Sadaharu Aoki: Savarin

Savarin (Sadaharu Aoki)

Tuesday, did a run out to Marunouchi to get cake from Sadaharu Aoki, the Savarin, which is there through November. I also visited the two Jean-Paul Hévins around there to see what was up. Next month will be waffles with chocolate at the Chocolate Bar.

It's hard for me to judge Savarin, because it's a little different from my usual thing, but it seemed excellent (and I did enjoy it). Certainly I would like to make it (given the time and knowledge), which is my definition of excellent.

Almond and Anzu Tart (Atelier de Mar)

Wednesday, I went out to practice the Hatagaya--Honmachi--Nishi-Shinjuku loop. You'll notice that Nishi-Shinjuku has been added back into the name, as I discovered that there was no reason for that to be in a separate loop. Unfortunately, my sense of the other parts of the course remain incomplete, so I'm going to have to practice more. On the plus side, I was surprised to notice that there is an Atelier de Mar on the north end of the Hatagaya shopping street, so I bought an Almond and Anzu Tart (anzu is the standard plum variety in Japan). It was a nice little pastry-type tart, which I will give the benefit of the doubt and call excellent, as a first pastry. I didn't see such tarts at the Hatsudai branch. There is also apparently a shop in Sasazuka, but I'm going to want to verify that on the ground before I adjust the running course around there. On their Twitter feed, they show lots of tarts, but I'm not sure which branch that is.

Jean-Paul Hévin: Fondant du Menu

Decided for a change to catch a new café dessert from Jean-Paul Hévin, since I'm maxed out on the number of cakes. Should still have checked their cake line-up for additions, though I could have asked. Need to do that for the Ginza store tomorrow, since it's around the end of the month where they were sneaking things in last time.

Anyway, this is the Fondant du Menu, which is a fondant chocolat with maybe additional chocolate syrup and lots of whipped cream on the side (not shown, but maybe equal in mass). It was excellent, I'll say, maybe generously. I have less experience and appreciation of café desserts, maybe. This was part of a drink set, so I choose Chocolat Chaud Africain, which I've never had. I'll generous say that it was good, but I really did not get much taste of it. The texture was normal, but I just wasn't feeling even chocolate, really, though that may just because because it was with and following the fondant. Among their regular menu, the standard Parisien seems to remain the best. The chestnut was the best, though, so I'll have it again when I get the chance.

For the run, I practiced the pruned and otherwise modified Hatsudai--Tomigaya--Yoyogi loop. I was okay east of Yamanote-doori Ave., but the new west section is tough, so I'll practice again when I practice the loop that used to be on the north end, the part north of the highway. I also notice a pedestrian "Pleasure walk" on the south end that I should expand to cover the entire length, but that's easily done without needing to change much.

Le Pan: Saint-marc Praliné and Tanba Chestnut Mont-blanc

I ran first and got a pastry from Pane Ho Baretta, a d'Amonde Chocolat (?). Definitely good but heavy, as expected, and pretty messy, as there is chocolate on the outside. They had a lot kinds of d'Amonde, though just a few of each on display.







Just from Googling, I had found Le Pan as a cake source in Kobe. I've probably seen the sign pointing upslope on the lateral road between L'Avenue and Gregory Collet Patisserie, but assumed they just have cake. I got cake for later before putting the borrowed bicycle in working order and going around photoing shops for Kobe Patisseries map, being maybe less discriminating than I should be, since there are places that I seem unlikely to visit, though a note to that effect might be useful later.

The cakes were Saint-marc Praliné and Tanba Chestnut Mont-blanc. The saint-marc was good but did not stand out. The supposed mont-blanc was the third cake in that many days that was not much like the conventional form, or like any other. This one actually had very little paste, though there was a little more chestnut inside. The main body is rum cream. It had very nice flavor and texture, so I'll say it was excellent.

I seem to having a lot more luck in this second pass through Kobe cake shops, though that may because I've sticking closer to the central cluster rather than visiting every neighborhood shop that managed to get in a guidebook. I'm also willing to visit the old brands, like Juchheim, sometime, even though I consider them fairly low-level brands in Tokyo. Like Tooth Tooth, I'd like to at least give them a chance in their own shops (though, actually I don't think I've seen any Tooth Tooth cakes in Tokyo, just they have a French restaurant).

Cake-off: Sadaharu Aoki's Saint-marc Praliné over Jean-Paul Hévin's Bergamot

Sugar Crunch from Danish Bar

No posts for a while because of no cake. Tuesday, I ran out to Bien-être where they told me there were no new cakes in the line-up this week. I wanted to practice the Kita-Aoyama--Jinguumae--Shibuya loop of my neighborhood course map, so for a snack, I tried the Danish Bar under the Jinguubashi (?) intersection, in the underground corridors for the Metro subway Harajuku Station. I got the Sugar Crunch, and it was definitely good, better than a donut and a mini cupcake I've gotten in the same area for 4 times and 2 times the price. I succeeded this time of the part of the course that I tried, but I failed on the Shibuya--Minami-Aoyama loop due to turning too early.

