Il Fait Jour: Mousse Chocolat

Got my cake through Isetan from Il Fait Jour, which are otherwise not convenient. This sixth cake was Mousse Chocolat. It was good, being similar to other chocolate mousse cakes, with some sort of Bavarian cream in the middle, probably (I didn't look at the card). The cake and the shop overall, however, isn't that exceptional, so I'll demote them to the quite good group of cake shops and maybe never get back to them for a seventh.

The running was a neighborhood run again, a little under an hour. I'm still working on recently changed loops. At least I finally was able to do the west Shinanomachi one clockwise (which seems like the harder direction). It's only all the dead-ends that make it hard to remember, though if I paid better attention, they might all be marked by traffic signs. I failed at doing the Sendagaya central loop counterclockwise (messed up the turn at the new south corner, which gave me trouble clockwise as well), but at least I could finish off confirming both directions for the Sendagaya southeast loop, which goes through the tunnel under Zuienji.

Bien-être: Martinique

Did a run to Bien-être, since I knew they had new cakes as of last Saturday, so I hoped the Christmas cakes would be over and I could get something my size. New things included a tart, a couple roll cakes, and one fancy cake, the Martinique. This is a thick banana, raisin, and rum tart on the bottom and an ample amount of white chocolate ganache flavored with vanilla. My first impression was that it was probably excellent. Certainly, its a lot of cake for its size, since it's dense. I was hoping for great, since JPH's pistachio mont-blanc is back and I haven't done a first-round cake-off with it. I've got a little more than two weeks to find something, and of course I'd like to do second and third rounds after that, before it disappears again. Unfortunately, this was not the great cake. It was excellent when I was eating it, so I'm sticking with that, but I think especially paired with rum, the banana taste lingers, which I'm really not fond of. Maybe I should have gone with the pastachio and apricot tart. I'm almost caught up with this shop, or at least It's now one of many that I'm ready to get one cake from.

Running back, I worked in some neighborhood course loops on the west side, so I've now got both ways for the Sendagaya west loop and clockwise for the Jinguumae northwest and west loops. Yesterday (Christmas) I messed up again on the west side of Yotsuya, but at least I got clockwise for Sendagaya central and southeast right. That was not a very long run, less than 60 minutes, though intense running up and down stairs cutting through the nation stadium station tunnels and then going through Wakaba and Suga in Yotsuya. I repeated the subway route today in a 90+ minute run, but didn't need to get groceries, so I didn't have to go as far as Suga Shrine.

Cake-off: Bien-être's Framboisier over Cacao Store (Théobroma)'s San Juaquin Dos

Thursday, having already had three weekday cakes, I ran again for cake-off research, this time to the Yoyogi area, where I had more success. Cacao Store promised to have their (actually, Théobroma's) San Juaquin Dos through Saturday. Bien-être admitted the possibility of something, but probably not Framboisier, which they had in stock at that time, but it was too late to go back to Cacao Store. 

So Friday after, after failing again elsewhere, I visited both and got the desired cakes, moving up the cake off by one day. I suspect that the Framboisier was left over from the previous day, but some cakes age better. No running Friday, just cycling. These are both pretty standard cakes, which is why I designated them great to begin with, but this time I was not convinced that San Juaquin Dos really belongs, though it is excellent as a dense chocolate cake that probably also can survive more than one day. More importantly, Bien-être had several new cakes on Friday, so I hope they will still have them when Christmas cake season ends.

Saturday I got my flu shot, so I took it easy. I still went out by bicycle to buy some chocolate for baking, take a picture Lotus, a café in Jinguumae that does cakes until 4 am, and got a Pain au Chocolat from Shibuichi Bakery. The pastry wasn't that impressive, though it was still somewhat good.

Sunday, I had repeats of cakes and no running. JPH cakes are still excellent.

Monday, I went for a long run to add a bunch of loops to my neighborhood course by doing a one-way neighborhood course run, which is taking a lot of time to update (partially because I found mistakes from last time I updated it to add loops). I don't usually try to combine photo-taking with the first such run, but I wanted to make use of the opportunity. I'm working on the path west from Roppongi Hills to connect up to loops that I previously thought I could only get to by a longer way circling around from the north. It was about 2 hours of running, plus walking and taking pictures. At L'Atelier du Pain, there just south of Roppongi Hills, I got a Pain au Chocolat. Though it's not looking so symmetric, you can see on the left that it's got proper layering and that it's well baked, so actually it was excellent. Usually I never go to Roppongi Hills, so it's not that convenient a shop, but it's at about the 1 hour mark, so next time I go out for a neighborhood run along that route, I can stop there again.

Jean-Paul Hévin, Bûchette Venezia

Got the last of this year's individual versions of Jean-Paul Hévin's Christmas cakes, Bûchette Venezia. This one will "make you think of coffee" and has "hidden tiramisu", so there is not much guess about the taste. This is about the right level of tiramisu for me and balances well with the chocolate. Of the three cakes, this was actually best as far is being more interesting a taste, although the flip side of that is I'm more interested in having the other two cakes again, for comparison to each other to get a feel for what's different. The sheets of chocolate on the outside aren't that great an idea, structurally. Even in the shop, they were falling off today and both had fallen off on mine by the time I got the cake unpacked home. Accidentally dropped one trying to put it back together, fortunately in a clean spot. On the other hand, I'm finally used to deal with them now: my strategy as pull them off the cake and quarter them and then lay one quarter on one slice of the rest of the cake.

