Michalak, Mangue

Needed to go to Isetan today, which is why I didn't go yesterday. Michalak has a new cake and I owe them for a cake-off. The cake is Mangue, which is one of those fruit-shaped cakes that I've heard a popular among young pastry chefs, where it's made to taste like a cake version of the fruit (versus cake in the same shape that includes the fruit as a taste). I don't want all my cakes like this, but I now see the appeal. Definitely excellent.

I decided that it would be foolish to try the Akasaka--etc. run again today, since really yesterday was about as long as I've run lately, and the real course takes a little more. Instead, I did a food shopping runs by bicycle after bringing home the cake, which ended up taking longer than I expected, since my first stop turned out to be closed for reasons I didn't bother to read in detail about on the sign, so I ended up going to a branch on the other side of home, as well as stopping a couple other places, so it took about 1.75 hours, leading me to give up also on doing an indoor work out. Stocked up on roasted peanuts, crackers, sesame seeds, energy cookies, vegetables, canned fish, and got one cheap chocolate bar, which I haven't tried yet.

Yesterday and noticed and today I confirmed that the Akasaka Del'Imo closed (moving to Tokyo Midtown Hibiya). It doesn't really matter for the course, since there are other sites on the same street, but it inspired me to revised the big Akasaka loop and cut off one site to its own loop (dubbed the Akasaka 4 loop) and reroute the main loop to be more direct and take over the sites for the Akasaka 3 loop. I'll have to recalculate distances for everything west of there, but it shortens the loop somewhat, despite increasing the total number of sites on it, so it seems like a legitimate change, even if it was probably inspired by yesterday's failure (if you're losing the game, change the rules).

Fiorentina Pastry Boutique, Mille-feuille

Got my cake by bicycle first. Even though Fiorentina Pastry Boutique lost the last cake-off, it won the one before, so this catches me up on them (fourth cake). I decided to go with the safe choice of Mille-feuille. For running, I tried the modified Akasaka--Azabudai--Roppongi--Toranomon loop failed when it came time to make the last turn before the new site I just confirmed last night, KB-Keiji, which I'll get to below. I was thinking I needed to turn at the next light, but was just looking for crosswalks, so I missed the first intersection with a stoplight and overshot by enough that I knew I gone too far. I went back and confirmed the correct place, which might help if I try again tomorrow, and then headed for home. On the way back, I found another Natural Lawson within the same loop, but I can't see a more efficient way to add it to the over course than as another around-the-block cul-de-sac loop, unfortunately. No change to the main loop. I say "another" because last night I confirmed a different such loop, also because of a Natural Lawson, but at least that loop has another site on it, so splitting that one off shortened the main loop slightly at least, but that would have been near the end of the run, whereas I only got about 40% of the loop. The cake was fine. They did not do anything fancy, but it seemed perfect for what it was and I like mille-feuille, so I can say it was excellent. The run felt good, but I don't imagine my feet will be happy about it tomorrow. It was doing 1:6 walking:running and ended up doing over 73 minutes of running. 

Monday, I went out by bicycle to confirm some sites and do some shopping become coming home and doing some indoor working out. The new shop was KB-Keiji, which is a German cake/bread shop (so a konditorei&backerei, thus the KB). I got what I'll have to write as Nusswolen, though I can't find any comparable name or desert from anywhere except this shop. It's hazelnuts, shortened to just nuts (nuss), but I don't no what woren/wolen is. It was ok, but pretty dry. The shop and shopkeeper seem quite old but there is a pretty varied selection. Looks hard to keep going, though I went pretty late, so maybe they move a lot of bread during the day, which there wasn't much of when I went.

Cake-off: En Vedette's En Vedette over Fiorentina Pastry Boutique's Estate

For this weekend's cake-off, I finally got around to using En Vedette's name-sake cake in a second-round winner's cake-off. I was figure it was always around and a recent entry, so there was no hurry, but the second half of the year is advancing, so I should get to last year's cakes. The opposite is a very recent entry, from last month, Estate ("estah-te"). These are both somewhat subtle cakes, so it seemed like a good match. Estate is fruity with strong white chocolate taste spiked with pistachio and En Vedette is chocolate raisin spiked with rum (though maybe there is alcohol in Estate as well--I need to check again). I'm going with En Vedette and the smooth rum flavor over the sweetness of Estate as a better balance in my greats list.