Having missed cake Tuesday, by Wednesday I had decided that I was going to do a cake-off Thursday, since I would be too business during the weekend (I had planned on Monday). The nearest new non-cake place I could hit then was SunnyHills Minami Aoyama Store, which fit with my plan to practice the recently modified course it was on, the Minami-Aoyama--Nishi-Azabu loop. I was successful in getting there before they closed at 7 p.m. It was my first time to go in and I found that on the first floor, they only sold the gift sets advertised online, not individual pineapple bars/cakes (and they have bottles of juice), so this really doesn't qualify as someplace to get a snack while jogging. A couple people were taken up to the second floor cafe, which surprised me, given how late it was, but anyway it looked a little too upscale for my state of dress (jogging stuff). Still, I would be interested in visiting the cafe sometime for tea-time for two.

However, I failed the Minami-Aoyama--Nishi-Azabu loop too (thought the correct place to turn might be farther ahead, but it's a long block), and then it turned out that the course itself was a failure, because of a traffic signal I hadn't known about. I've redone the map to loop past it and in the process SunnyHills is no longer on the course (despite the building being a distinctive landmark). For a snack, I stopped at the underground eating area below Omotesandou intersection, where I got an Egg Tart from Eggcellent Egg Tart, which has a quiche-type shell. It was definitely good. I did, at least, finally get the little Shibuya--Minami-Aoyama loop correct. On the way home, I also got some 100% rye bread from Breadworks, which is not pastry and also not in a neighborhood accessible from my course (can't reach it without a traffic signal), so no picture, but it was fine. I had it with low-sugar homemade jam and separately with olive oil.

Thursday morning, I was free, so I ran from about 8:45. After picking up a picture of the Yotsuya 3-choume Station Antendo bakery/cafe for the Samonchou loop, which I scouted but still missed the Garage Coffee shop, which has baked goods, supposedly, I went down to the northwest corner of the Akasaka-Azabudai-Roppongi-Toranomon loop and practiced it clockwise as far as United Church of Christ in Japan Akasaka Church, so including all the most recent south end. Also on the south end, out of order, since it's the first 13-level loop, I did a lap around the new Shibakouen--Toranomon loop without needing to check my map (it's basically one big block, though there is a walkway through the middle when I need shortcut). I didn't practice any of the other little 13-level loops coming from the Akasaka-Azabudai-Roppongi-Toranomon loop or finish it, because I ran out of time (10:05). I ran next to Ginza Mitsukoshi to get Jean-Paul Hévin's Bergamot and then (looping north to check out Viron and futilely going by the Marunouchi Building, where the foodcourt was not yet open) to get Sadaharu Aoki's Saint-marc Praliné. And I saw that I was correct about being wrong, that they did have their baba, so I need to get back there next Tuesday: if they don't have any left, I'll try to reserve one for Wednesday.

Finally to the cake-off: This time, the gelatinous layer on the top of the Bergamot bothered me a little, but there are several textures in it, so I should learn to live with it. Still, the mild Saint-marc Praliné seemed more deserving, so it gets the win. I'll probably try to get to second-rounds for both of them fairly soon, but the saint-marc has until the end of March and the Bergamot seems to be a replacement for the Bergam, so maybe it will stick around for a while. It's labeled as "new", not as "limited", at Ginza Mitsukoshi.

Tooth Tooth (Salon): Fig and Caramel Nuts Mille-feuille, and Chocolat Mont-blanc

Went to the salon at the main P. Tooth Tooth, in Kobe for tea and cake for two. The Tooth Tooth Blend tea was good (we only ordered tea for one, but it comes in a pot for three cups worth, so it was plenty).

Chocolat Mont-blanc: P. Tooth Tooth

The main desserts were Fig and Caramel Nuts Mille-feuille and Chocolat Mont-blanc, which were both good.

Fig and Caramel Nuts Mille-feuille: P. Touth Touth

I liked the mille-feuille better, though the actual pastry was somehow a little different in construction than what I usually see, but it's hard to say how. It was still "leaves", but they seemed more interweaved, maybe.

Chiboust Pomme: P. Tooth Tooth

The next day, we went again for lunch with cake, and you can choose cake from the regular boutique/takeout cake line-up (though maybe some things were omitted; I didn't compare). The lunch was nice, so I would go back again for that. This time we went for the Mont-blanc and Chiboust Pomme.