For running, I took an easy run out to Ginza to see whether there was any possibility of doing a cake-off this weekend. I'm already resigned to skipping and doing none cake, since Christmas cake is where the profit is for the shops, so that's what they are focusing on. I already know that L'Abricotier is out for Saturday, Origines Cacao has individual cakes on Saturday at Isetan (visiting shop), but not the one I want, and their Ginza 6 shop has the one I want, but Thursday is the last day until after Christmas. F. Cassel is selling individual cakes, but not the cream puff that I want until after Christmas. My plan is to hit Yoyogi tomorrow evening and ask a couple shops there what they are up to.

Jean-Paul Hévin, Bûchette Kyoto

Tuesday, as the second Jean-Paul Hévin Christmas cake, I got the Bûchette Kyoto, which has chestnut cream and matcha, as well as chocolate, but in structure is basically the same as yesterday's cake. It was also excellent, but the chocolate dominates in either case, so not a huge difference.

For the running, I tackled a clockwise runs of a new group of neighborhood course loops. As usual, I failed in the hard ones but could do the easy ones. Also as usual, I revised both the hard ones, not necessarily to make them any easier, but to make them make more sense to me, so they'll be different next time I try them. I expect I'll do all the same ones tomorrow, but better and in the opposite direction in the most cases.

Jean-Paul Hévin, Bûchette P'tit Train

It's the week before Christmas, so Christmas cakes at Jean-Paul Hévin are my top priority. Monday, I was prepared to be disappointed on the first day, but they had full stocks of all three. I went with the Bûchette P'tit Train this time, which is citrus and something I didn't recognize and the Internet says is "timut pepper", though it seems to go by a lot of other names.

For running, I did the counterclockwise runs on the neighborhood course: the Samonchou loop and the Minami-Motomachi--Wakaba--Yotsuya--Sugachou--Shinanomachi loop with no problems. I thought Sendagaya--Kasumigaokamachi--Minami-Motomachi link the bridge was closed, but just parts are fenced off. So that's four loops down and a lot to go, but the second one is pretty complicated.

The cake was good quality. It has chocolate mousse, but is actually pretty heavy as JPH cakes go. It's excellent and I recommend it to anyone who likes chocolate cake.

Cake-off: Paris S'éveille's Gateau Vanille over Sadaharu Aoki's Saint-marc Praliné

Sunday, I had some appointments. Got up early and did a one-way neighborhood course run to add the Nishi-azabu--Minamiazabu loop, down next to Roppongi Hills. I thought I would have time to do some of the nearby little loops and take some pictures, but I only had two hours. On the way, and on the target loop, I visited Café 3206 and got a Pain au Chocolat, which is pretty good before 8 a.m. on the Sunday.

After my 10 a.m. appointment, I went out again to visit Paris S'éveille, which has two great cakes I want to do second rounds on. I went with the last Gateau Vanille, though they had the other target cake. I took that home and did my 14:30 appointment. For the second cake, I tried going to L'Abricotier, but they were sold out this time (it was pretty late, so I don't blame them too much). I asked about reserving it for Saturday (though I should have asked about Friday as well, since I could get there). I figured that I got do better where things start and end latter, in the Marunouchi/Ginza area. That worked: I got Sadaharu Aoki's Saint-marc Praliné, which runs to March. I'm happy to report that both these are great. I have to give the win to the Gateau Vanille, which might be the best vanilla cake that I know. Saint-marc Praliné is maybe not my favorite Saint-marc, but I appreciate the variation.

Qu'il Fait Bon, Lectier Pear and Cheese Soufflé Tart and Red Fruit and Chocolate Mousse Tart

Friday, I was busy. Saturday, went to a neighborhood (running course) café for cake sets for two at Qu'il Fait Bon as a first visit. This down near Omotesandou Station, in Minamiaoyama. I've seen some long lines there, so I had wanted arrive at first opening, but there were other things do, so I wasn't even close. However, no problem; not sure why. It was a little strange, because the café section is small and on one side and then there's a big glass case in the middle with their tarts and then they are doing sales of those on the other end. No one was on the café telling being who want to enter what to do, but we just had to sit down in an open seat.

We got two tarts (and drinks): Lectier Pear and Cheese Soufflé Tart and
Red Fruit and Chocolate Mousse Tart. I didn't choose but I was consulted. The pear tart was a custard tart (the cheese was fine, but acted as a sort of base) and the pear was quite nice; I didn't really have an idea what lectier pear tasted like, and maybe I still don't know what's distinct about it, but it was good and went well with the custart, and the crust seemed nice too. We agreed that the Red Fruit and Chocolate Mousse Tart was not as good. Chocolate mousse is that that simple to combine with other things; this tart would have been better without in (though I suppose that would depend on what they replaced it with). One definitely good cake/tart and one so-so kind of good tart means that I'll likely never get back there. It was also agree that homemade fondant were better, though I still need to get back to developing those. Instead, I did a cake-off and lots of running, but I don't have today to write about that.

In the evening of Saturday, I did a neighbor run and was successful in all four loops: Samonchou loop clockwise (I expanded it, so I had to do it again), Sagachou loop counterclockwise, Minami-Motomachi--Wakaba--Yotsuya--Sugachou--Shinanomachi loop clockwise, (trivially) the Shinanomachi loop counterclockwise. I'll need to do the first and third again counterclockwise before moving on on the review.