The run was 1:5 min walking:running, taking 50 minutes of running to get to En Vedette (somewhat because that was a good cut-off place and I wasn't going to get another 5 min running), which was faster than I expected, as I feel I'm running really slow these days. I should hit the Gaien track and do some timed training. I brought it back by train and then went out again for Estate at Roppongi hills, running another 20 min or so and walking the cake back. Added a few pictures to my neighborhood map.

Peninsula Boutique, Okinawa Baba and Jivara Green Tea Tart

Saturday, I had and ate my cake first. Was trying to go to the Peninsula (Tokyo Hotel) Café, but didn't make the 17:00 cutoff, so got cake for two to go from the Boutique. Went with the Okinawa Baba, which looks like a (standard reverse) Mont-Blanc and the Jivara Green Tea Tart (which is not what was written on the card, which also didn't match the receipt, so I feel free to play editor based on the Japanese). There is a lot of coconut cream under the "shell" and some sort of maybe tropical fruit in the center and peach-colored sauce, which I can't identify, though there was a little banana consistency in some fruit and not in other but no such flavor. Very messy, especially with tiny plastic forks and wind. Not that into coconut, but definitely good.

The tart obviously has a big dome and is mostly green tea. The thin tart base has both a chocolate layer (the Jivara) and a dark layer of more green tea. Also difficult to eat with a tiny plastic fork just do the problem of cutting the base without breaking the fork, but could do it. Also definitely good. So it seems like a safe choice of a café before 17:00 (last seating), but neither cake sparked my particular interest, so I could recommend several definitely better places nearby for take-out at least (since Ginza Mitsukoshi isn't far). This shop goes to the fine shop list, at least until I split it, maybe into safe and fine shops. Glad to fill in some details of that area. Still a place in Marunouchi Building and one in Ginza 6 that I haven't tried in that neighborhood.

The running came later, from about 19:30. I went down to confirm counterclockwise knowledge of Sakuragaoka-chou and Shibuya east loops, though I need to look for confirmation of demonstration clockwise knowledge of the former, which it's trivial. Maybe I left that loop until redo the main loop. I also confirmed a couple more Natural Lawsons and that I can ignore a number of other shops that I marked for checking for baked goods or reasonable accessibility/quality for café cake on nearby routes. Like Friday night, the running was 1:4 walking:running, though only as a maximum, since there are lots of places around Shibuya Station where advancing at all was difficult and I ran into a baseball game letting out coming back up Gaien West, which is new for me. Total running time was about 64 minutes, which took about 2 hours total, with the walking and various investigations.

Speaking of Friday night, no cake, but I did need bread for breakfast, so I got a couple things (not shown) from Christa, and visited Daisy around the corner for the first time and got what I think was called a Cinnamon Bun. They had actual croissants, which is more definitely a pastry, but there was a sale and I didn't resist. This is a somewhat of a chain (from outside Tokyo) and small and more limited to lunch breads maybe, depending on traffic south from the station, since it doesn't seem to have anything on Christa except more of a quickie mart feel, in a clean way. The bun, which was just sufficiently pastry like to pass (versus sweet bread), was definitely good, so I was satisfied, but don't need to get back there. Now I need to hit the Akasaka bakery that I overlooked (and is going to require me to confirm the revised now 14 km long loop). With shopping, the running amounted to only 16 minutes, plus walking. Note, the bag says "patisserie", but I didn't see any signs of cakes, which would be out of place there.

Lenôtre, Feuille d'Automne

Wanted to get back home earlier and get some stuff done (which mostly I didn't and most of what I did, I didn't need to), so I went by bicycle, which also allowed my feet to run after two days in a row following more than a week of no running. Since the first cake from a new shop was great, I went back to Lenôtre at Ginza Mitsukoshi. My first choice as the second cake was Plaisir, which is like a Saint-mark, I think, but it was sold out, so I went with my next choice, which was Feuille d'Automne. This seems to be their specialty and the only reason it wasn't my second choice, was that it looked the most chocolaty, and the first cake was their straight chocolate cake (since today's wasn't available then), but actually each other cake has their different take on chocolate. This was was meringue (as a core) and chocolate, where as the other two are caramel and chocolate and (Plaisir) vanilla and milk chocolate. Anyway, this is a great cake, comparable to chocolate and meringue cakes from JPH, my top pick, so Lenôtre looks to rocket up the cake chart, as it were, though I think they have 8 things that qualify as fresh cake right now, including the verrine (which I probably will have to in their case). It looks like in the short run, I'm going to be visiting the same few shops for a while, but I need to get over to Toshi Yoroizuka, maybe weekend after next, but the Annya is in for a third-round cake-off, maybe against the loser of this weekend's second-round cake-off (since Annya is one and one).

