Cake-off: Bien-être's Mont-blanc over Pierre Hermé's Deux Mille Feuille

I'm working through the last cake-offs of the year. Saturday's was expected to be the last, a fourth round for two more two-of-three winners, both regular year-round cakes, so were never a priority until the end. One I could get at Isetan, which opens at 10am, so I did that one first: Pierre Hermé's Deux Mille Feuille, their praliné mille-feuille. Getting the other at Bien-être required a little waiting in line (only two customers at a time for ordering, though the café is available with a reservation. I ended up being lazy and going by bicycle. I can note that I went to Isetan the long way, running down the Shibuya Sta. northeast area to check out a shop that turned out to be closed despite their posted hours (it was the Stream Coffee Company shop and I caught them later; they only had chiffon cake, which I've decided doesn't qualify as fresh cake; a brownie would suit me better). I did hit the nearby WeWork café (Foru Cafe) and had the croissant, which was good, if overly fluffy for my preference. Back to Bien-être: they didn't have the Mont-Blanc showing (I could see through the glass), but I was optimistic that even if they cut the lineup during the Christmas rush season, they wouldn't cut that one, which this is especially the season for. The service person was probably inexperienced, as they had to ask the person working at actually making things (they kitchen opens directly on the shop and isn't very big). Note sure what her exact answer was other than that it would come later, which was the answer passed back to me. Questioning further, she said all they had now was what was showing, but I asked how long I needed for wait for the Mont-Blanc. At this point someone who either knew more about how things worked, or recognized me and how I operate (I know what I come for and I don't buy anything else, but I'll wait or come back if I have to), asked the same kitchen person whether she had the Mont-Blanc ready and immediately got a tray of them and told the other clerk to ring one up, so I got what I came for. 

I was satisfied with both of these as great cakes. The Mont-blanc is a straight mont-blanc, no fruit or any other bells or whistles that need to be mentioned, just what you see, whipped cream in the middle (I can't remember already whether there was any additional chestnut in the middle, but if there was, not so much compared to the top), and some sort of softish sablé or hardish cake biscuit base supporting it. The mille-feuille, on the other hand, is already a pretty complex standard, this one including three thick layers (an advantage over FC's, excellent though they are) and lots of praliné. It's a tough choice, but I have to give it to the mont-blanc, that wins with simplicity. Not sure why it beats all the similar mont-blancs, but they've been dropping out one by one, which this one seems in no danger of doing.