running around the block. It was 8+ km at about 9 km/h.


Cake-off: these were both definitely great cakes, so I'm completely satisfied with no cake tomorrow and heading out to explore a new place Saturday morning. Both are chocolate, but the Le Plaisir has caramel and orange, whereas Feuilletine Praliné has, obviously praliné, as well as meringue. The Le Plaisir would probably win against an average great cake, if there is such a think, but the Feuilletine Praliné is so great and so much of what I like that it is not hard to select it as the winner. I high recommend getting either both before they stop being available.

I'll probably wait at least a week before the next cake-off, but I can justify the high frequency back a backlog of JPH cakes and hope that more ones will appear in December (though I'm not sure what will be left to match them against unless I find some more great cakes soon: November hasn't been very productive in that way. 

Clair de Lune: Passion Chocolat

Did a fast run to Clair de Lune. Got hot on the way there, but it was a clear night and I expected the temperature to drop, as well as my speed. This was a run for my sixth cake from this shop and the second since I promoted them tentatively to Quite Excellent. I choose the Passion Chocolat (I might have gotten that backwards, as I wasn't looking at the card when I wrote it down). I ate in, as the picture shows. This was definitely good cake, but fruitier than I like: I prefer the chocolate to dominate, and passion fruit is pretty strong, and this does not skimp. Also, this is very soft in a creamy way (versus a light mousse), so I'm not that thrilled by the engineering, being a step toward pudding on a biscuit, though just a step. However, I don't want to loose sight that this was a definitely good cake, if not the level I was hoping for, so they have a place as an Excellent shop (which isn't bad: in the top 28 of Tokyo shops). The way is now clear to promote L'Abricotier back up to Quite Excellent now, but there is no hurry while I'm still working through other recent promotions.

I was running pretty fast I think (there's always the chance that I just mistimed, but I don't think so): 11 km/h there and 9 km/h back, which is not too bad for +8 km each way.

Plans for the next three days are to run every day, do one cake-off and one new shop. If I can get do the cake-off on a weekday (tricky), then I'll go to a distant recommended shop. Otherwise, I'll do a neighborhood one that I haven't blogged yet. I suppose eventually I get around to cake at other local chain coffee shops and general cafés, but there is no hurry for that, either.

Jean-Paul Hévin: chocolat chaud and macarons

No new cake or cake-off today, but did get a little shared Orly at Jean-Paul Hévin's at Marunouchi. My order, though, was Chocolat Chaud Framboise Yuzu and two macarons: Super Amer and Pablino. The hot chocolate was good, but I think I prefer just the raspberry without the yuzu. If I ever get serious about macaron, I'm going to have to really deliberate about how to rate these, as I think my current ratings are pretty unreliable. These certainly are a good texture and taste so I'm going to say that both are excellent. All the macarons are pretty much straight chocolate, unlike at others of their shops. These were "super" bitter, that is, dark, and ones made with Pablino chocolate, which is a line made from a Peruvian chocolate.

The run was neighborhood courses again. My app is still refusing to track me, so it seems to be some kind of energy-saving feature blocking the GPS feature. Note sure whether I've got it switched off again. Might have to go into the shop or Google the problem in Japanese to find the right setting to fix it. Anyway, I expanded the Southeast Sendagaya course to try to include Senjuin (a Buddhist temple) better and rearranged the Jinguumae 3 & 4 and east KitaAoyama 3 map to stay off the main north street, which I didn't like jogging, and to include a couple parks on back streets around public housing that Google Maps doesn't identify. I ran 50 minutes, but I've already changed the map, so I'm not sure how far or fast I ran.

Cake-off: Jean-Paul Hévin's Longchamp Chocolate Noir over Les Cacaos's Cuba

Did a run down to Les Cacaos of Cuba to match against Jean-Paul Hévin's Longchamp Chocolat Noir. First, though, I got some photos to complete at least the first three courses on the neighborhood map.