Mont-blanc P. Tooth Tooth

The chiboust was the heaviest chiboust that I've ever had, but it was still definitely good. The Mont-Blanc was also more solid than usual, with very little whipped cream. Inside, besides a chestnut, was a layer for semi-solid custard, I don't know whether I've seen custard before in a Mont-blanc, but its seems very Kobe-style. The base was a walnut biscuit (coarse cake) and there were walnut pieces throughout. Actually, the paste of the "mont" did not have much of a chestnut flavor, as far as I could tell, so this was really more of a walnut mont-blanc, which makes it interesting enough that I'll hazard an evaluation of excellent.

Jean-Paul Hévin: Bergamot

Since I went out to Ryoura Sunday, Monday I got the third of this month's new cakes from Jean-Paul Hévin, Bergamot. For running, I tried and failed again on the Kita-Aoyama--Jinguumae--Shibuya loop (south Harajuku). I started near Cat Street again and failed within a turn after leaving it in middle, but got the part I screwed up previously, at the end of Cat Street, correct. Actually, I perhaps had been getting the middle part wrong previously without knowing it and this time after making the first turn correctly, I wasn't sure what to do next and chose wrong (I wasn't more than 170 deg wrong). I am satisfied with my knowledge of the Shibuya north loop, though I had my doubts at the time. I also got the tiny Minami-Aoyama loop but had multiple problems with the Shibuya--Minami-Aoyama loop.

Bergamot (Jean-Paul Hévin)

On the plus side, the Bergamot was great. I feared that the top was be gelatinous and destroy the texture, like with the updated Chocolat Framboise, but there was no problem. Orange-flavored cream and Bergamot-flavored like milk chocolate mousse with a crunchy base: the structure was standard for them, but a standard that works. Hope they keep this around for another month, but I'll maybe do a cake-off next week.

Ryoura, Clair

Croissant from Shibuichi Bakery

Sunday, I decide to change my plan to get my next JPH cake (I'll go tomorrow), and instead ran out to Ryoura (since I can't go on a workday). It was a shorter run, but I didn't go direct. I went first to the north end of Meiji Shrine grounds and walked to the shrine and out to the south end (it's posted "no jogging", and there are guard to enforce it, plus thousands of people, though the path is wide). From there I went down to Shibuichi Bakery again, now that it was open, and got a Croissant which was excellent I guess. Certainly it was sufficiently flaky and light enough in the middle for me, though the excellence might owe more to the fact that I'm not able to get to them early in the day very often. Blogger apparently doesn't want to rotate this picture, so you get the sideways version.

Hikawa-dai Children's Playground

From there, it's mostly west to Ryoura, more west than the roads run, so there were some turns. I stopped at a couple landmarks for future neighborhood courses (if I get the current one's mastered so I can expand again), just to chip away at them. At Ryoura, I made a mistake and ordered Clair, which has chestnut mousse, orange-flavored almond caramel (not sure what that means, but it sounds good), but, and I missed this until I had already ordered, confirmed, and payed, coffee crème brûlée. I considered pleading for an exchange but decided to take responsibility.

Clair from Ryoura

Though at first a little disappointed, I came to look forward to the challenge, as it's inconvenient to have to avoid coffee. As it happens, it was good and it didn't leave a sickening aftertaste, which marks a huge improvement over most experiences, so I'm going to call it excellent, because I would at least get it again for someone else, even if I'm okay with no coffee-flavored cakes for another year. However, I've seen JPH's Christmas line-up, and I may end of another cake with coffee this year (plus, JPH's other coffee flavored cake, while not my favorite, was still pretty good as well).

Cake-off: Ryoura's Mont-Blanc over Toshi Yoroizuka's Antique

Friday was a no-cake day, but I went running to try to do the Kita-Aoyama--Jinguumae--Shibuya Loop. I tried looking in at the new Number Sugar in Sendagaya and found them open, with a line. I went in and bought two salt-flavored caramels. As a gift for being one of the first customers, I got a gift bag with another salt- and one ginger-flavored caramel. They all seemed good, and I ate them greedily later, but it's not looking like caramels are going to be a new passion of mine, even though they are enough of a step in the right direction from hard candy that I'll keep them on the neighborhood course map as landmarks. I failed to do the loop without needing to backtrack and consult my map. I hadn't remembered the new part by ShIbuichi Bakery well yet, thought that's partially because I don't remember the old part that it deviates from well. I'll try again Monday, maybe.

Saturday, I did a long run out first to P. Yu Sasage to verify that they still didn't have two great cakes there (they post to Facebook pretty often about their line-up changes, so I probably don't really need to check in person). On the way, I checked recent and upcoming neighborhood course to verify that a couple landmarks don't exist (the temple moved and the church wasn't listed on the outside of the building where they ware supposed to meet, so no landmark) and that some did, so I took several pictures and have added them to the map.