Frédéric Cassel, Planifolia

Did a run to Frédéric Cassel in Ginza Mitsukoshi, going for the second of three new cakes for the month. Was able to get one, Planifolia, as in vanilla. This is white chocolate vanilla mousse with strawberry (inside as well) accented with raspberry, and two kinds of biscuit. I really like white chocolate, the vanilla is good, the fruit harmonizes well without taking over, and the biscuits are excellent, though I'm not sure what they are; rather crispy in a cookie-like way, so maybe one is shortbread? Definitely excellent. This is the other small version of one of the two main Christmas cakes. Still would like to get the strawberry tart.

Toshi Yoroizuka: Käse

Wednesday, I did a fairly short run down to Toshi Yoroizuka at Tokyo Midtown, since I owed them two new cakes for two cake-off wins. The Käse was recommended and the other two options did not stand out, so I got it. It was advertised as a cheese soufflé with a deep flavor, but it was about as boring as I would expect cheese soufflé to be. It might have been deep as soufflé go; it's really hard to for me to tell. But there was nothing wrong with it, so I'll rate it good. Certainly I can imagine times when this was just what was called for.

Bien-être: Seasonal Tart (berries)

Did a run to Bien-être, who I'm still trying to catch up with Paris S'éveille as superb shops. I got the Seasonal (Fruit) Tart again, since the season has changed. It's cold and rainy, but not windy and the rain was not heavy, so I wasn't uncomfortable. A counter seat was open, so I ate in. I'm not that excited by tarts, which is why I waited pretty late to have the first one and I guess I'm already tired of this one, or maybe it's just that I don't like strawberries much. It was good and no complaint about the quality, I just am not that into the fruit. The new cake right now is a strawberry mille-feuille, which I'm not sure whether I'd like better. Maybe I'll find out next week. I was not tempted to walk back (though I did have a pocket umbrella with me). I'm still building up my amount of exercises to strengthen my ankles: up to 100 one-food hops on each side and then the same number of ankle raises (or whatever you call raising to tip-toe). This time I did 10 on a step, though both feet at the same time in both cases.

Ryoura: Mille-feuille

Sunday, I got up early and did a long run out toward Ryoura. On the way, I finished checking and photographing landmarks along my largest potential loop, about 35 km in total if I run it all at once. I was out about 3 hours, most of that running. I decided to finally try their Mille-feuille, since it's a standard and they usually have a variation as well, which one of once (not they're onto a different variation). It was excellent mille-feuille, no complaints, but of course it's just flaky pastry, custard, and a little sugar, so it's hard to get too excited about it. I was better about stretching as I went, which made a difference for my feet, so I might actually be able to run long enough to do the new loop I finished charting Sunday. In the evening, I tried to make chocolate cakes again, following the recipe better than last time to hopefully get better results but had the opposite. My chocolate ganache cores are too big and I didn't push them down enough into the cake batter. Also, too much total batter, so they swelled and cracked.

Monday, I took a rest from buying cake and did a review run of the first three loops, worried that I'm not actually as familiar with what I've already added to the course, so I shouldn't be in a hurry to add more loops. As a remedy, I'm planning to redo all until I can do them both directions without reviewing them beforehand. I could do the first two short ones clockwise, but the third one I haven't done clockwise much and I failed near the end, so I'll try doing the whole loop again (if I failed at the end, I might have just gotten lucky elsewhere). The fondant came out better, though the ganache is still too big and even making 5 instead of 4, they were a little big (though the biggest was due to an air bubble at the top. Still, good enough to photograph.

Cake-off: Toshi Yoroizuka's Cassis over Bien-être's Chocolat Cuit

Friday, I did a local run to add the Minami-Aoyama 3&4 loop, which requires using subway access stairs to cross the road. Since the area is completely surrounded by other neighborhood loops, I'm allowing it, though I think I'll keep expanding elsewhere without using the subway accesses for now. I'll need some more practice or that loop, but it's pretty simple, so it shouldn't take much. I stopped at Breadworks again, this time for a pastry. There aren't a lot of choices in that category, but they had a Whole Wheat Croissant. It was good, but definitely whole wheat while being a real pastry (not just ordinary bread shaped like a croissant), with flaky layers. Other options on this course are a chocolate place that isn't cheap, a couple cake shops, and a bakery café next to one of the subway entrances. I'm counting this run as a one-way neighborhood run, though I couldn't use the normal course, as they have the pedestrian bridges over Omotesandou blocked off at night to keep people from going up there to take photographs of the street. People are always doing that any time of the day and year, but now there is an illumination display along Omotesandou, so they could get dangerously crowded.

Saturday, was cake-off day. My morning appointment was canceled, but I didn't leave so early and collected half a dozen photos on the way for neighborhood sites leading to Pâtisserie l'abricotier (which could ultimately be on the course, if it ever extends that far). Unfortunately, even arriving 1 hour after opening was too soon by an hour to get what I wanted, so I need to go back at noon, maybe Sunday next weekend, though I've got some appointments that might make a cake-off difficult. So I used my back-up, Bien-être, which would be another 6 km, but I practiced some neighborhood loops (where I didn't need photographs), and it was farther. No trouble getting Chocolat Cuit. From there, I ran a little but mostly walked to Tokyo Midtown to get the main goal, Cassis from Toshi Yoroizuka. The walking was partially to project my cake but partially because my right foot wasn't so great (fine now). I haven't been having trouble when not running, and have gotten lax about stretching. I'll try to do better tonight and tomorrow. I came back by train with too cakes, though that still involved more than 1 km walking (since I wasn't willing to do transfers, especially not to different lines).