Origines Cacao, Tarte Houjicha

Ran to Ginza 6 and back to visit Origines Cacao. This time I was successful at finding new cakes (there were three, I think, two of them seasonal ones). I went with the (seasonal) Tarte Houjicha [revised], though I was a little worried that I had eaten this one before, despite my record to the contrary. Actually, it was B-E that I had had a houjicha (roasted green tea) and chocolate tart from previously. The running was 1 min:3 min of walking:running, adding up to 55 minutes total of running (so I wasn't going that fast).

The tart was very nice. I wouldn't have identified houjicha without the name, but I also wouldn't have known what it was. The chocolate and tea really harmonized for a subtler flavor than I usually appreciate but this time thought was excellent.

Cake-off: Fiorentina Pastry Boutique's Estate over Lenôtre's Concerto

Had the afternoon off and collected cakes by bicycle and then did a little running, still on a 3:7 walking:running ratio and totaling only 34 minutes of running, but it had been 10 days, so it seemed like enough. If I'm reasonably okay tomorrow, depending on the weather, I'll trying running to Ginza instead of using a bicycle.
While at Ginza today, earlier than last evening I was there, I check Origines Cacao and they do have some actual cakes that I've had among their seasonal cakes, so I need to keep visiting, which is my plan for Wednesday and Thursday.

The running was just down to confirm some newly added sites on the way to two small new loops, the Jinguumae 5 loop counterclockwise, to complete the Harjuku south clump and the Jinguumae--Kita-Aoyama south loop (on which I could not find and Kiri café), to complete the Omotesandou west lump.  I also confirmed a Natural Lawson on the Kita-Aoyama central loop has fresh baked goods worth adding them (no changes to the route required) but that the Streamer Expresso on the Minami-Aoyama north loop does not. Next I need to do the Shibuya east loop and check out some sites around there, but the next loop will be clear back redoing the huge main loop around Akasaka (which I did only by bicycle), since I've found another bakery in the middle that I need to swing around, and possible split off a little loop north of Tokyo Midtown to include a Natural Lawson.

Both the cakes today were recent new ones I'm not completely competent about, so comparing them to each other didn't tell me a whole lot. The chocolate one, Concerto, from Lenôtre was still really nice, but for variety, I'm choosing the white chocolate and pistachio and citrus fruit (I think) Estate from the Fiorentina Pastry Boutique. I still will go to Lenôtre first, because I've only had one cake from them and they are the backup for Origines Cacao now (though I noticed another Ginza 6 cake shop, so when I need a new place as a backup, I can use that, or the pie shop there, if I can wait for cake), but next in priority is another from Fiorentina, though we're coming up on the end of the month, so I'll have to check JPH and Sadaharu Aoki soon. Before that, I'll try to get Estate into a second-round cake-off this weekend with En Vedette.

Lindt, Truffle au Chocolat Framboise

Tried to actually exercise again today, beyond just walking. Expected that it might induce coughing, but no such problem. Went by bicycle down to Lindt first, as a quite fine shop that I need a third cake from. I got the Truffle au Chocolat Framboise, which was the only viable option for a new cake (more cakes are listed on their site, but I suspect there aren't that many at the Kitaaoyama shop).

Then I went over to the Fiorentina Pastry Boutique at Roppongi Hills and confirmed that they still have Estate, which I want for a cake-off tomorrow, so I should be set. Back home, I only did push-ups as indoor workout and I was pretty weak, but it's a (re)start. Maybe I'll do abs, back, and arms tomorrow.

The raspberry truffle cakes was definitely fine. Lindt might just be a big commercial chocolate maker, but they have a good brand and protect it. Not exciting but solid and dependable. They shouldn't have trouble hanging on to a position among the fine shops (targeted to be the bottom half of the top 127 Tokyo shops). Eleven more quite fine shops to confirm, including both of tomorrow's cake-off targets, who are top contenders to move up to the next level.