From there, I went down to Ryoura, my target for their (Western chestnut) Mont-Blanc. My feet were getting pretty sore, but I'm running a lot, I guess recently. Besides other problems, my right foot tends to swell, so I should have loosened my shoe earlier. I could see bright red lines the next day. I too the try back to Tokyo Midtown to get Antique from Toshi Yoroizuka (and look around again, though nothing new). With two cake and a sore foot, I took the train home, though that was still a lot of walking to keep within one train system. It had been three years since I had Antique, so I wasn't surprised to find that I wasn't feeling the greatness any more. It was the unusual combination, from the chocolate tart crust on the bottom to the fig on the top, that struck me as interesting before, no doubt, but that was not repeatable. The Mont-Blanc was still great. I think what makes it difficult is the vanilla flavor in the whipped cream, which maybe I'm more interested in than chestnut paste, so I'm probably not the best person to recommend cakes to someone who's favorite is mont-blancs. No picture, but for the 3rd year anniversary, they gave out canvas bags the right size for a least single-cake boxes, so I hope to use that. It's a little small, but it's more secure than plastic bags, which I get too many of (but tend to use for raw vegetables in the refrigerator and raw garbage).

Sadaharu Aoki, Saint-marc Praliné

Jogged to Sadaharu Aoki in Marunouchi for a new cake. Unfortunately, too late for the Baba (I hope I understood right, that they weren't just sold out, it had ended its run). Guess I was too slow. The next new thing is a variety pack of little pieces of other cakes, which doesn't interest me, unless someone visits and I want to give them a sample. However, the main shop in Marunouchi also has Saint-marc Praliné, which I had only had a little of before, not enough to give a fair evaluation.

I also went to Ginza Mitsukoshi to make sure JPH hadn't stuck something into their line-up (since I don't have another good source for information), which they hann't but I got the little Boulette au Marron from Dalloyau again because I thought I didn't give it a fair evaluation before. The problem before was that I put it on top of my cake box for the trip back. I didn't keep it there, but pastries need to be warm and I didn't do anything to heat it back up. I tried it again, eating it as I crossed back west underground to Hibiya Park (I continued walking the entire way home, as Sadaharu Aoki boxes are too unstable to run with, being basically just big enough and in the same shape as their cakes), and I'm willing to change the rating of it to excellent.

The Saint-marc Praliné is subtle, which saint-mark usually are, but they could have gone heavy with the praliné, but didn't. It pretty much took until the last bite to decide that was great (i.e., I definitely want to have it again). I wonder, though, whether there was maple in the top caramel layer or that was harmonization. In any case, happy to find another great cake, even if it's not one that I'll see much after it's gone (I'm not sure whether it will continue through December or March, but I think it started this year as the exclusive Marunouchi cake and will have a one-year run). I don't feel in a huge hurry to do a cake-off with it, so I'll stick with the Mont-Blanc from Ryoura for the next one, but I should get to it next month, if I can find another great cake to pair it against.

Clair de Lune, Criollo

Wednesday, I finally went to P. Clair de Lune for cake agine. I have them down as an excellent shop, but my my metrics they rate over the supposedly quite excellent shop L'Abricotier. However, I've had twice as many cakes from L'Abricotier, so I've had to dig deeper in their line-up, making it a not very fair comparison in terms of selection bias. To compensate, rather than swapping them between the two groups immediately, like I've done in the past, now that I should have one more cake from quite excellent shops, I instead got one from P. Clair de Lune, as a substitute. It's complicated, so fortunately I'm currently not doing this for any other pair of shops.

The short course there is over 8 kilometers, though I missed a turn, so maybe it reached 8.5 km. However, I realized why I usually don't take that course (not the missed turn; I should be used to turning there by now), which is it goes right past the JR station, making it much too crowded for running for a relatively long stretch. So actually my mistake would have been correct if I had followed the course I tried on the way back, if only I had known. Total was probably around 17 km, which I did in 110 minutes, faster than I expected given my foot problems. Also, my stretching and icing in the evening was apparently very effective, as I had surprisingly little trouble in the morning. I'll try to repeat today.

The cake was Criollo, which was chocolate cake with the criollo variety of Venezuelan chocolate, supposedly the best and most expensive. I've become jaded with chocolate cake, but I ate this in and exchanged a few words with the propriety, so I would feel guilty rating it poorly, but I think excellent is a reasonable, honest rating. An important point was the pink pepper on top, for accent, but it is still mostly just straight, excellent, chocolate.

