Frédéric Cassel: Tarte Fraise Mont

Did a visit to Frédéric Cassel for a new cake from a quite superb shop, this time Tarte Fraise Mont, which is the latest version of one of their current standard cake varieties. For a strawberry tart, the strawberry is pretty restrained, which actually I appreciate over a lot of raw fruit. There is some thick strawberry cream inside a hard biscuit and white chocolate with a hint of mint (also pretty restrained and not really enough to identify easily). It was excellent as usual.

Viron: Sully

Did a longer run today to Viron in Marunouchi in response to their cake-off win. Kept it slow (I'm not timing it), which is just as well since it was raining lightly. I got the Sully, which is much like their Fraise, but with pineapple, which is to say lots of thick cream and some alcohol. This is not a dramatic cake, but I didn't want it to be. Very nice and creamy. Foot is reasonably good, but did get pretty stiff walking back, which was how I injured it to begin with, though running a lot farther and then walking faster. I'll keep up my stretches and nighttime icing and bike tomorrow and Saturday.

Heritage: Miroir

Monday I cycled up to Heritage to get a fifth cake from a shop on the excellent list. I chose Miroir, which is chocolate around pistachio and raspberry (I think) and Bavarian cream, sort of a standard thing, really. Unfortunately, as is often with these types chocolate mousse with cream filling cakes, it didn't really add up to much. No specific complaint other than boring taste, which is sort of the greatest complaint, but for what it was, I don't think they did anything bad. Still, Heritage is look more quite good than excellent after five cakes, so it might not make it to six.

I ran for the first time for more than a week, just around the Yotsuya 3/4-choume area loop, for 17 minutes. It seemed okay (though that was true 3 weeks ago for longer distances) and, more significantly, didn't get me special trouble the next day, so I can try longer, and may need to if the choice is between cycling or running in rain (or no cake).

Actually, I forgot the Japanese phonetics of the name before I left Monday, so I cycled up there again Tuesday and then took the long way down to Mermaid Cafe near Daikanyama Stn. on my neighborhood course down south, which took more than 90 total, so I didn't try to run again too. I got the Kouign Amann as something different. It was like other cheap ones and seemed a little worse for wear for the late hour, but had a very butterscotch-flavored caramelized layer that was working for me, so I would say that it was good (but I forgot to take a picture).

Ryoura: Beauté

Trying to make this quick and catch up, though I'm still not great working with this computer (it's a little small and no mouse). Should have the new computer in a week.

Forgot to mentions (should anyone cake), that I visited Crossroad Bakery Friday and got a Croissant, which was definitely good. They had other things and definitely good is really above average for a croissant, so I'll try to get back there. I still have one more local shop that I want to get to and then I can finally use previous rating to focus on quality rather than novelty. I'll say the goodness was that it was pretty flaky, leaning on the cake-shop pastry type versus the more bread-like type of most bakeries, though it was still seemingly trying to strike a good balance, which I think it achieved.

For cake, I went to the recently promoted Ryoura and got Beauté, which apparently was introduced last November. I like this kind of cake with a hard coating and don't mind the whipped cream on top (I've cheated and turned the Ryoura insert 180 degrees so I can take a picture of the less damage side, but it traveled pretty well for a long trip hanging from my handlebars. (Still cycling, but I'm ready to start running, I think; I'll start small tomorrow, cycling first). This is earl grey mousse flavored with blackberry and raspberry gelatin and cassis cream. It's a very nice harmony, so I don't think I'm relying just on the style of cake and prejudice to a newly promoted shop when I say that it was excellent. Still, I'd like to get to some of the other shops that it currently looks like I might want to promote before getting back to Ryoura, but I look forward to more cakes from them in the near future.

Cake-off: Paris S'éveille's Saint Honoré Caramel over Frédéric Cassel's Konatsu Cheesecake

Lots of cycling today, when I learned not to go to shops so early. Paris S'éveille's Saint Honoré Caramel wasn't available until 11:45, or so they told me at 10:15. I didn't stick around, but ordered ahead (and paid). I'm recognizable enough that I didn't even have to give my name when I came back around 12:30. In between, I went to Ginza to pick up Frédéric Cassel's Konatsu Cheesecake for a first-round cake-off, take it home, and then get back to Jiyuugaoka for my other cake. Then I still had to get home again, but felt less hurried. There was some caramel cream stuck to the paper divider, but the cake was pretty well packed and it traveled well even by bicycle.

