Très Calme, Chic

Last Monday was a holiday, Coming of Age Day. I visited another exceptional shop, this time Très Calme. The new cake I chose was Chic, which is passion fruit and, I think, apricot. Though I haven't been bothering to report about pastries lately, but I want to say that the I'll mention that I also got a Kouign Amann as my first fresh pasty from there and I thought it was maybe great, being of the same form as Paris S'eveille, which has been my favorite. I look forward to visiting there further for pastries. I ran and walked there, but walked back, and not by the shortest route, so I got a good amount of exercise.

Back to the cake Chic, the fruit part manages to be firm without being stick-gelatinous or runny and the fruits harmonize into mellow but satisfying flavor. The texture along with the flavor make this an excellent cake for me, so Très Calme remain in good standing among the exceptional shops. This was my best new cake of the long holidays. 

Très Calme, Figcannelle

Last Sunday, in response to their cake-off win the previous day, I visited Très Calme, by bicycle, and chose a new cake to try. I went with the Figcannelle, which is fig, red wine, and cinnamon. Though it's pretty solid, the top half, under the coating, is actually a thick white cream-like layer, which was probably for balance, since the main ingredients are strong. It was excellent. The fig flavor was central, but not too strong and clearly balanced and smoothed by other flavors, which were not obvious. Unfortunately, I was tired, so I forgot to get a picture for presentation, so I'll slip in the picture from the shop (unlike some shops, no sign saying not to photograph) that I actually just to remember the name. 

Très Calme, Chocolat Épice

Last week, working through the list of exceptional shops that I'm ready to get a cake from and are open, I cam back from En Vedette by way of Sengoku in Bunkyou-ku and visited Très Calme. No pastries now, but open for take-out cake. I went with the Chocolat Épice, as it looked interesting. I'm not exactly sure what spices were involved, but they seemed to be the usual things you would have in a spice cake, even if spice cakes aren't usually tart-type cakes. Definitely good and it was definitely interesting as a change.

Très Calme, Cremeux Lime

Today's plan was to go to Très Calme for a new cake, since their cake won the last cake-off (both their great cakes have had third-round cake-offs now). I was not expecting to have enough time to walk and I was feeling that maybe my feet needed rest from the recent return to some running, so I went by bicycle. I decided to get Cremeux Lime, which is a lime cheesecake. Then, I was afraid it was going to be too mild, since I was thinking the description was mascarpone cheese, but now I'm not so sure what it said. Anyway, it wasn't any milder than a typical cream cheesecake and the lime and cheese worked well enough together that I can definitely say that it was excellent cake, so this shop keeps meeting my expectations as an an exceptional cake shop even with the tenth cake from there.

Très Calme: Praliné Noix

Okay, my last prediction about my next cakes was almost completely wrong, although I did go to Très Calme today. Sadaharu Aoki does have a new cake that I haven't had, but I just had a new cake from them Saturday, so I'll wait until next, when JPH will also have one, so that's at least two trips to Isetan. It's been more than a week since I had my last Michalak cake, so I plan to go to Isetan tomorrow as well. My feet aren't happy today, so I suppose I'll be seeing the doctor eventually, though they're rarely useful (but make up for it when they are). Today's cake was a new one (for me and the shop, apparently), Praliné Noix, which has a promising name, but maybe making praliné out of walnuts was not a great idea, since there wasn't much walnut taste and the praliné sugar kick was too low to be that interesting to me. Still good cake, and it went with my tea fine, which I ate at home, even though previously the eat-in space was open after 7 pm. Très Calme is an excellent shop and I've found a couple great cakes there, but I'm caught up for now.