Google says they also have a shop in the Marui at Ueno Station, which is slightly more convenient. That one is confirmed on the shop's website (which I also had not known about), but it also says there's one where Google Streetview shows a hotel. Next time I run by either (which would probably only be to go to the main shop), I should check out what they are selling, since the Marui branch might not have the fresh cake.

Bien-être: Mille-feuille au Marron

Monday, I tried to practice the Kita-Aoyama--Jinguumae--Shibuya Loop. On the way, I planned to stop by the new Sendagaya Number Sugar but it was closed. So was Sun&Witch, but Bakery Cafe 426 Omotesando was back to being a cafe, so I got what was called a Vanilla Croissant. This was the least pastry-like croissant I've ever had. It was definitely bread, complete with a thick crust. It had some layering, but the thickest I've seen in a croissant. Inside was some vanilla custard. They definitely had real pastries there and the Vanilla Croissant was definitely good, so I'll probably buy there again soon. They have cake in glass containers; it's not verrine being called cake, but normal looking fancy cake put inside squarish glasses large enough that the cake does not touch the side or stick up over the top. The cake is for eat-in only.

While I'm talking about bread, let me mention that when I was riding Sunday through Uehara, I ran into bakery being run out what would have been a garage maybe on a short street between two other short streets, where everything else was residential. I bought a Noix Raisin, and it was excellent bread.

Noix Raisin

Back to the run, I wasn't confident through the west end but managed it without checking my map. Coming back up the east side, I had to turn back and try again after Jarat (I remembered how many streets to count, just I missed one the first time) and couldn't remember what to do after Rituel, so I had to resort to the map. I'd like to try again on Friday. I should really keep at it until the loop part at least is a familiar neighborhood. Also, I found another bakery cafe in Google Maps, so I'll be altering the southwest end anyway.  I should really confirm the location in person, but it doesn't radically alter the course, so I can do that when I try it the first time.

Tuesday, I had a table and Mille-feuille au Marron reserved at Bien-être. I had enough to take a long way that took me down some roads I've never been on, so maybe I'll recognize them if I get lost running a neighborhood course. Chestnuts suit custard mille-feuille well, as it turns out, not that I was worried, given the source. Like all their other mille-feuille, this was excellent and different enough not to be boring.

Jean-Paul Hévin, Longchamp Feuilleté

Sunday, I went out a couple more hours by bicycle and picked up photos a new missed places in otherwise finished maps and corrected an order for cake for Tuesday (I keep forgetting to check what I've had before). Then I went out and got Longchamp Feuilleté from Jean-Paul Hévin at Ginza Mitsukoshi. Also, I saw a new pastry a Dalloyau, Boule de Marron I think they were calling it, so I had to get that. On the way to my actual necessary errand for being in the Tokyo Station area, I swung by Toshi Yoroizuka and happily saw that they had a great cake from 2015 in the line-up (and claimed that it would stay in the line-up for the season, i.e., until December), so now I know what I want to do for a cake-off next weekend. I'll have four chances to find something else great, otherwise I'll be running to Ryoura on Saturday, take the train back, and run to maybe to Tokyo Midtown (which is closer than Kyoubashi, where I went today).

Today's cake was fill of good things that I like, dark chocolate mousse and both almond meringue and feuilleté, though the latter made it tend to break up into small chunks, which is a little awkward using a tiny cake fork. Maybe I should use a spoon. I still haven't found a sharp table knife for cutting cake (I assume sharp would be better than a serrated blade). It was excellent cake, though I've rating other of the similar cakes higher; it could be I'm spoiled now or just I liked the simpler versions (I think they were simpler).

The Boule de Marron seemed deflated in that there did not seem to be enough pastry for the amount of chestnut, at least for me, though I'm sure more people would complain if they were cheap with the chestnut. Still, it was good, but it reminds me that I want to get to Clair de Lune again, I hope Wednesday of this week, though for cake this time, not pastry, though a pastry from there on Sunday wouldn't go wrong.

Don't really need my camera in super-wide mode for cake, but I think I've already fixed that now.

Cake-off: Jean-Paul Hévin's La Figue over Libertable's Charm

First, let me mention Friday night's run, which was another long run that brought me to the most north and most east parts that I've done yet on any kind of neighborhood course run, reaching to Nakano Ward, not so far away from a neighborhood I spent part of one summer. This time it took about 80 minutes to reach the new loop on the neighborhood course and another 50+ minutes to run the 8 km loop. That was the Hatagaya--Honmachi--Minami-Dai--Nishi-Shinjuku loop. It was a new loop, and I was in a hurry to run it before I really knew the course or the neighborhood. I almost immediately found a flaw and had to improvise and missed on of the known parks. Also, I ran most of it with Google Map displayed, which isn't really how I want to be doing these, so I've rethought how I want to continue. Besides wanting to actually learn individual loops in the course before moving on to others, I want to do in full the pedestrian/green ways, which this course and the actually the course leading to it both have. Any I've found another public park that should be on the map, so I've added that, split the loop leading to it into two loops, and also had to slip off a couple slivers into mini-terminal loop leaves to pick up landmarks that otherwise would require even longer convolutions (I won't combine two loops if that increases the total running length).

