Cake-off: Jean-Paul Hévin's Tonka over Pierre Hermé's Fraisier Pistache

Friday, I went down and did the southern half of what I'll call the southwest Shibuya loop, since it goes through more neighborhoods than I want to list here and may expand eventually when I get around to doing the other side of Old Yamanote-Doori. Bubó Barcelona at Ginza Mitsukoshi on Thursdays had croissants, so I stopped by the Jinguumae shop for Friday's pasty, but they had nothing, so I went to my back-up plan of trying another bakery at Toukyuu Food Show, this time Saint-Germain. Not counting donuts, the only pastry that they had was also a croissant, which was what I expected, so I got it. Saying it was ok is being generous. Actually, it only barely had layering, it was pretty bready but dry, and actually it was noticeably stale. I bought it at the end of the day, but if you sell it, I'm going to judge you on it. The run was long, and this was a first time running it and I might have actually gone places I've never been before, though I might not have. I had forgotten that Accueil, who have a separate patisserie further south, have their main café in Ebisunish. Fortunately, my loop already went past it (which is why I noticed it, of course). Long run and pretty much the farthest out by a direct route of the new parts of the map; and there are enough hills that it's going to be tough after 20 km.

Saturday, I was busy part of the morning and rain was forecast for the evening. I still did a cake-off, according to plan, sourced from Isetan, Jean-Paul Hévin's Tonka and Pierre Hermé's Fraisier Pistache. This is the second round for both of these, from the first-round losers. This are both seasonal and from superb shops, so I wanted to get them in before they are gone. There's no announcement on the main webpage for JPH yet, so I assume it's cake at least will make it to the end of the month. These are both cakes I that respect as sophisticated and high in quality. Today, I appreciated the chocolate nibs and dark/burnt flavor of the Tonka, as well and just the general style of this style of JPH's cakes, which is their main one.

Rather than run, I did needed maintenance and a minimum of cleaning and took out the bicycle for the first time this year. I verified that I can still get the baked cheesecake that I want for my next cake-off, which will probably be at the end of the month. I'm not sure whether I'll do an extra one that weekend, but May is also looking busy (but then there are also a lot of holidays, so I actually might work ahead at the beginning, as JPH has a couple more cakes that are available now but maybe not forever that are ready for a second round but I've been busy with other more pressing ones).