I can back by train, to protect the cake and to motivate me to take the time to get some pictures. This was a difficult match-up, as neither of these is dramatically great, but I'm not revising either one down. The Cuba has an interesting bitter taste, maybe caramel, that is interesting in a mousse dome cake, and the Longchamp Chocolat Noir is nuts, chocolate, mousse, and sugary meringue, which all sounds good and they maintain the quality not to disappoint me. In the end, I'm going with the JPH, though it would have been nice if Cuba had won to give me an excuse to try another cake from there. Maybe next year, if they can win the second-round runner's-up cake-off match-up.

I ran almost 14 km, but I'm my time does not seem correct. I though it would be too much, because I found the chronometer running when it shouldn't have been, but apparently, that was because it was not running when it should have been, because, though I was not being slow, 11 km/m seems high, so I'm writing down as 10 km/h.

(Sat.) Éclat des Jours: Tarte Citron

Yesterday, I went out by bicycle and first again went to Éclat des Jours in response to their cake-off win. Unfortunately, they don't add new cakes very frequently, so it the pretty much the same old stuff that I've already had 9 cakes from. However, I've only had one of their several tarts, so I went with Tarte Citron. This is a little tough to evaluate, because though I like this type of tart, my interest in fruit tarts is still limited. This one was definitely good, and after long deliberation, I decided that it probably should qualify as excellent, so I'm going with that, which ups their numerical rating somewhat. Maybe I'll try the pistachio and cherry with coconut cream éclair next time. I ate it outside in the nearby park. Notice that they gave me a completely unnecessary spoon-like utensil. Of course, some tarts do break apart when cut or bit into, but this one could be eaten with one's hands (plus, I have extra utensils that I carry for the very reason that places sometimes give you things without asking).

Just because it's a noticeable landmark along the way, I took a picture of the "Wise Owl Hostels". I'm a little far away from it, but the lamppost tends to block letters of the sign from the next nearer corner.

The rest of the day was cycling to Jiyuugaoka, then Youga, and then in a sharp >-shaped course back to a little north of Youga (I was making good distance, so I didn't stop to check my map to see why I wasn't arriving somewhere familiar faster). The only useful information I got was that Bigarreaux finally has their specialty Le Plaisir in their line-up so that I can do a cake-off with it. It's probably also not a coincidence that they visit Isetan again from this coming Wednesday, so I think I'll do a midweek Cake-off this week with it and a JPH cake (I've got four of them available that I haven't done yet) and then maybe use the weekend to head somewhere new. There may also be some pseudo-new shops this month, as I get cakes from shops on my neighborhood map that I've never actually posted on, which I just did with Nana Gâteaux, which I had not known existed. Both Joshi+ and Sweet Sonobe seem to be off on posting about cakes, so all I've got is Isetan's visiting shops for info on new cake shops, and they tend to be the same old places.

Bien-être: Sicilienne

I'm getting behind again on posting, and can only partially blame it on fiddling with my neighborhood map (although I've added photographs to all but 4 places of the SE of Yotsu 3-choume Station, which is the biggest neighborhood map).

Friday night, went for a sixth cake to Bien-être, in the Yoyogi area (actually Uehara) and got Sicilienne for eating in. This was pistachio again from them, this time with cassis (black current. The bottom is a sort crunch chocolate slab. The top layers is pistachio gelatin which easily peels off. The cassis layer is a little wet and is surrounded by regular cake (somewhere between sponge and biscuit). The gelatin put me off, though it was not too bad. Actually, it was definitely good, but was more a sort of traditional sugary fruity cake than I'm very excited about, so it was somewhat disappointing. But still, definitely good, which is a step up from the previous day perfectly respectable.

Place around with finding an alternate route and repeated past mistakes then left me looping back to my starting road at one point (but further in the correct direction), so I ran 11+ km rather than the ~10 km that I could do it in by my usual route (which is not the shortest route, which I may try again now that I know that jogging through Harajuku at night is fine (it's not too crowded).