For fuel, I had hoped to get something from a bakery cafe in Harajuku, but it had transformed into something else in the last couple days. It's really hard to keep up with Harajuku. Everything after that was long closed (the new loop and one below it are pretty heavily residential), even leaving home before seven in the evening, but I walked home and passed by Shinjuku Station, so I picked up a Sheraton Chocolat from Hakuo for 20% off. It's sort of like a pain au chocolat, with layers, but very thick layers and not very baked (or they absorbed back a lot of moisture by that time of night) and the filling was milk chocolate cream rather than just chocolate (so it was refrigerated). It was just ok as a pastry but appreciated as energy, though I didn't eat it until I reached home (no cake for Friday).

New Number Sugar

Saturday, I got a late start on running to Akasaka and then Tokyo Midtown to get cakes for a cake-off: first Charm from Libertable and then La Figue from Jean-Paul Hévin. Then  I went back out and scouted what I thought was going to be the next level 12 loop (it still is, but running it is no long my next priority). I got a sample from Candy Show Time (the one on Cat Street) and decided that even though I've added chocolate shops to my map, I didn't need hard candy shops. It's just sugar in a different shape, and it's unclear what advantage handmade has. I expect a machine could do a good job, though maybe it wouldn't be as pretty. Not sure yet whether Number Sugar, which has a shop just off Cat Street nearby, will stay on the map. They just opened (or are preparing to open: they were taking opening pictures when I went past, though I didn't see any customers) a big shop much closer on the southeast end of Sendagaya, which isn't really a tourist or shopping area, so I'm not sure what the idea is. Are they going to do cooking lessons there, and need the space?

Saturday was a second-round cake-off between first-round losers, but I'm happy with both as great. They both take fairly standard flavor and add something unusual to give a distinct accent. It was difficult to choose in the end, but the mont-blanc (Charm) is a really sweet cake that one could start getting tired of toward the end (at least when eating it along with another piece of cake, but only one small cup of tea), whereas I could have kept eating La Figue. Sorry Libertable guy (who I just noticed on an NHK special as I was setting up whatever recording I was actually going to watch during lunch today).

Sadaharu Aoki, Poire Caramel

This week's Aoki Sadaharu was Poire Caramel. I expected rain in the evening so I planned on exercising inside. I did my push-ups and practices some little used muscle groups, but didn't do as much as I should have. I'm thinking now that I'll do a long run covering the next level 12 loop tomorrow night, depending on the weather. I wasn't planning any cake from tomorrow anyway, so I would get a pastry or bread along the course.

Today's cake was heavy on the pear and light on caramel. I'm not generally very fond of cakes that are fruit dependent, and pear has been a fruit that I haven't wanted in cake, but this was definitely quality pear and this was excellent cake, which does not surprise me at all. Aoki Sadaharu continues to it's dominance as the number three shop, but I'm not going to rearrange my lists for now, since one less than excellent cake from them and one great cake from Bien-être (if I could get a new cake from them) would probably reverse things reverse things.

Cacao Store, Exotic Edamame

Wednesday, feeling fine despite Tuesday's long run, I did a run out to Bien-être, where they did not have any of their seasonal cakes, so nothing new for me to try. Rather than reserve something for another day, I finally followed up on the cake-off win by the Cacao Store (Théobroma) in Tomigaya, Shibuya-ku. My choice there was between Exotic (or maybe Exotique) Edamame, which is coconut and I suppose edamame (immature soybeans, usually eaten steamed, in bars) though I didn't look that closely, and an orange cream puff, so I went with the more traditional cake over the puff. I walked back mostly, because of carrying cake and just in case my body needed the rest, checking out a landmark in Harujuku, which I rejected as an ice cream place, which I don't want get into.

I've had great coconut cakes, though it's not my favorite flavor and this one did not have much else going on. It was still okay, but that's a pretty low level of appreciation, so I'm not even going to bother cross-posting to Twitter.

Passion de Rose, Gateau Chocolat

Tuesday, I caught the last day of Passion de Rose at Isetan, so I got my third cake from this potentially quite good shop, Gateau Chocolat.