The actual result of the cake-off was another technical decision. The cheesecake is pretty mild, so maybe bitter caramel isn't the best pairing, but I don't have a lot of mild cakes in my great cakes list. What I also don't have is another Saint Honoré. I'm not even sure that I have another bitter caramel, as I think the Aigre-Douce one is pretty sweet and other ones have been unavailable. Anyway, this my evaluation is really about what my priority is for having a great cake again, I'm going with this Saint Honoré, though I need to remember to eat it at a lower temperature. Let it warm up for 5 min seemed good for the cheesecake, but I think the shape of the cream makes that less needed and the custard inside the balls is better colder.

By my rule, I should be following up with another cake from Paris S'éveille, but since they don't have another (non-coffee-flavored) untried cake, and Frédéric Cassel is my top shop among those with untried cake, I'll probably get back to there first, as well as Viron, for last weekend's cake-off. As a third shop for the next weekday cakes, I'd like to try Heritage for a fifth cake, working my way through under-sampled excellent shops, though I have a couple other choices there. Before that, Ryoura is the shop I'm most serious about promoting and I should spread around my selections to stay interested, so I think that will be tomorrow's destination (at the actual shop, though Tokyo Midtown had some at the one I just had from there also today, though I thought tomorrow was their other day; I'll check again tomorrow to finish my week's daily survey of them.

Avranches Guesnay: Opera Figue Vin Rouge

Wednesday, got cake again at Isetan, this time from Avranches Guesnay as a fifth cake from an excellent shop. Did less cycling than other days, due to rain, but still went down to Midtown to check out the day's line up (I suppose I could just ask about the whole week all at once, but that's not very interesting and I perhaps wouldn't remember anyway). I went with Opera Figue Vin Rouge. Fig is good for dense cakes and I used to appreciate it more. This was definitely good and they did have a good harmony between the fig and red wine.

Thursday I went to Il Pleut sur la Seine and confirmed one good cake as available and got the Croissant aux Amandes, again, because I keep forgetting to rate it. This is the kind of almond croissant that seals in the filling by an outside layer. And this almond filling is deliciously moist and quite sugary. I'm going to say that it was excellent. I feel like being a sugar bomb is almost cheating, but it was not poorly done. My night photography, however, needs some work. Look at the phone manual is on the to do list.

En Vedette: Chocolat S

Since they seemed to be a quite good shop and were still at Isetan, I got a third cake from En Vedette, Chocolat S. Like yesterday, I tried to cycle hard without killing my knees, visiting Tokyo Midtown (to confirm which shops' cakes Dean & Deluca sells on Tuesdays) and then ending up going up and down Aoyama-dori, riding for 1 hour total. Next time I'll just wait for the light to change and ride where I want to.

The cake is chocolate cream above a chocolate cake base. It was excellent, at least if you appreciate good chocolate. This seems to be a Quite Good shop that might even be excellent, but under my current system it's practically impossible to get promoted out of Quite Good.

I should review the system, but I still haven't decided on a new computer yet and I'm running out of time with the loaner. Dell seems a likely choice, based on price.

En Vedette: En Vedette

For cake, En Vedette was at Isetan, so I got their signature cake as my second cake from them.

For cycling, I went down to Tokyo Midtown to see what cake Dean & Deluca had for Mondays, and got a new name: La Garue M, which is pretty far south, where I've never had much luck, but some day when I'm done with Shinjuku Takashimaya for new local cakes, I'll given them a try, though I've also got a few around Yoyogi. I only cycled about 45 minutes, but took a lot of slopes and tried to work hard before going to get groceries and coming home.

My last trip to Éclat des Jours was disappointing not just for the cake I got but because it seemed to replace their rum raisin cake, which I thought was great (but did not seem popular, so I'm not really surprised that it got bumped for the summer tropical cakes). So the even without the name, which suggested it as a point of pride, I was in the mood for chocolate rum raisin. It'e pretty, but pretty hard to head without destroying it substantially, and the sides are a little gummy (sealing in moisture) but the flavor did not disappoint and apparently I'm in an accepting mood, because I'm going to say this cake is also great, which is three new great cakes in one week. Note that this is chocolate ganache, milk chocolate (not sure of the difference), and white chocolate.

Guess I'm going to be late this week with pastries, since I want to take advantage of En Vedette's last day at Isetan tomorrow, now that I'm considering this shop at least Quite Good.