I'm happy to report that I definitely still think both these cakes are great. I couldn't say that one was better than the other eating them, so I'm giving the win to Toshi Yoroizuka, because its has the most fig of cakes in cake-offs and there are lots of versions of chocolate cake (though none like this one, so I could justify either). Another excuse is that Toshi Yoroizuka ranks lower, so it needs the support more.

Éclat des Jours, Palet de Chocolat Spicy

Took a half-day off and ran to Éclat des Jours. Fortunately, the rain came earlier than predicted today, so it was just wet by the time I was running. Today, this time imperial movements closed off sidewalks north from Hibiya Park, but I could go straight there, so no problem, though I would have turned if I could have, just because the light was red going straight. I stopped on the way at Toshi Yoroizuka and verified that they still have Cassis, which I'd like to get this weekend. At Éclat des Jours, I decided to go with the new thing, Palet de Chocolat Spicy (I think they wrote "Palait", so this is my spelling, which matches the official Japanese-spelled pronunciation). This is a simple chocolate mousse cake made up of a flour-less chocolate biscuit, chocolate mousse, and apricot coulis (thick sauce) to show off The Cacao Professionals Spicy Fruit (Meiji The Cacao), which, as the name implies, they don't sell to just ordinary folks, apparently. Anyway, it was excellent.

Frédéric Cassel, Manpari

Went out to Ginza to try one of this month's new cakes from Frédéric Cassel. I was thinking that I would get the strawberry tart, but got pulled in by the Manpari, which is the individual version of one of their Christmas cakes. This is raspberry and chocolate, which are well balanced, with some feuilletine in there to give it some nutty crunchiness for texture, so another excellent cake.

Interesting events were getting warned off from thinking I was going to cross an intersection by a Japanese official (?) who thanked me later (In English both times) because the the signal was frozen because the Japanese emperor's motorcade was about to go by (which passed me fairly soon, as did the official, so I probably could have waited), and then picking up a dropped train pass and trying to turn it at the police box just up the course, but having him ask me to take it over the police station (which I and the police station found a little funny).

Bien-être, Houjicha Tarte Chocolat

Monday, I did muscle training inside and baked fondant/moelleux chocolat, which I did not do perfectly correctly, but good enough to be worth doing even if I don't improve it. I chilled the batter for the cake too much and maybe pushed the ganache part too deeply, as the fondant version leaked through the bottom, though no trouble with the moelleux version, which I used molds for, so I'll try again when I can buy more chocolate and post a picture here if they turn out better. After that, I'll start modifying the recipe to make darker chocolate (omit milk and maybe some of the sugar from the ganache, and maybe reduce the butter in the cake part). Of course, I recognize that the quality of the chocolate (and probably the cream and butter, if I want to worry about them) matter, so I'll be tempted to upgrade those once I get the construction down.

Tuesday, I went out to Bien-être, since I say that they had three new cakes over the weekend. I was surprised that they had all three in stock, since they tend to sell out. It was not like they were not busy when I went, at least in the café, though parfait seem to be the main attraction. I choose the Houjicha Tarte Chocolat, versus season versions of things I've had before. The tea taste was not too strong, but enough that it harmonized with the chocolate to create a different taste. The quality was good and I would say that it was excellent. I had a sequence of five potential back-ups that I could probably have checked in sequence and caught them open, if I had needed them, and recalled another on the way back, though that one might have thrown off my time enough that I couldn't make all five of the others. Maybe next time. I've almost brought Bien-être up to the target level, but I'll need those other two cakes.

Cake-off:Toshi Yoroizuka's Saint Marc over Bien-être's Mont-Blanc

Sunday, I got up at an only slightly more reasonable 6:00, though it was so cloudy that it seemed earlier. This time I was racing only my plan to arriving at Toshi Yoroizuka at Tokyo Midtown, not meeting anyone who was expecting me, so less pressure. As it happened, I could have been another several minutes later, since the Saint Marc were not ready.

I successfully finished all the planned parts of Azabu (south, west, base, and #10). I ran most of it, but didn't feel obligated to. Found some locations that I had previously missed and even had time to figure out the area around Roppongi Hills and how I was going to deal with a giant shopping complex (I'm willing to use stairs up to the level that crosses the running cutting through it). On the way, I stopped at the Mont-Thabor that's in Azabujuuban and got their Mont-Thabor Croissant Chocolat, or something like that. It's not very croissant-like, and actually it's not that pastry like, as the outer crust is more like a roll, but they were open before 9 am and this was fresh, so it was actually quite good and inside was typical of a pain au chocolat.