For running, I did the first 12th-level loop: the Akasaka-Azabudai-Roppongi-Toranomon loop. Covers a pretty central part of Tokyo and is big, much bigger than any of the loops it connects to: 11.2 km. It took about 130 minutes of running, and then I walked back, which is pretty intense for a workday. There was some weird things going on with my right foot, as I tried to do a rolling run instead of running on the front of my foot, to vary the stress. My outer toes really send some weird signals, like I've got a cord under them that I'm treading on. Was able to keep going to no special pain afterward. But heels were sore in the morning, but thing critical. Maybe I'll try the next 12th-level Sunday (or maybe I'll bicycle to a distant shop for recon).

This Gateau Chocolat claimed five kinds of chocolate, which I believe. There are a couple biscuit layers on the bottom and a central mousse layer, a chocolate coating and pieces of chocolate stuck in the top. It was good but didn't really add up to anything special.

Jean-Paul Hévin: Chocolat Framboise (2018)

Sunday, there was cycling in the morning to try to review landmarks on the Hatagaya--Honmachi--Minami-Dai--Nishi-Shinjuku loop, which I thought was going to be a 13th-level loop until the connecting 12th-level loop got merged with its source as the Hatagaya--Hatsudai--Honmachi--Tomigaya--Yoyogi loop, now my longest at 11.7 km. I axed one park that was just a small paved area with one corner as a bicycle-sharing station and missed a couple landmarks on the other side the road to the north, where I don't have any immediate exits (my entrance link is from the south and there is a pedestrian bridge crossing out to the west). So I think I'm now ready to try this as a one-way neighborhood course run, which is good, because it's second on the list of level 12 loops and I plan to do the first one Tuesday.

In the afternoon I went to the Jean-Paul Hévin in Marunouchi, mostly for variations on things I've had before, shared between two. The limited item was the Coussin d'Amour Orange, which I had forgotten that I had before, since previously it was on a plate with a little chocolate sauce on top. It's a chocolate crepe with I'm not sure what kind of filling and orange sauce and this time it came in a paper sleeve for eating by hand and without any chocolate decoration. I think this presentation helped me appreciate it as excellent, though that's based mainly on the orange sauce. The chocolate crepe doesn't really add anything for me.

The other main selection was the Chocolat Framboise, which the receipt adds an "N" too, probably for new, since this is a change version as of this month. The top now doesn't have fresh raspberry and the now is now thinner and more gelatinous, which isn't any better an idea than it sounds. Not sure what they are thinking. It's still good, still relative dry and now there's a new gelatinous texture that doesn't help.

The best thing about the Marunouchi shop (besides being an an addition place that might have something different), is the hot chocolate, since it's less than halve the price of what's at Isetan and the selection is not bad. It's worth putting up with a paper cup instead of a tea cup. I had a new flavor for me, Chocolat Chaud Brésil, which was excellent.

Cake-off: Ryoura's Soyeux over Jean-Paul Hévin's Macaron Chocolat a l'Ancienne

Friday, I did a run down to Bread, Espresso & and got a sweet bread/tradition cake, a Chocolat et Marron Kouglof. It was good as sweet breads go, though I would have been happen with a more tradition bread. Why is there also a chocolate chunk and pecan cookie in the photo? It was also someone's last day at work, and departing treats have been the custom the last several years, though not when I started. The cookie was definitely better than the cake, but then it came from shop that's apparently at Isetan, Flavor. I should look for them, since they have at least cheesecake online, which could count as fresh cake.

Saturday: Been having trouble with being behind on Jean-Paul Hévin so that one cake even slipped completely between my fingers (an Isetan exclusive that I saw for the first time this week and apparently ended Wednesday) and another I only managed to get in a first-round cake-off (the chocolate mille-feuille from the extra cake-off), though I would have wanted a second, so (misrepresenting cause and effect) I was determined to find something to match Jean-Paul Hévin's Macaron Chocolat a l'Ancienne. However, I was busy most of the morning and late afternoon and evening, so I had to be in a hurry (as much as I can running these days). Still, I made time for taking some photos of some new places and even discovered a whole new class of landmarks, the "churches" of Tenrikyou, a Japanese new religion. I'm suspicious when Wikipedia says there are 1.75 million followers, since that's 1% of the population, which makes it sound like a pretty made up number. Anyway, there is an old church/temple in the Aoyama/Jinguumae area and I've found several others in other neighborhoods covered by my neighbor course.

For cake, first I tried Paris S'éveille, where I was not completely shocked to find that the season for Un Dimanche a Paris had ended. Next I went to Ryoura (another 25 minutes of running, perhaps) and was successful at finding Soyeux.

I like the idea of Macaron Chocolat a l'Ancienne, but I'm still having trouble finding the greatness, so I'm putting in probation. I definitely like pistachio and fruit in a mousse cake better, so Soyeux gets its first win, in the the second round of cake-offs.