Éclat des Jours: M. Cola

Was busy in the morning, which included shopping for my next computer. (Got a two-week extension on the loaner, though still not ready to order and delivery could take 3 weeks). Still cycling to see how much that improves the right foot. Lie Wednesday, didn't have a high priority place that I couldn't get to on a weekday and also didn't just get cake from in the last week (Ryoura), so went with the highest priority weekend target, which was Éclat des Jours, where I got M. Cola, which is apparently a summer thing, since I found a one-year all reference to it by Instagram's jum.2525 (in Japanese), though with different decoration bits, because the reading conditions for tiny handwritten cards at calf level behind glass in Japanese with lots of phonetic loan words (often mostly French, though English is common) is not that great, even if you aren't tired from exercising.

Despite the name, there does not seem to be any cola in this, which is consistent with the Japanese phonetics, which is a short (in the Japanese sense) rather than long "o". What it does have milk chocolate and orange and mango (what I didn't identify by myself--maybe that's the "M.") gelatin on a bottom of puffed rice layer. I'm hoping the name didn't put me off too much, but I didn't find it too exciting. I prefer more and darker chocolate and less fruit, though of course it depends on the fruit. I can still call this good, but they're slipped further from the top of the Quite Excellent shop pack.

Cake-off: Viron's Mille-feuille over Pierre Hermé's Deux Mille Feuille

Still cycling. Went first for the cake, first to Viron near Shibuya Stn. (which opens at 9 am) and then, after some other shopping, to Isetan, where it turned out that bicycling parking was not free for even the first hour. Should have gone to a different Pierre Hermé if I was not willing to walk. The rest of the day was touring down through Meguro-ku and Setagaya-ku confirming or failing to confirm some cakes, for example.

The cake-off, like many, was difficult to decide. Both mille-feuille are the highest quality I know, both have something, traditional icing for Viron and praliné mousseline and paté feuilletée (apparentely) for Pierre Hermé, but they are fairly equivalent mixed with everything else. That being the case, I'm going with the traditional-style from Viron, despite my preference for Pierre Hermé generally.

Ryoura: Soyeux

As planned, I got a fifth Ryoura cake via Dean & Deluca at Tokyo Midtown. Of course, there was not much selection and I'm not sure home much it varies from week to week. Basically, they had three desserts from this shop, one cake that I've had before, one in a glass, and the one I got, Soyeux. On the one hand, it was pistachio. On the other hand, after pistachio mousseline (though fairly solid), it listed cherry gelatin, two things I don't want in my cake. But further on, actually there is some chocolate inside which smooths out the cherry and harmonizes with the pistachio. Also, the bottom is meringue, but a very powdery almond meringue that crumbles fairly easily; I haven't seen this kind of meringue before. Mostly reflecting my appreciation for good pistachio (though I've had plenty of bad pistachio cakes, especially with cherries), this was great.

I've been avoiding promoting shops recently, but two great cakes out of five puts this one at the top of the next higher category by one measure (but I apply a two-measure system, so not necessarily the actual top), so I'm designating it Quite Excellent. There was an opening even without demoting any suspended shops in that category, so no general shake up. That's a second great cake this week and the second shop (beside Yanagi) to get promoted. I've had good luck recently.

Hi-Cacao: Chocolate Canelé Fondant (plain)

Went looking for a pastry and at the second stop got a Chocolate Canelé Fondant (plain) from Hi-Cacao for the first time. They're part of a network of food and clothes shops, so not really a step up from a chain coffee shop, but chocolate isn't such a bad theme. Not sure that this shouldn't count as fresh cake, since that's what I count fondant as usually, but for 180 yen I'll let it be pastry, since that's how I categorize canelé usually. Basically, it's a thin canelé sheel filled with chocolate cream, which isn't a bad thing. Also, coco powder on the outside. I made this one travel too long in my backpack with too little protection, but it was still good, if not compelling. For fresh cake, I'll probably try their heated (the menu says fresh-baked) fondant.

Paris S'éveille: Savarin Vin Rouge

Home early to let the gas company do some sort of safety inspection (first time, at least under what system this was; I'm suspicious that it's just a marketing effort to promote their electricity business, since they didn't do a lot). I didn't have any place that was a priority that I couldn't get to on a weekday (I did have, but saw last night that they were coming to Isetan next week, and Heritage, which closes at 7 pm, isn't open Wednesdays), so I decided to just go down to Paris S'éveille on a weekday while the sun was up. I should stick to a regular route when cycling so I don't keep ending up having to wade through Harajuku and Shibuya Stn.