I decided that I didn't need to be in a hurry and had lunch before going to Bien-être. I hesitated about using the bicycle again, but was tired, and I was correct that their Mont-Blanc (which is pretty dense and squat) could take it. They had a couple new cakes (I've had five different kinds of mille-feuille from them so far, but never strawberry), so I might get back their this week, if the majors don't announce anything that I feel I can't wait for. For the cake-off (and note that I only had two cakes during the week, so I was planning for a double cake-off on the weekend), both cakes were definitely great and to the end I really couldn't decided between them, mostly because I was too busy enjoying them. I'm going to give this one to the Saint Marc because I feel it had more flavor, just because a little chocolate goes a long way, but that's really a guess.

Cake-off: Éclat des Jours' Rhum Raisin over Bubó Barcelona's Bubó Xoco Deluxe

Saturday, I got up at 5:30 so that I could get a long run in before coming back at 9:00 to get ready for a 10:00 appointment, which I did. The actual running started after 6:30, as I don't run without breakfast any more and other preparations also take time. This was sort of a neighborhood run, since it was intended to take photographs while I verified courses. First, I decided that I was going to change my rules and allow subway tunnel corridors and stairs for crossing the road, on the grounds that I don't run up and down stairs any more, as climbing fast is exercise enough and adding to the stress by making it bouncy was probably what caused my most recent long incapacitation. Also, the NHK running program, the top people have recommended (to people not trying to be top, granted) walking up steep slopes, unless you're specifically training for slopes, such as the race up Mt. Fuji. So I'll fill in a hole (and allow some surrounding loops to shrink, now that they can ignore what's across the street) by adding a new Minami-Aoyama loop for sectors 3 and most of 4. First, though I had a couple landmarks to verify.

From there, close to where I was doing new loops (though not that close along the route) and next to Hiroo, I worked on verifying parts in Minami-Azabu, mostly temples, but a few parks. On the way back, I used the pedestrian underpass near Roppongi Hills and confirmed that, with the new Roppongi 7 loops, these areas should actually be next in line, so suddenly I have a map crisis, since I haven't even completed making the course around much of that area, much less verified it. It was early, so only the snacks I brought.

After my 10 o'clock, I decided to try for a cake-off, as I didn't expect either of my sources to sell out. I got the Éclat des Jours' Rhum Raisin by bicycle, which I probably did last time. I shouldn't have gotten Bubó Barcelona's Bubó Xoco Deluxe by bicycle, as a mousse cake just can't stand up to the vibration, as the picture shows. That might have affected it's impact on me, as I wasn't feeling the greatness this time, which can be expected to happen sometime anway. I'll wait and see how it does in its next round before I bump it from the great list. The winner then was the Rhum Raisin. I'm not that confident that it needs to be in the great list either, though it is the only cake of its kind now, and I appreciate it for that, so it's a clean second win. It about time for me to get a new cake from Éclat des Jours, so now there is added urgency. It's a long run, though, so there's not a lot left even if I can make it in time. I should go when I'll willing to skip cake or when I'm not working a full day. 

L'Essentielle, Cassisier

Thinking back to Wednesday, I went first Isetan from their visiting shop. I had one cake from L'Essentielle, so I figured I'd try another. I got the Cassisier. For running, I visited various parts of my neighborhood running course that I wanted to change and verified that they would work. I wanted to shorted some parts that I have to use to go most places and decided that I didn't want to cut through Keio Univ. Hospital, though people always have at that point. The original plan had been for a short run, but it ended up about an hour, once I connected up the parts.

The Cassisier, which is obviously cassis (black currant), is white chocolate based and has star anise as the spice accent (accents). This is just too soft a cake for me. I need a biscuit, cookie, or crunchy layer, I guess. There was enough going on with the top that I have some respect for it, so I'm calling it good, but I'm not in a hurry to sample from them again.

I planned no running for Friday, so Thursday I went for a long run to try to do a successful one-way neighborhood run to what I thought were the nearest new parts, as well as a little part that want to reacquaint myself with that was convenient to add.  These included absolutely confirming the Nishiebisu east and west loops, followed by the new Ebisu--Hiroo east and west loops. I'll have to change the last one, maybe, because I've since found a new religion church that I missed, but that's no big deal. I also did the Higashi north loop on the way home, just so I can skip it when I redo the central and south loops. I ran into one pedestrian bridge blocked off, so I cheated and used the intersection to cross, but I'm not going to scrap the run for that. If I had known, I would have crossed at a different bridge, though it's longer, but I wan't willing to double-back to get to it. It was a +2 h run, so I made use of a new snack source only the route, the Baking Shu in the Shibuya Stream complex and got Raisin Coupé, which is a bun. After an hour of running, I needed it. Actually, I sent my lunch hour trying to get a question answered by the cell phone company person, so I was pretty underfed that day (though more chocolate than usual). It might have been too much bread for another day, but it was 200 (approximately) well spent, and good.

Friday, I refrained from running, but there was shopping and exercising indoors, so I got a Chausson aux Pommes from Hediard. It's very precisely made, but ultimately boring, though still good.

Origines Cacao: Tarte Marron

I owed Origines Cacao a cake from it's cake-off win Friday, so Tuesday I went to Ginza 6 and got the Tarte Marron and ran it home. It's a good butter tart base with a mont-blanc-type top, but with peanuts and cocoa powder sprinkled over it, I think. It was definitely good all around and I don't have any suggestion to improve it; also, the quality was high and I was not disappointed, but it isn't actually a cake that really interests me. I'll give it the rare semi-excellent rating.