Wako Annex, Saint-Honoré Orange & Charmant Fraise

Was busy this weekend, but was out at Ginza Mitsukoshi Saturday later afternoon and was able to skip ahead (alphabetically) and visit the Wako Annex for cake for two, which is one of three holiday/weekend-only two-cake quite fine shops. I really like some saint-honoré, so I went with the Saint-Honoré Orange. The other chosen cake was Charmant Fraise, which is white chocolate and strawberry.

The first is a good quality saint-honoré with some orange compote, maybe, in the center. It seemed like a good idea and well executed, so I'm willing to say that it was excellent. The Charmant Fraise was also good, though less appreciated by me. I was hoping for more flavor from the white chocolate maybe, but its nice if mild strawberry cake with a moussy texture.

Noliette, Noisettine

Due to a lingering health problem, I decided to get my cake more locally than I would have and a little out of order by going down to Shinjuku Takashimaya and visiting the Noliette counter (versus Patissieria, which also had 3 of their their cakes, but different ones). This brand is big on traditional forms and I chose Noisettine, which is hazelnut biscuit, hazelnut butter cream, and hazelnut praliné. I like nuts and this kind of tradition cake, so its not shock that I thought this was excellent, which keeps them in the quite fine category for now.

Lenôtre: Concerto

No running since last Saturday, due to some otolaryngological problems, although the usual accompanying dermatological problem appeared as well. Anyway, Monday I rested, so I didn't get to Sourire, one of 3 basically holiday-only shops among the 14 quite fine shops that I wanted a third cake from to whittle the category down to hopefully closer to the target 32 than 64 shops that its been near. Tuesday, I was well enough to work and go to Isetan afterward and make a third (blogged) visit to Morozoff and try their Rare Cheese Cake. Not that fond of rare cheesecake in general and this didn't impress me in particular. I can rate it as ok, but Morozoff goes in the just fine category, so I at least knocked down the remaining two-cake quite fine shops to 13. 

Wednesday, I went by bicycle to Ginza 6 to get a cake from Origines Cacao. Unfortunately, I've had all 4 or 5 of the regular fresh cakes on display and all 3 seasonal things next to them were jar desserts. They say they are verrine, and I believe them in principle, but JPH's verrine have actually sponge as a layer, so I've allowed them as cakes, but OC isn't JPH and these didn't have anything to distinguish them from a parfait-like dessert, so my previous resolve to accept verrine as cakes collapsed; I'd rather wait to see what comes next month, although if they are like JPH, just the same or different verrine, probably.

I had a good back-up ready though: Lenôtre, a chocolatier that opened a counter at Ginza Mitsukoshi between JPH and F. Cassel this year but I haven't tried yet. I went for the mousse chocolate cake, Concerto. It has glaze and crunch as well, but it's relatively soft for a high percentage of mousse and most resembles my favorite type of JPH cakes. That said, and given the quality, I'm going to have to say it was great, which is a pretty good start, though now I'm back to 14 among the quite fine shops with fewer than 3 cakes and a new top priority. Guess I better hit one of the other 13 next, rather than the old top shop in that category, which is going to have to wait.

Cake-off: Frédéric Cassel's Choux Vanille over Bien-être's Pistachio and American Cherry Chiboust

Sunday, I collected cakes for a cake-off. I've something going in my throat that's probably from a sinus drip, so took it slow by bicycle to collect cakes and will skip running. Not that I have a fever or anything (I'm not that crazy about cake), but I'm being cautious. I went to Frédéric Cassel first to get their Choux Vanille, but I went out late enough that I could have revered the order of the visits. By the time I could visit Bien-être for their limit-time Pistachio and American Cherry Chiboust, it was 12:30 pm and their were only two pieces left. But they were in the back of the case, so it looked more like they were selling off the tail-end of this season's run. I was lucky to get it, though my backup cake was nearby. Both these cakes are one and one going into a third-round cake-off. Actually, I couldn't choose between these based on taste, so I'm going by simplicity, my overall shop evaluation, and distinctiveness of the type with my greats list to give the win to Frédéric Cassel's Choux Vanille.