Closest thing to new cake that I could get was Savarin Vin Rouge, and it didn't especially look like anything had sold out, though I supposed something might have. I'm not sure what the fruit is, since I didn't bother to try to read the card, maybe mikan. Savarin at least has a good excuse for coming in a cup and still being called cake. It was good and I don't have any suggestions for improvement other than to stick with rum, though I suppose the red wine might go better with the fruit, which I would care about if I liked fruit-based desserts.

Frédéric Cassel: Konatsu Cheesecake

Cycled out to Ginza Mitsukoshi, which is not that convenient a ride (lots of lights and lots of big busy roads), but at least they have indoor parking on the same level as sweets (there's an elevator in the back to take your bike down). Since I've had great cheesecake from Frédéric Cassel before, I wanted to get the new Konatsu Cheesecake. Konatsu is a type of Japanese citrus fruit from the Kyuushuu Island that seems to be a sort of mild yuzu, though maybe it's as sour without the sugar. In some ways, it was perfectly ordinary (as a citrus flavored, rare/baked two-layered high-end cheesecake) but perfect in its way, so I'm saying it's great. Cheesecake used to always be handicapped, but I seem to have found several great cheesecake now, though I guess that's not a lot compared to the chocolate ones.

The Bake: Pain au Chocolat

Ran under 5 km yesterday. No pain before or during, but some heel soreness afterward, and I've decided that I need to take that more seriously even though its barely bothering me. I really want to get it completely healed, which takes a long time, so I'm to try to stick to cycling and avoid climbing or even walking that puts extra strain on my right foot, as well as doing more frequent stretches and I even iced it last night (which I'm skeptical about, but I should research again.

Anyway, I cycled to The Bake to day for pastry before doing some food shopping. For the first time, I bought a giant can of chopped tomatoes (2550 g) and froze most of it rather than buying six regular sized (400 g) cans. I've been told to eat fish regular, so i do, but my go-to canned fish seems to being disappearing from my regular suppliers, which I figured would eventually happen as the ocean gets fished out.

Anyway, I got a Pain au Chocolat, the last pastry they had, from The Bake. It was definitely good. It was less crisp than I'm usually looking for, but I didn't think that bothered me, except at the end I felt it need more chocolate or something (like pistachio). Eventually, even at just 2 a week, I'll get around to reviewing the best ones, but I still have four more local places to hit for a first pastry. Even if start running again by then, I don't think there will be any new pastry places soon, so I can finish off the line-ups at the best places.

Cake-off: Frédéric Cassel's Tan Gram over Sadaharu Aoki's Valencia

My health seemed reasonably good, so I ran to Ginza and got Tan Gram from Frédéric Cassel as a match for Sadaharu Aoki's Valencia, which is a seasonal cake available now for my second-round cake-off of first-round winners. It might not best match, since Valencia is a little subtle as far as the orange in this otherwise standard Sadaharu Aoki cake, whereas chocolate is not so subtle. This time, though it was excellent, I wasn't feeling the great from Valencia, so I'll have to evaluate it carefully next year.

Éclat des Jours: Tendresse

Today, I cycled over to Touyou and visited Éclat des Jours and got a new cake (so no more comments from me for awhile about how their line-up doesn't vary; still a couple cake cakes that I would like, a couple tarts, and now I'm willing try their verrine). This is white chocolate and orange. Cream/mousse sandwiched between biscuit/sponge is kept together by a solid coating. Definitely excellent.

Tadashi Yanagi: Praliné Croustillant

Friday, due to not feeling totally well the previous two days (maybe a mild cold), no running again, but I had skipped Thursday and needed to look at computers again (still using a loaner, which is very nice, except being tiny, though that was what made it easily portable so that I could borrow it), so I got cake in the Shinjuku Station areas again, again at Takashimaya; I'm nothing if not a creature of habit. This time, I could and did choose from Tadashi Yanagi a new cake (apparently) called Praliné Croustillant, which, besides the totally obvious, has chocolate. This cake has some of my favorite elements, so it should be no surprise that I like it. That and erring on the positive side, I'll say that it was excellent. This brand might be the best choice at Takashimaya, though as a shop, I recommend Au Bon Vieux Temps, just I'm not sure that their best stuff gets to Takashimaya.

