Cake-off: Très Calme's Pistache Apricot over Bien-être's Pistachio and Grapefruit Chiboust

Saturday isn't as hot as I feared, but still plenty hot. Haven't done any running yet, but am considering going out in the evening to revisit parts of my neighborhood map before getting back to adding new parts (besides the new parts I've had to add in the middle of old maps, because I found overlooked locations). Instead, I went out at about 9:30 to update pictures for the neighborhood map. Did a temple practically next to Shinanomachi Station that's been rebuilt, then down to Jinguu Gaien Ichou Namiki Avenue, where I've added a new neighborhood loop, now that the connecting pedestrian bridges are available, along with the Royal Garden Cafe Aoyama at the south end, which has good pastries. Then I went down to the loop around Hiroo, where I only managed two planned locations and picked up two previously unknown locations near them, which is not a very good ratio of success, so I've had to completely redo that loop, splitting off the northeast part as three loops (which include a lot of bread places that I overlooked previously) and merging what was left (which is most of that loop) with the loop northeast of Shibuya Bridge, near Ebisu Station. I still haven't tested any of that, so I won't be surprised if there are future changes.

Then from about 10:08, I went my bicycle and got my cake. One was Pistache Apricot from Très Calme (naturally, I visited the farthest one first, though that was because they open first) which only got slightly dented, and the other was the variously named Pistachio and Grapefruit Chiboust from Bien-être, which I had (unnecessarily) preordered the night before (they just took my name and number; they didn't make me pay ahead, unlike Sadaharu Aoki), which definitely did not like road vibration, which is not surprising for any chiboust. The later cake I've been waiting to do a first-round cake-off since last September. I also noted that Bien-être had at least two other cakes that I haven't had, a seasonal tart and a new mille-feuille and that they do not in fact seem to have verrine, just puddings.

The cake-off wasn't a blowout this time, so they were well matched in that sense, as well as being well matched in flavors (no clashing) and yet having significant design differences to make comparing them interesting. I'm deciding in favor of the denser more sophisticated Pistache Apricot from the less distinguished (by me, at least) shop over the light, homemade-like Pistachio & Grapefruit Chiboust, which I thought would be better for with less grapefruit. Both cakes are seasonal, so I'll be doing second-round cake-offs with them next, starting with the loser against Le Saint-Marc, which at least shares its lightness. Next time, perhaps I'll walk the chiboust, or at least run it, home and see if it arrives more intact.