Nana Gâteaux: Mont-Blanc

Did a (two-) neighborhood run and also got a cake from a new (for me) neighborhood shop, Nana Gâteaux, in Sendagaya, which is a neighborhood that I'm not that familiar with. The shop is sort of a café, though they told me no eating in today (I was arriving ten minutes before closing, which is only 7 pm, so I was not surprised). Eventually I'll get around to taking pictures of it in the day time, but I haven't finished with my Shinjuku neighborhoods yet for that. I jogged with the cake and finished both of my latest neighbor routes, Sendagaya and (north) Jinguumae, without mistakes and without looking at the map, so gone ahead and tentatively made the one for northeast Harujuku-Omotesandou (central Jinguumae), which is simple, so I should learn the route, at least, quickly. I need to catch up on the photos and learning the names.

The Mont-blanc was fine. It certain would not challenge any of the better shops, but I'm not sure about less shops, as I usually would not go straight for Mont-blanc, but the selection was limited as expect. Not very big or particular cheap for the size. I'm kind of whining, which it probably does not deserve. Anyway, I'll call it good and not expect to be back there any time soon, which is the best I expected from a random shop.

Clair de Lune: Saint-marc

Decided to do another long run to one of the three shops new to the Quite Excellent category, Clair de Lune. Roundtrip, about 17 km, with a low 10 km/h out and a low 9 km/h back, which is still faster than I expected, since I had a long run Monday and another run Tuesday, so was still a little creaky, though not so stiff.

I past last time, so this time I took the Saint-marc. This is a simple cake that I like. This one was not particularly special among saint-marc, but they did a good job so I'm rating it excellent.

Was surprised to find myself running through a shopping arcade (though I often start on one main east-west street going back and work my way down to the next main one as the stoplights require. This is apparently Satake shopping street. Obviously, things close down mostly by 8:30, which is not very surprising.

Frédéric Cassel, Tarte Noisette

Decided to do the cake for Frédéric Cassel's last cake-off win. I went a long way relatively fast yesterday, so I just did 9 km/h both ways for about 9 km. The US visit police presence and road barricades around Yotsu Station and Hibiya Park were gone, not that they affected me much either way.

The cake was Tarte Noisette, which is, bottom to top, praliné, hazenut-flavored chocolate ganache filling, and white chocolate & Guérande salted hazelnut whipped ganache. It was excellent nutty goodness, as expected. Glad to get a chance to try this. Of course, they have a couple other hazelnut things, as this month's theme, that I probably won't get to, as I'm behind on other shops and the theme will change again next month, no doubt.

[Sat. thru Mon.] Jean-Paul Hévin: Kouglof Chocolat & Kouglof Chocolat Caramel Salé

I'm behind posting. Part of that is too much time fiddling with my Neighborhood map, for which I took a bunch of pictures for parts of the SE of Yotsuya 3choume neighborhood, which has 55 total items (about half temples, but also shrines, parks, churches, cake shops, and similar), which I've finally fully memorized. Still need to attach all the photos I have, but some of them need fixing (the ones taken vertically need to be edited and saved twice in order for them to appear correct).

Cake was a visit to the Jean-Paul Hévin chocolate bar at Isetan, where I got the kouglof cake set which gives you slices of both the chocolate and chocolate salted caramel version) with Chocolat Chaud Framboise (I think; haven't been studying my French). This came with whipped cream for the cake, which otherwise does not really qualify as "fresh" cakes, since it's more like a torte, though I am not yet making that distinction, since I don't usually by pound cake, or "weekend cake" or other cakes that you aren't told to eat that day. The cake was definitely good, but no competition for their usual fresh cakes, and the hot chocolate was excellent, which is better than average, I suppose.

Running for the weekend did not come until Friday night, where I just missed completing the Sendagaya neighborhood run without mistakes (I added Sendagaya 4choume Children's Play Park, which Google doesn't identify and turned too early on the new leg), so I think I'll be okay going forward and try a longer run with this as a component. I also did a run through the next one south, which is centered around Jinguumae 3choume, looking frequently at my phone. Found one part quickly where I'm going to need to turn back toward the center to find a crosswalk without a crossing light, but the bigger problem is the bridge on the southeast is closed for construction, so I can't use it to connect to the Aoyama course. To get there account to my rules, I need to construct the map for the neighborhood north of Omotesando Station and the connecting one for South Aoyama to come on the Aoyama one from the south. I ran about 10 km total at 9 km/h. Monday, I ran 21+ km at 10+ km/h out and 9+ km/h back with no cake to show for it, but I was still feeling bloated from the rest of the weekend (after JPH), that I'm fine with just adding some pasta and tomato to dinner rather than something sweet.