Ecole Criollo: Slim Rarecheese Fraise

Last Wednesday, I went to actually pick up my broken computer and do some shopping. Didn't do any actual running, but I think that was the day I went out by bicycle and stocked up on roasted peanuts for making peanut butter.

As cake, I went down to the Shinjuku (Station) Takashimaya and got cake there from Ecole Criollo, whose shop I could visit on a weekday, if I wanted to run down to Nakameguro. I got Slim Rarecheese Fraise (though the card might have abbreviated this as just Cheesecake Fraise), which is half rare cheesecake and half sponge cake and strawberry gelatin (in the picture, it looks like the cheesecake dominates, but actually they are equal. This was definitely good and had a good balance between cheesecake and strawberry flavor. This shop is associated with low/no sugar cakes and I was previously unimpressed, so I was not in a hurry to revisit them, but this was better than expected.

Matsunosuke N.Y.: Cheesecake

Tuesday, jogged down to Midtown, since it was close and got the Matsunosuke N.Y. Cheesecake via the basement Galleria (?) Dean & Deluca (there's another one around the side, though still in the basement). Actually, I was looking for Ryoura, but I had never asked their schedule for them (I was just told that it was Friday and Sunday). I should have let this cheesecake warm up more, maybe into to room temperature, as it was just a cold slab of cheesecake, nothing special. Nothing bad either, it was good enough but disappointing and that's the closest they have to fresh cake, I think (apple pie is their other main thing, though they may have some sort of carrot cake or something like that).

Peck: Connoli (Chocolate)

Had to go check on my still broken computer on Monday and start shopping for a new one. For my pasty, I got a connoli from Peck, the chocolate one (which includes hazelnut cream). It was definitely good, which is probably why it often sells out so that I wasn't even sure that Peck had anything of the pastry variety (though they have a cinnamon bun).

Cake-off fail: Fraisier and Rhône-Alpes

I got Frédéric Cassel's Fraisier on its last day (they volunteered, since I keep asking for it even when its not in display, now that I've learned that they keep things in the back for later) but made the mistake of getting Rhône-Alpes from Amitié. Early on in the first round (I'm not sure when I stopped, but certain by early this year), I only removed things from the great list if my next evaluation was only Good. Cakes who got a second evaluation of Excellent, got marked as Semigreat and kept. This was one of those, so I'm not going to count it. I'm willing to call it excellent, but I'm just not that interested in classic chocolate cake, with sponge and fronting layers, with or without whipped cream on top. So I'll just have to watch for Fraisier to show up again, hopefully next year, to do its second round. Still, I got to eat some excellent a great cake, so I'm not too disappointed.

Sadaharu Aoki: Chou à la Fraise

Saturday (I'm sure this time; had to correct the previous entry) afternoon, I ran down to Shibya Hikarie ShinQ again, this time to get their exclusive strawberry puff pastry, Chou à la Fraise. Unfortunately, the strawberries and whipped cream cancel out the big advantage of the regular version, which is the great vanilla custard. It still has the custard, but its overpowered (which doesn't take much, with vanilla). It was still good, but not my thing. I walked back mostly, as I try to let my right foot recover, which seems to going well.

Jean-Paul Hévin: 4 cakes

Was at Ginza Mitsukoshi last Thursday (I think; I got confused by the long weekend) evening and went for cake for two people with me not choosing (just I pointed out what was new). We got 4 cakes that just became available in the last couple weeks, Passion, which is a regular cake that was new to me this month, Éclair Chocolat, which is only available on weekends, and two verrine, Verrine Chocolat Apricot and Verrine Chocolat Trente. Only the latter (in honor of the 30th anniversary) is new to me, so I'll mention that it is bay leaf scented Peruvian cacao mousse and strawberry, raspberry, and blackberry gelatin.

I thought both verrines were excellent, which is an upgrade for the first one and decided that they were cake enough to count (versus pudding with a little cake). The eclair was also excellent, as previously, but I thought that the Passion was actually great this time (maybe due to a lighter temperature or just chocolate intoxication), also an improvement over last time, though an average of semi-great is not enough to get it into cake-offs yet



.