Cake-off: Jean-Paul Hévin's Bergamot over Frédéric Cassel's Mille-feuille Finger Kaki

Saturday, was no running, but I did get to a café on my neighborhood running map, Janat in Jinguumae, south of Omotesandou road and had lunch with tea and cake. The cake doesn't really count as fresh cake, but rather is the hard cake served with sauce or whipped cream common in café. Pyramide Aztèque, which is chocolate with roasted bananas. It was good, which is better than it might have been, but it didn't convince me that bananas are a great idea.

The other cake is called Madagascar, and was the cake of the day, so cheap with lunch. I had last than half of this one, but thought it excellent. It's vanilla. The caramel sauce with peanuts was a good complement to this dessert inspired by a traditional cake.



As the year comes to a close, I'm trying to fit in more cake-offs. Sunday's was to squeeze in Cake-off: Jean-Paul Hévin's Bergamot, which is seasonal, so it might end Friday. I had planned to wait until Wednesday, but we were buying cake at JPH anyway, so I got the Bergamot and then, when I ran, did a short run over to Frédéric Cassel and home for the Mille-feuille Finger Kaki so I could do a second round. Still enjoying the mille-feuille, but JPH's standard design applied to orange definitely suits me, so it gets its first win.

Monday, I tried running down to Hiroo by the long way along my neighborhood course as a one-way to officially add/update some loops, but it was mostly a fail, not because I couldn't run but because my planned route was flawed. I picked up some information, though, so it's all good, though it took a couple hours. I didn't get cake, but went to Isetan to get a pastry from Arcachon, who visited until Tuesday. All that was on offer was a couple baked tarts, so I got the Tarte Agrume which is the greater citrus family, though it also featured pistachio. It was definitely good, but my interest in these types of tarts is limited.

Cake-off: Origines Cacao's Tarte Caramel Chocolat over Frédéric Cassel's Mille-feuille Finger Kaki

Friday, which was Labor Thanksgiving Day, I was free most of the day, so I took a long run, which ended up as 3.50 hours of running, which is the longest for a while. There was some walking and several photography stops, plus 4 snack, but most of it was a one-way neighborhood course run, so not a lot of waiting at lights until the end, when I headed from near the US Embassy to Ginza.

I did a lot of loops together, so it took so long. On the way, I headed down to Roppongi 7 again, because I had forgotten to verify a shrine. On the way back, I stopped at Mercedes Me, which is a café at the Mercedes dealer across from Tokyo Midtown, for the first snack. I got their Pain aux Raisins, which was good, though on the dry side.

Once  I got back to the main route, I could do the newly added Akasaka 8 loop, added to pick up a little park on the corner next to the elementary school. There is also a cake shop on the north end, but I think I went in too early (though the door was open), as there was nothing on display at all except samples of top designs. It's a place for decorator cakes, so I don't know yet whether they have anything ready to eat, though it's also a café, or whatever the guy there can manage, looked like. I also reconfirmed that I know the Akasaka 7 loop. Together they form a sort of shortcut across the main Akasaka-Azabudai-Roppongi-Toranomon loop, though that day I was doing the full loops back to where I started and didn't want to run twice over the same part of a loop, so I stuck to the main loop. I also reconfirmed the Motoaksaka loop and took the link up along the Akasaka Palace grounds to visit the Yotsuya East loop, though I was blocked by people directing traffic for people visiting the palace, so that part wouldn't be allowed by my rules if they were normally there. From there, I did the Akasaka 3 loop, and then over to the Nagatachou loop (though I had to double back to fix an error on the far side of the loop, since I turned to soon). From there, I went up north and did the Hirakawachou-Kioichou loop and took the long detour around Sophia University to get to my tiny Koujimachi loop, which is the farthest out on the course of the places I visited, so it's definitely out of order in terms of distance but was convenient to the other loops I was doing. After returning to Akasaka, I followed the main course down to the final loop to confirm, what I call the Akasaka east loop, which is just north of the U.S. Embassy Tokyo.

On the way there, I stopped at the Pierre Gagnaire shop and got a Pain au Chocolat. To be honest, I had eaten most of it before realizing it (because I was thinking of something else, not because I wolfed it down, which would have made quite a mess, since it had fairly delicate layering). But I'm fairly sure that it was excellent, which is why I wasn't thinking so much about it.

From there, I ran to Ginza, got my cakes, and returned home by train. I was tired, so after I organized them on the plate, my hands weren't too steady and there was an accident, so no pictures. Some caramel was lost, but I was still able to do the first-round cake-off for these too recently tried cakes and declare that I like the caramel chocolate tart best, though in my condition I was noticing that I could have used a higher drink-to-sugar ratio.

Paris S'éveille, Café Tonka

Despite the distance and difficulty, Tuesday I decided to run to Paris S'éveille at Jiyuugaoka (maybe some day they'll open a central Tokyo outlet, but so far they haven't felt the need), since they were next in priority on the list of places that might have something new. I arrived a little before 7:30 pm, which makes this perhaps my fastest run ever, though I wasn't going for a record. Resting from Monday probably really helped. It had been a while since I went there looking for new cake, since I've been occupied with other shops that I've promoted. They had six cakes available, but nothing new. However, rather than go with my backup Shuu (a café advertising cake that's on my neighborhood route for Shibuya but also has a shop in Jiyuugaoka and anyway is open quite late), I took the one cake I've long been deliberately avoiding: Café Tonka. I was optimistic that the coffee would not make me sick. They also let me eat in, though they had to ask someone in the back that was okay. No one else was eating in, though someone else seemed about to before I left. This is a thin, dense chocolate cake, a thick tonka chocolate cream/ganache (I think; I didn't actually check the card), and coffee flavored whipped cream on top, I figured in a worst cake, I could just scrape off the coffee whipped cream and tried a little corner without it first. As it happened, the whipped cream was no problem. Actually, though definitely coffee flavored, it was lighter than other things I've had recently and went fine with everything else. I don't have any difficult in saying that this was a definitely excellent cake.