Cake-off: Frédéric Cassel's Breteuil versus L'Abricotier's Sicilien Figue

Did a run out to L'Abricotier to get a Sicilien Figue to do a cake-off against Frédéric Cassel's Breteuil, a greate cake that finally became available again that was bottom of my list (for some reason, by list is from most recent cake to most in the past) for a cake-off. The run was short of 10 km, due to walking from Isetan to the northwest edge of the main Shinjuku underground tunnel system, despite running down from L'Abricotier to the Marunouchi Line, which is about another 1.5 km. I justified my laziness by the fact that I had ran the night before, I was going to busy this weekend and still had things to do in preparation the required physical energy, so I didn't want to exhaust myself running Friday (it's Culture Day, so three-day weekend), and running carrying cake does not seem good for tendinitis in the arms, which I still have concerns about. I took the train all the way to Ginza (on the same train, which is why I didn't use the nearest line from L'Abricotier) to get the second cake and then took the train home (because, by that point, the first cake was loosing it's ice and if running carrying cake is bad, then running carrying two cakes is twice as bad).

Suspecting a problem, I started with a bite of Sicilien Figue. It had a distinctive fig and pistachio taste that had caught my attention previously to make me designate it as great. Then I started on the Breteuil, which is a super-rich pistachio dome cake; I should dislike it for being a gelatinous (though not sticky) dome cake, it is is so rich, that gelatinousness was not an issue. As a result, the Breteuil easily won the cake-off and I have to give the Sicilient Figue the benefit of the doubt that it really was great, because it's hard to evaluate anything remotely subtle between bites of Breteuil. If you like pistachio, you should definitely get over to Ginza Mitsukoshi and try this.

14 Juillet Tokyo: Délice Cassis Marron

Ran out to 14 Juillet Tokyo for a fifth cake, and also toured the shops of interest in the Marunouchi-Kyoubashi-Ginza area without finding anything interesting except that Frédéric Cassel still has one of their standard cakes that they just put back in their line-up, so no surprise. On the way, I saw this shop, Christa, open for the first time along the main road. I've never been there, or their incarnation under their previous unfortunate name, but they're the Neues guys, so I have them covered. Still, I should cake something from them some time just to be neighborly.

The cake, Délice Cassis Marron, was simple and cheap, which is not a bad thing. Shockingly, the cake is mostly (spongy) cake, though you can see some cassis (black currant) and marron (chestnut) layers in there. Had it with Earl Grey. It was good and I have no complaints about the quality, but my preference is toward something more decadent.

Pierre Hermé: Yu

Did another neighborhood run to learn the Southeast Sendagaya course. Made too early a turn after the station where I changed the map (or tried to; Google reverted it) and overshot going around Zuienji loop, the southeast one, and apparently ended up going around it twice, which surprized me at the time, since I though I reverse direction at one point and went around a corner, but quickly found that I hadn't, but at least it gave me another chance to make the correct turn turns. I also followed the course south of Shinjuku Gyoen over where I messed it up and confirmed that I could do it correctly (at least until the bypass get's finished and that area gets cut off). Total, I think I did about 9 km (including 3 pedestrian bridge crossings) at a low -9 km/h.

New month and new cakes at Pierre Hermé. Rather than following this month's theme, vanilla (which I've had the main one already), I chose Yu, which is yuzu-flavored apple compote inside praliné mousseline on top of hazelnut dacquoise surrounded by milk chocolate. It looks good and has good ingredients of no doubt high quality, but it is all overly mild for me. At the very least, dark chocolate would be an improvement, I think. Still good, but someone it seemed dry, maybe. I had it with Earl Grey tea, so maybe milk as a drink or a side of rich vanilla ice cream would make this better.