L'Abricotier: Cherie

It was time to get a 10th cake from Quite Excellent shops, so I cycled to L'Abricotier, which is at the top of the list, alphabetically. I had things to do in the afternoon, so I went early, which was a mistake. They open for business at 10 am, but only for take out and they did not have many cakes out for display yet. I went with a new one, Cherie, which is strawberry and cream on the outside and strawberry something on the inside. I took it to a nearby park. Unfortunately, the middle was slightly sherbet-like, so it may have still been to cold. But since the outside was just soft whipped cream, it would tricky to defrost it at room temperature, since the outside would get too warm first, I assume. On the other hand, if the middle was really just pudding that was semi-frozen unintentionally, I'm not sure what would hold it together anyway, so maybe it was just as designed. But that design does not work for me and I don't really like strawberry and cream aftertaste much (which affects a lot of cakes, though not every cake sticks with you; I didn't have tea, but I did have water). I'm going to have to rate this as just ok, which makes my rating for this shop down in just Excellent territory. However, it's hard to compare shops with different numbers of cakes sampled, so I won't actually move it down until an excellent shop with the same number of cakes bests it.

La Terre: Chocolat Amer

Last Wednesday, before the 4-day holiday, I did another run to a Sadaharu Aoki, this time at Shibuya Hikarie ShinQ, but they were sold out, so I went to the Toukyuu Food Show on the other side of the underground Shibuya Station area and got a Chocolat Amer from La Terre, who are local. The selection was less fancy than I'm interested in, but this seemed safe. And it was definitely good, so I was satisfied. I ran there, but I think I walked home.

Royal Garden Cafe [Aoyama]: Croissant Almonde

As my pastry, I made my first buy at Royal Garden Cafe, on the ground that now that the pedestrian bridge over Aoyama-doori is fixed, then will be on a neighborhood course, as soon as I get back to more ambitious running. I'm not putting every cafe on the course, but this does bill itself as a bakery cafe and there is a space set up for take out bread and pastries, even if they don't seem fully prepared for that when I actually buy something (though that might just be weekend part-timers). This almond croissant was of the flat/collapsed rather oily kind, which is not a wholly bad thing, but doesn't get them beyond good.


I actually ran this day, visiting Midtown to research something, though I don't remember what. Wait, now I remember: Sadaharu Aoki, which I needed a next cake from. Aoki had a green tea azuki bean rollcake, which is unappealing on multiple fronts. I reviewed the website and say that I needed to actually go to Shibuya Hikarie ShinQ.

Paris S'éveille, Choux Parisen

Last Monday, which was a national holiday, I cycled down to Paris S'éveille, which is in the running to be my #3 cake shop (in place of Pierre Herme), and ended up with a Choux Parisen, somewhat to my surprise, although I had considered finally getting this standard item instead of the seasonal cake that I expected wrongly for them to still have. Anyway, it's a puff pastry with nuts, basically, which is good, I guess, but still weak as cake, I think. It was my only option that didn't involve coffee, though I've since decided to allow verrine (cake in a glass) to count, if only when there are no other options.

Éclat des Jours: Tartelette Framboise

Last Sunday, I hit my top priority (unless Ryoco returns to regular business) by cycling out to Éclat des Jours and got their Tartelette Framboise, working my way through their fresh tarts. This one was exceptional for its type, having big, surprisingly moist raspberries. The center of the tart was built up with some raspberry gelatin (under the visible cream), which wouldn't sound like a good idea to me, but was. Excellent cake.

This shop seemingly hasn't given up on overtaking Bien-Etre to become the replacement for Toshi Yoroizuka as a Superb (top 4 to 7) shop, though it's going to be tough with their lack of variety (though at least it's a big base line-up). Still two more tarts to go, I think, and I still haven't had the signature cake of the shop (because it's strawberry shortcake). Unfortunately, this month's seasonal cake has coffee, which is a hopeless cause with me.

Cake-off: Éclat des Jours's Baked Cheesecake over Frédéric Cassel's Fraisier

The previous Friday, I tried to get a pastry from The Baked (or maybe that was Thursday, as I seemed to have failed to get anything that day), but they were sold out (or maybe they just don't sell pastries at night, which is reasonable). I was practicing my southwest Shibuya course, so I hit the next shop on that course, which was Chez Lui, which is open late. They had many flavors of canelé, but I went with the plain. This was definitely good, although softer than my preference, but a legitimate choice. I still need to get cake from there sometime.