On the way back, I stopped at Nikunohanamasa for chocolate, which I didn't buy, and mustard powder, which I bought more that I can imagine what I'll do with, but that was the size and it was cheap. I also bought a pack of nuts, so I had two items. I kept running, carrying them in a bag. Total, it was a 23.5 km run, which is pretty long for a mid-week run. With stops, I was out 3 hours.

Frédéric Cassel: Mille-feuille Finger Kaki

Tuesday, since the once-a-week applies only to new cakes, I went back to Frédéric Cassel and this time got the new mille-feuille, the Mille-feuille Finger Kaki. This was a full run both ways, and I used my eco cake bag from Ryoura. It's been a while since the Mille-feuille Finger has been part of the line-up. Previously, this was part of the regular monthly "Inspiration", but actually this month's inspiration has no individual cakes and this mille-feuille is separate with an unclear cutoff day.

The visible fruit is persimmon. Not sure what the gelatin cubes are. The main filling is yuzu cream, rather than mascarpone cheese, like in the old versions.  The whipped cream on top is flavored with houjicha (roasted green tea), so it's got lots of Japanese elements. Accordingly, I ate with green tea rather than the usual western/Indian tea. Bien E. has me used to different fruity mille-feuille, which is probably why I could appreciate this and consider it great. I guess it's going to be a Ginza first-round cake-off next.

Frédéric Cassel, Mille-Feuille Caramel Pomme

Still catching up, Sunday I went out reasonably early to do a one-way neighborhood course run. I had just found a neglected area, Roppongi 7, which is just across southwest from Tokyo Midtown, so relatively close. I had missed the crosswalk down near the National Art Center, Tokyo. There is not a whole lot there, but they have a park, a cake shop, a bakery, a shrine, a couple temples, and a couple shrines in a compact area. It's possible to cross over to the northeast end of Nishiazabu, but I can't find any sites there that I would visit.

From there, I left the course and went exploring for future runs.  On the way, I stopped for a pasty at Maison Landemaine. I went to the location at Azubudai, across from the southeast end of the Akasaka-Azabudai-Roppongi-Toranomon loop, there should be one already on that loop, further north that I haven't visted yet. I got their Kouign Amann, which was ribons of pastry folded into the usual hockey puck shape, with a hard caramelized layer on top. Very fancy, and good, but did not really work for me. In generally, their pastries are pretty expensive.

For future runs, first I went over to finish photographing sites on the Shibakouen--Toranomon west and east loops, and then moved on to Atago and Toranomon. These are all going to be small loops, since this is a really urban area surrounded by main streets, though there are enough pedestrian bridges and crosswalks without signals to get me just south of Hibiya Park to the north. To get east, I'll have to go south through Shiba Park, though it can't really advance very far, so this branch is going to come to and end unless I can turn south.

There was cake, but I screwed up sort of (I checked my list, but a hyphen through off my alphabetization) and got a repeat, Mille-feuille Caramel Pomme. Last time I rated it good, which is understandable, but this time I was more in a mille-feuille mood and would call it excellent, so I didn't mind the mistake so much.

Monday, I took a rest from running and cake, but went to Isetan and visited Hediards and got their Domestic Wheat Kouign Amann (if I've got the name right), which was a more conventional version, which I thought was excellent.

Cake-off: Sadaharu Aoki's Moelleux Chocolat over Toshi Yoroizuka's Monsieur Kitano

Saturday, ran to Tokyo Midtown to get a Moelleux for a second-round cake-off, and was surprised to see Monsieur Kitano (the cake) at Toshi Yoroizuka there. It's not convenient to take a train home from there, so I ran. I stopped at SweetsHolic, along the Minami-Aoyama south loop of my neighborhood course for the first time and got a Chocolate Chip Cookie. I put away the cake and ate lunch and cookie first. It was hard, as I was warned, but that was find with me, and a great improvement on the near-raw one I had recently in Harujuku.

Then I went out by bicycle to finish up photographing sites along the main Hiroo loop of my course, which actually didn't take long, relative to other projects. Then I went down to Jiyuugaoka to check what the line-up was at Dalloyau, but nothing I'm looking for. I would have checked out Paris S., but it was late on a Saturday and there was a huge line, so my expectation of useful information, as well as my patience, was insufficient for the wait and I went home, stopping at Bien E. to verify that they had nothing new this weekend.

The cake-off of chocolate versus chocolate went find. This time they gave me an explanation sheet, and I had already planned to microwave the Moelleux, so I was really comparing a different cake. It could have been warmer, but I'm not sure that I don't prefer it cold. I like moelleux but not so interested in fondant, maybe. However, though was still interesting, so excellent seems reasonable, I wasn't feeling the greatness from Monsieur Kitano, so it's getting retired from the list. The Moelleux will have to remain undefeated for now, unless they manage to hold it over until Friday, which is longer than the announced plan (but they aren't ones for wasting cake, so they will probably keep it going until they're all gone, so I'll try to check in before I get something else).

