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.