Saturday, I ran out to finally get Éclat des Jours' Baked Cheesecake for a cake-off as a match against Frédéric Cassel's Fraisier. Even though that latter involves generally more expensive ingredients (pistachio), is bigger, and from a fancier shop, this baked cheesecake is really great, so it takes this first-round cake-off and suddenly I'm extra behind on visiting this shop, who unfortunately have a fairly unvarying line-up.

Jean-Paul Hévin: Passion

I don't remember whether I got this at Ginza Mitsukoshi (which would imply running) or Isetan, but this was the first day for this new cake, which is different from their previous passion fruit cake, which has been out of the line-up for a while and I'm assuming from this is going to remain out. It's their standard mousse layer chocolate, this time with ganache flavored with rum and a crunchy top (though I'm not sure of what, besides probably sugar). This was excellent, but my impression was that it did not stand out among their cakes. However, I had half of a piece more recently and thought it was great, so my current evaluation is semi-great, which at least means that I'll get back to it before reviewing just excellent cakes, though reviewing great cakes is keeping me busy enough.

Dolce Felice Regalo: Raspberry Caramel Chocolat

Another no running day, trying to rest my right foot, although the choice of cake was because I had an errand to run west of Shinjuku Station, so stopping at the Pepe at the Seibu Line Shinjuku Station seemed relatively easy. My reason for wanting to try their cake was that the same brand is sold at a counter in Shibuya Hikarie ShinQ, which is on one of my local running courses. This is actually part of Keyuca, which is a bed, bath, and kitchen shop, so it's a little weird. However, the cake turned out to be like chain cafe cake, though cheap, so maybe more like convenience store cake? That is, it was ok if you're really hungry and need something now, but otherwise completely unnecessary, whatever the price, though I didn't have trouble eating it, so not bad.

I'll squeeze in the following day, when I ran (I'm pretty sure) to the actual Shibuya Hikarie ShinQ (not sure how much of that is necessary to uniquely identify it) and got a Croissant from what I thought was the last pastry place I need to visit there (I've since noticed another in the back, Crossroad Bakery, which opened a couple months ago). As I recall, this was reasonable as a croissant, but more bread than pasty, so just good, but definitely good. The bakery counter is called Nemo.

Cake-off: Jean-Paul Hévin's Bergam over Sadaharu Aoki's Chocolat Pralin

Actually, I'm not sure whether running was involved. There was certainly a lot of walking. I know I visited the Marunouchi Sadaharu Aoki (because I was over in that neighborhood hood) to confirm they had the Chocolat Pralin, then went to Ginza Mitsukoshi and scored a Bergam, which was about to be pulled from the line up, and then went back and picked of the Aoki cake and walked both back to Yotsuya in Shinjuku (there are other Yotsuya in Tokyo, I think).

Bergam is close to being a standard JPH design, with the special element being the orange flavor. As great as the Chocolat Pralin is, I have to the with to Bergam, though both cakes proved in this second round that their first-round losses were due to their tough competition there.

Cake-off: Jean-Paul Hévin's Mont-blanc over Atelier Kohta's Classic Chocolat

This cake-off involved running to get a Classic Chocolat from Atelier Kohta in the evening of Friday April 20th and waiting until the next morning to get a Mont-blanc from JPH before they ended their season on the following day. I'll also acknowledge that I was a little rushed and I had to judge the cakes based on only half a piece. Given the lopsided nature of the source brands, it should not be a shock that I am going with the Mont-blanc or even that I'm not sure that the Classic Chocolat deserves to be called great (it was an early choice and I've found other similar cakes that I've called great, I think), though I'll give it another chance next year, if it continues.

Quiche Yoroizuka: Quiche Strawberry

I'm a couple weeks behind, so I'm going by memory and notes of simple ratings. During that running, I've pretty much satisfied myself with my knowledge of a route for the next 30 km run, but I'm not convinced that my feet are up to it, though not running doesn't seem to provided much improvement either so I might just go ahead and try it anyway.

Back on April 18th, I did a run for pastry and visited Quiche Yoroizuka at Shibuya Hiharie (not sure whether any of the other outlets are still open). They had two sweet quiche, basically custard with and without strawberries, though the names are Quiche Purin (for "pudding") and Quiche Strawberry. I went with the strawberry. I could definitely task the quiche difference in the crust, though I don't know what's different about it from other pastry crusts, and it was custard with strawberries, either of which I had a very positive expectation of, but I had to admit that this was excellent. It was a nice smooth custard, just solid enough for this usage, and did not resemble typical "purin" in any way. The strawberries were also good.