L'Abricotier, Saint Honoré

Friday, I did an indoor workout. Before hand, I went to Isetan to get their Koonie Chocolat Pecan, since they won a cake-off but don't have any new cakes (in Japan). Koonie are their cookie-brownie hybrid, covered in chocolate, and there are several flavors. I approve of the combination, and can call this an excellent baked good. Hard to tell the size from the photo, but reported weight Koonies on the French website is 20 g each.

Saturday, as planned, I rode to L'Abricotier to get a new cake, also for a cake-off win. This makes the 19th cake type from them for me. This time I got Saint Honoré, which I was surprised to find as new to be from there. It's very traditional in construction. As Japanese choux pastry goes, this was fairly robust, which I appreciate. The caramel is bitter caramel, which I did not appreciate but can respect, so I don't have probably saying that this was excellent.

Other errands appeared that I was not expected, so I was actually pretty late getting back, but went out again at 4 pm to confirm neighborhood course loops in the south Jinguumae area. This time I could confirm my Jinguumae 5&6 and Jinguumae--Shibuya loops counterclockwise, and take care of clockwise for the Jinguumae 5 and Jinguumae--Kita-Aoyama south loops. Along the way, on the first of these four, I finally sampled Coco-Agepan, which is not open in the afternoon, though you'll still see the truck it's run out of parked in the same spot. Agepan means fried bread, and is a staple sweet to an extent. They fry it after you order it, but it doesn't take long. It's basically like a long yeast donut. I choose the Cinnamon Agepan rather than the Coco one (which I assume is chocolate, not coconut), one of several flavors. It was good and reasonable snack for runners, though photographing it in the rain was awkward.

Tante Marie, Lu'bre

Still working my way through getting third cakes from all the shops on the quite fine list. Tante Marie, a newly added shop, was a priority because I rated the first two cakes as both excellent, so it had a chance to take over the top spot in the group to challenge the exceptional group. I went for the Oazo shop, next to Tokyo Station, since it's open until 8 pm. I did a loop around the imperial palace ground, clockwise, to be able to use the running course (you can't go against the pack on the north part, though with ran today, there wasn't much of a pack).

The running was 4-min running (first minute slow, last minute fast) intervals separated by at least 2 min (usually exactly 2 min of walking, but there are traffic lights and one stop to purchase cake). Was just in the 48th minute of running when I ran out of course. Next step is 3:7 ratio of walking and running, but not tomorrow, I think.

The cake I choose was Lu'bre, if I remember the name correctly (and I had doubts) which Google Translate tells me is Corsican for "the sun". It's chocolate mousse and vanilla cream. I caught a glimpse of "raspberry", so maybe there was a little in the chocolate to give it fruity flavor, but not enough to be easily identifiable. It was definitely good, as these chocolate and vanilla mousse cakes go, but I still can't see the point of these cakes other than as a safe choice. I should have gone for the Gorgonzola cheesecake, since cheesecake is their specialty. Well, I'll get back for a 4th cake eventually, though it may take a couple years. Hopefully they'll last. Look at where to go next, I see that Shirokanedo is gone, not just from Isetan but from the neighborhood of the same name. I guess Sourire is next among ones to visit on holidays. 

Sadaharu Aoki, Tarte Caramel Salé Matcha

Today, I hit Isetan for a new, 1-month only, Isetan-exclusive cake from Sadaharu Aoki, Tarte Caramel Salé Matcha. I recorded the Tarte Caramel Salé as great and haven't seen it since, so I was excited about this one.

For running, I went down to work on the loops replacing the Jinguumae--Kita-Aoyama--Shibuya loop. On the way, it's looking more doubtful that BAKERY CAFE 426 OMOTESANDO will return, but I don't want to revise that loop again, so I'm holding off until I see what's next at that location. Across the street, I got the revised Jinguumae 5 & 6 loop clockwise and am reasonably happy with it, but I won't replace the old loop and update connecting parts until I confirm counterclockwise. The Jinguuemae--Kita-Aoyama south loop next to it failed, due to an overlooked traffic signal, and I'm gong to have to further split it, into two loops. The Dominique Ansel Bakery there has closed, but it doesn't affect things because there are two other sites on the same street. That's why I need so many loops: it's a maze with lots of sites close together. I went down an did the Jinguumae--Shibuya loop clockwise, no problem. It's a biggest loop but mostly simple, though very zigzaggy next to the UN University and I'm not sure whether it will be harder counterclockwise. The running was at a 5:9 ratio walking:running. So even though I ended up doing only a little over 45 minutes of actual running, it was compressed in a shorter amount of time, though I also maybe didn't work myself as hard on the 1 min fast stretches as last time.