Ogawaken: Marron Soufflé

Masuda-sei Pan

Friday, I went for a one-way neighborhood course run for some new loops, including ones that I needed to take more photos for. On the way, I finally found Masuda-sei Pan ("Masuda-made Bread") open, so I went in a bought a little French Toast. It is on the eggy side rather than the sweet side, which I'm fine with, and the bread was French breach like, though not hard (though if it is really old bread, then it should not be). It was good. Glad I could have a visit. In Harujuku, I visited Anywhere Door, which has "shots" in wafer-style flat-bottomed ice cream cones. They describe it was tiramisu, though they are different flavors. I decided that I wasn't interested, so I don't need to adjust my map to swing by their alley. I'm looking for solid food.

I had a little trouble with doing the Kita-Aoyama--Jinguumae--Shibuya loop clockwise. Even though I new I had to turn at the Ao Building, but I couldn't remember whether it was before or after before I had already overshot. I went back and ran it correctly, but I need to practice. I expect I'll need to come the same way again soon, so I don't have to make a special trip.

The main target was side loops from the Daikanyama-chou--Dougenzaka--Ebisunishi--Hachiyama-chou--Nanpeidai-chou--Sakuragaoka-chou--Sarugaku-chou--Shibuya--Uguisudani-chou loop. First is what I'm calling the Shibuya south loop, which is just temporary until they finish new pedestrian bridge south of Shibuya Station. The loop goes by the shrines and temples around the site of the former Shibuya Castle.

In another first of finding a shop open when I wanted something (though it was a little early after the French Toast, and I did have a proper lunch first), I stopped by Ogawaken "Western Confectioner" Daikanyama, which is next to their restaurant (versus their salon in Meguro), which seems to be most famous for raison sandwich cookies. Anyway, I tried their oddly named Marron Soufflé, which is a roll cake with chestnut bits inside. It was good and convenient finger food, so my respect for roll cake has increased somewhat as a result. I ate it in a park on the new Ebisuminami--Nakameguro north loop. I tried to do the Ebisunishi loop along the way, but I've had to revise it since then, so I'll need to redo it.

After that, I did the Aobadai--Kamimeguro loop, taking pictures in the fading light (at ~4 pm). Still not certain about the Happy Pudding Factory, but I suppose if I return the jar there, it could be okay.

On the way back, I discovered a basement cafe/bakery/patisserie near Café Le Cordon Bleu, which I was going to for a pastry. The new shop is Maison Ichi Daikanyama and I should have about there. I had previously had two excellent pastries from Café Le Cordon Bleu, so wanted to take advantage of being there when they were open. I got a Croissant Chocolat Amonde. It was good and I'm used to these being sugar and butter bombs and soft, but it was too much for be at the time, more on the sweet side than oily. Still, it's fair to say that it was good, just not the best I've had.

Sadaharu Aoki: Mille-Feuille Azuki

Thursday, I tried again going to Sadaharu Aoki, and this time I was successful at the first shop, Tokyo Midtown, and got the Mille-Feuille Azuki. I'm not that fond of azuki beans and was avoiding this, but it's the only new fresh cake there right now and I figured that I could trust them. I was right to, as there was none of the usual azuki bitterness or aftertaste, though it's hard to say how much of the real flavor was left behind the sugar. As assume so, since there was a flavor there, but anyway it was excellent, so I'm happy, and I had a short run, which met with my plan to have a long run on Friday.

Del'Immo, Othello

Wednesday, I ran down to Tokyo Midtown, looking for a cake at Sadaharu Aoki, and then continued looking by running to Marunouchi, a route I'm getting used to. Failed both times, so I went to the Del'Immo at the new Tokyo Midtown Hibiya and got the "Chef recommended" Othello, which is a chocolate mousse cake with crème brûlée flavored with vanilla, which is a pretty standard cake design that usually is quite disappointing, but this also included a layer of cinnamon streusel. This was definitely excellent. I'm still not that excited by the main cake design, but I wouldn't be surprised in someone rated this great.

As a result, Del'Immo get's promoted from the quite good to excellent shop category, where I had three openings, so I don't have to bump any of the underachievers yet.

Origines Cacao, Tarte Caramel Chocolat

I'm so behind on blogging because the giant loop in the west end of my neighborhood running map has be completely reorganizing it, which has taken days. I've at least done enough to make it usable for picking out targets, at least, though I'm still also way behind on uploading photos.

Way back on Tuesday, because all the higher priority shops either did not have anything new or I had visited within the last month, I went ran out to Origines Cacao at Ginza 6 for new cake. The Tarte Caramel Chocolat is at least temporarily back in the line-up, so I got that. I've never had it before, but it seemed similar to more than one great cakes I've gotten there (and not seen since). I was rewarded by a great cake, well balanced against caramel and chocolate, which harmonized well together. The fact that I wanted a new great cake for the next cake-off might have affected my judgement, but I hope not. I should say that I haven't confirmed yet whether I have the name correct, or it's actually Tarte Chocolat Caramel, not that that matters.