Sadaharu Aoki: Paris-Brest au Marron Matcha

Need to catch up before I'm busy again. Thursday, I finally got to Sadaharu Aoki again, and got their Shinjuku Isetan exclusive, Paris-Brest au Marron Matcha, which is actually a cream puff, not a Paris-brest (it's not wheel-shaped), but what you can do. The matcha cream is hidden in the bottom (in a reasonable but necessary amount, as it provides a major part of the sweetening), and there are some hazelnuts visible there, in addition to the main flavor, chestnut. It was interesting, but in an excellent way, so they are still living up to their status as a possibly quite superb shop.

The run (which came before eating the cake) was my biggest of the week, I did a neighborhood course run down to Shibuya Station, which takes 45+ minutes, and on which I tried to verify some of the recent changes of Jinguumae--Kita-Aoyama Central loop. Then I tried to Daikanyama-chou--Dougenzaka--Ebisunishi--Hachiyama-chou--Sakuragaoka-chou--Sarugaku-chou--Shibuya--Uguisudani-chou loop, which is as complicated as the name and the last of my "11th" loops (ten loops from the Samonchou loop) that I'm doing one-way neighborhood runs for. The big change from last time I did any part of this loop (I don't think I've tried to do all of any previous version at one time) was to add a few more churches and a couple cake shops and not bother to cross back over to the west end of Shibuya Station by pedestrian bridges on the groups that the landmarks there are accessible on food through the corridors and tunnels of Shibuya Station, so Shibuya Mark City doesn't need a special visit. It took over an hour to do the loop and in fact I ran into a problem at the end: no bridge back to the station from the southeast side. The whole area is under construction and there are subway entrances that you can use to cross, so I'm not even sure that they are going to reopen that bridge ever. The north-south bridge worked to get to the loop, though it's a temp, so I'm not sure what will happen later, but it goes to a big new shopping area, so at least the people who built that have an incentive to keep that connection, but again there are (really deep) tunnels if they don't. As a result, I've split off the northeast part as a separate mini-loop (linked by a bridge that's still open); perhaps I'll separately practice it among the "12th" loops, presumably at the same time I practice the mini Ebisunishi loop again and try the Kamimeguro loop through Naka-Meguro Station.

La Bicerin: Muscat Grape Cake

Monday, I went to Jean-Paul Hévin to get something small and non-cake to tide me over for a day and I choose Sablé Viennois Nougatine Pistache. I also saw that they had three new (at least to my posts) cakes and one new version of an old cake, so I really didn't need to supplement selections from JPH with the sablé, but I did anyway, because I hate to change plans and Sadaharu Aoki is still my priority for my next new cake. After my last big neighborhood run, I updated my map to include more non-cake/pastry places, including chocolate shops, which includes For running, I had decided that I should include Mon Loire, in Minami-Aoyama 6-choume, which required new loop, which I'm calling the Minami-Aoyama south loop and is also an 11th-level loops (counting from southwest of Yotsu 3-choume Station). However, if I apply the run of including things that are across the street from the course, then I should widen the Minami-Aoyama--Nishi-Azabu Loop in include the Yokumoku, which I did and used in this run successfully. The loop is tiny, but the link too it is relative long. Still, to do a one-way neighborhood that does the loop takes a few minutes short of an hour, though then I had to get home. On the way, I noticed that past Yokumoku is also an Inari Shrine that I should include, so I widened the map further, and then I refound in Google Qu'il Fait Bon, a sort of tart shop, so I added that, which expanded the course a little further. Later, the Sablé Viennois Nougatine Pistache seemed, although just one disappears pretty quickly, so its hard to judge.

Tuesday I was busy and then Wednesday morning being busy including going to La Bicerin for lunch at Shinjuku Takashimaya. This a fancy Italian caffè. Sorry, I didn't choose the cake or remember to get the proper name afterward (it wasn't one of the ones on the menu), so let's call it Muscat Grape Cake, though it's more a tart. It was definitely good with very high quality fruit. The half of the lunch set (or whatever they all it) that I had was also good chocolate cake and chocolate raspberry tart.

In the evening, I did the Tokyo Station rounds for the beginning of the month and discovered nothing new at JPH (either Marunouchi or Ginza Mitsukoshi), Viron, F. Cassel, 14 Julliet, or Dalloyau (I had other business and was running late, so I didn't have time to swing by Sadaharu Aoki, though I know they have one or two exclusives there that I want). However, JPH Marunouchi convinced me (the barrista gave me a pitch, recognizing me) that I should try their exclusive crêpe creation before it ends this month, so I plan to. Also, like other JPH stores, I can get the revamped Chocolat Framboise there, which started this month. Not sure how long the running was, but it's over 10 km generally and I had a lot of additional walking.