The tart turned about to be nice, and I'll rate it excellent for presentation and concept, but maybe my sweet tooth needed more caramel in it to be ideal for me.

Cake-off: Michalak's Paris-Brest over Bien-être's Pistachio and American Cherry Chiboust

Monday, I did prep work for today's cake-off by going to Bien-être and reserving a Pistachio and American Cherry Chiboust (to use the first name I recorded this under, though I think the name has been permuted since). This was by running, which I did in intervals of 3 min walking/1 min slow running/ 3 min running/ 1 min fast running. Next running watch will have more than time intervals, now that I know why I would want more. After Bien-être, I ran to Jinguumae to try the new Jinguumae 5&6 loop, though I messed up the end, which is not surprising since I had never even walked it before. Also, I'm not sure that I took the planned path to climb east from Cat Street, but I've decided that it's worth lengthening the route a little to avoid cutting between buildings like that. I stopped at a couple shops before I found one open and with something sub-cake as a snack (at the 1 hour point). I got Cheese Cake from the Roastery by Nozy Coffee Cafe, which you can see is a stick, sort of a half-size cake. It was definitely good, in an enough sugar kind of way. I ended up doing 9 intervals of running, which is the longest I've gone recently and enough fast running to leave me a little sore the next day, so I hope I'm building up some running muscles now.

For the other cake in the cake-off, I went with a recent one that also won its first round, Michalak's Paris-Brest. The chiboust is the new style again, but I think I'm over worrying about the change. Until there are more pistachio chiboust, or any kind of chiboust, from the good shops, I'd like to keep this on the great's list, but I can't resist the super sugar bomb that is Michalak's Paris-Brest. And it has seriously dark praline with a strong caramel taste, in a good way, so it gets it's second win. However, the chiboust will be gone soon, so if I can get it in a third-round cake-off over the weekend, I'll do that.

Le Chocolate Alain Ducasse, Mousse au Chocolat & Millefeuille Chocolat/Noisette

Saturday, I finally visited a pricey chocolate salon on my neighborhood running route (Roppongi 6 north loop), Le Chocolate Alain Ducasse. The other location is Nihonbashi. I can't say I know a better shop for chocolate desserts, though the best JPH café desserts are at the Kyoto shop, as are some special cakes I'm envious of.

Besides a nice tea and definitely good hot chocolate, the order was Mousse au Chocolat, which is a lot of mousse (I was happy to eat just half), with decorated by a different kind of chocolate, but I'm so sophisticated that I can remember what two countries they were from, but I believe that it does matter. Definitely good.

The other was Millefeuille Chocolat/Noisette, which has quite rich chocolate cream and a millefeuille that matched well. I think I could detect the hazelnut (beside the millefeuille obviously having been made out of something) but it is not a huge influence. Also definitely good.

Good is maybe not high praise but I'm serious that this might be the best place for high-end chocolate café desserts, even if I'm more interested in straight cake, which these could qualify for in a pinch but doesn't seem like a fair classification.

Jean-Paul Hévin: Verrine Mésange, Verrine Chocolat Coco Framboise, Verrine Mascarpone Café

It took me a while to remember at least somewhat what I did on Wednesday, but I'm finally there. I got some sesame bread from Andersen for eat with olive oil. This was different from their Trekonbrod and the name was completely Japaneses (though using "pan" as the word for bread). It was good, but I didn't bother to take a picture. I was at Isetan for another errand, which I forgot to do, though I verified what the next two visiting shops are (both worth visiting, but I'm up to date on both), and saw that Sadaharu Aoki has a very promising tart for just this month at Isetan. The more important errands on the way home I did not forget. For running, I may have tried to do the revised southern Cat Street loop (and failed very early on), as I think I did the revised Jinguumae central loop (which covers northern Cat Street) counterclockwise on Monday and forget to record it.

In any case, Thursday, I definitely tried to do the southern Cat Street again and realized that my route was flawed, so I've had to revise it. I also failed to get food at Steamers for the good reason that their shops close at 6 pm, so I'll have to hit them on a holiday. Instead, I got a croissant from Natural Lawson, which I've added to routes and on the grounds that they have fresh pastries. The croissant was not special but it was not worse than an average bakery one and definitely better than some, so I'm happy to keep them on my routes. There are not that many of them and I'm not sure that I've found any that the route was not already going by for the neighborhoods covered.  They have eat-in space, which is an advantage over most bakeries, though the atmosphere is what you would expect from a convenience store.

Friday through Sunday I was busy, but I was indulged. Friday night, I sampled all three of the new verrine from Jean-Paul Hévin, though I failed to take a picture. I was busy. If you hurry, I you catch them on the website. These were Verrine Mésange, Verrine Chocolat Coco Framboise, and Verrine Mascarpone Café. The first is Peruvian chocolate mousse, matcha Mousse, and passion fruit gelatin and was not really very exciting, but good. The second is chocolate mousse and coconut mousse with raspberry and lychee gelatin in between again good but not exciting (particularly the coconut mousse). The last is basically a verrine version of tiramisu, but the mascarpone mousse and coco powder is really excellent; I would prefer it without the coffee, but it didn't make me sick, so I'll overlook that. I'm hoping for a different version without the coffee if are more verrine at the end of the summer, but I'm expected to be disappointed.

Origines Cacao, Forêt Noire

As a substitute for a superb shop that Origines Cacao is challenging, I got another cake from there. This time I really did rest from running by going by bicycle, which is not much of a workout. I should have done indoor exercises too, but I was too hungry. There were only three regular kinds of cake left and some glass desserts that might qualify as verrines, but I did not need to go there as I've never had their standard Forêt Noire, because I don't generally like forêt-noires (Black Forest cake). However, I found that it's not actually a forêt-noire, its just chocolate cake with lots of cream and chocolate cream, which is really weird (the name refers to the the cherry liquor that this doesn't), though only the same way that "short cake" isn't made with short cake, though that's true in my American cookbook as well. It's a simple cake, and cheap (only 400 yen), but good. Origines Cacao has enough of a history of great cakes (all but one never seen again) that it remains at the top of the quite exceptional shops, scoring above all the superb shops, but based on a lot fewer cakes (always an advantage).

Michalak, Monak Pablova

Intended to do a short run and got sucked into a long run after starting the day thinking I should really rest, as my feet were hurting in the morning, but the lure of the road called me (and my feet felt fine). I was practicing my minor deviation of my Jinguumae central loop, which covers the north end of Cat Street to the Jinguumae shopping street and looping around to Michalak to get the last available type of fresh cake for this exceptional shop. This is the Monak Pablova, which is a take out cake consisting of a shell and filling. There was space inside, so I stayed in. This is the cheapest of the ones of this type listed on the web site and the only one I've see lately (now is jar dessert season). Actually, the other two are listed under cakes rather than take-out, which confuses me, but they are all called Monak. The Monak Pablova is lime meringue (also, they put some freshly grated lime peel on top) with raspberry confit and lychee cream. It's take out because it will dissolve if you don't eat in within 30 minutes, they said. It was good, but not enough to make me impatient to try a different flavor of these (pear-yuzu and chocolate-hazelnut are listed on the website). I might have to wait until fall to get new regular cakes, assuming they'll have new ones.

While eating in, I looked at Facebook and saw that Bien-être's mille-feuille had gone American cherry, so I need to run over there to confirm that so had the pistachio chiboust. I was able to make it in time and did confirm. They were semi-confident that they would have it for another week or two. I'm busy this weekend, but I might try serving one early next week any getting a cake from Isetan for a mid-week second-round cake-off, probably with a Michalak cake, though I have one other possibility at Shinjuku Station for a backup. If that works, and I want it, I can do a third round the following weekend, though I'm not sure ahead of time what the availability will be (the opponent would be either FC's Choux Vanille or ABVT's Marjolaine, depending on whether the chiboust loses or wins.

Because the actual run was intended to be shorter, rather than try to do 11 intervals of 4 minutes running, I made the intervals 5 min with the additional 30 s intervals for warm up and a semi-dash, but the deviation to visit Bien-être had me reach 40 minutes of running before I finished, so I walked after 8 intervals. Still haven't decided what I'll do tomorrow. It's rain every day in varying amounts, but I'll rest either Tuesday or Wednesday and am busy Thursday and the weekend, but maybe I'll squeeze some running on nearby local loops.