Très Calme: Exquis

Saturday, I did another long run. My first destination was Sengoku to visit Très Calme, which was made longer by the fact that I kept running laterally rather than wait for lights to change and the streets don't run straight. As usual, I ate in (the only person). I choose Exquis (not sure that was the spelling provided, but it matches the Japanese phonetics) and immediately forget the ingredients. It's chocolate cake with sponge bottom and a chocolate mousse layer above which has a mellow and fruity taste. Actually, the card said Earl Grey, though I was thinking blackberry, since that's the garnish, but Earl Grey is infused with bergamot, which should be quite a different flavor. In terms of construction, I'm against sponge cake, and certainly wouldn't combine it with a block of mousse. However, it worked perfectly well, so what do I know. Maybe not otherwise remarkable, but the chocolate was harmonizing well with the tea and I can call it excellent. I had this shop was listed with very good shops, but I'm upgrading it to excellent. Now the standout very good shops is Maison Douce, which has the advantage of a sample of only two, one which I have listed as semi-great (it got demoted from great after it's first cake-off round). That's a problem because it's a 35-minute run or more than 1 hour by train, so I keep hoping that it visits Isetan again, but I've been waiting quite a while.

The run continued down to Nihonbashi, to visit Mitsukoshi, and then as far south as Ginza 6, with various stops along the way. Other than the first visit, where I noticed a cake counter that I can now ignore as they visit Isetan and bought a kitchen gadget, it was fairly fruitless, because shops are waiting until Jan. 15 to change their line-ups. Coming back home, I was only just in time for a 2 pm appointment, which I was fortunately able to put off until after a shower and lunch.

Très Calme: Allure

Wednesday, I ran to Bien-être and found them closed for renovation, through to Friday of next week; so, after a stop for a few groceries from Nikunohanamasa, I went down to Shibuya Hikarie and got Chocolat Citron from Le Pain de Joel Robuchon. I walked some but eventually ran most of the way back, despite the uncomfortable load in my too small backpack. The pastry was excellent, crisp leaves around chocolate and lemon (I assume, though it could have been some other citrus fruit) cream. That's too excellent ones, so they remain in pretty good standing for further visits.

With Bien-être out of the picture, I killed two birds with one stone by going to Très Calme, first to confirm a cake for the next cake-off (though the cake is not actually necessarily seasonal, so I'm not sure why I'm in a hurry for the second round other than Très Calme being one of the priorities among quite good shops since it seems to be better than some already on the excellent list) and then to get Allure as the reward for the shop for winning a recent cake-off (which catches me up), which is a rum and raisin tart under caramel cream/mousse, with chocolate accents where shown. I ate in again, since that is convenient there in the evening, sort of the opposite of Bien-être, so I'm a little worried about getting too attached. The cake was excellent, though I needed to make sure I got a balance of the two parts, since the separate parts are not excellent by themselves, or at least I can confirm that the caramel isn't (I don't like the necessarily level of gelatin to stabilize this). If you balance the parts, then the final flavor is very balanced across all four flavors, which is not something I get to say often.

Très Calme: Pistache Apricot

To get myself caught up on cake-off win follow-ups, I ran to Très Calme after work. Most of the their selection was verrines, but they had a few cakes more acceptable to me. I choose the Pistache Apricot (yes, a mixed-language name) and ate in the shop (there were 5 tables for two but no customers, whereas the café across the street seemed to be doing better business).

This was good choice, though I have a number of pistachio cakes, but none I thick with apricot. Similar to the more recent previous great pistachio cake, the base is a tart, or rather a tartlettte rather than a slice from a large tart. The top is a very solid pistachio cream/butter or whatever they use, which is the opposite of the recent chiboust. It's not a subtle cake, but it suits my needs and I'm calling it great. That isn't enough to promote this shop yet, but it might eventually, if I get the rest of the quite good shops better sorted out to see which are on top and needing promotion.

The run was 12+ kilometers, which is the longest for quite a while. I had timing problems, but I ran about 80 minutes. I'm sure I'll need to stretch a lot tomorrow, but my next plan is 10 km, which is a little closer to what I planned for this stage. Friday maybe will be a run to Ginza, which is also about 10 km.

Cake-off: Très Calme's Mont-Blanc over L'Abricotier's Le Piemont

Last day of the month and a Saturday. Can't ride a bicycle due to right arm and shouldn't type much, but tried even longer walks to see whether I'm ready to start running next month. My foot seems good enough.

Two walks: 8+ km to L'Abricotier to get Le Piemont (oddly, their signature cake wasn't out yet, even after 11 pm. They were just getting to putting out the Sicile. Came back by JR Chuuou line, so still had some walking to do at both ends. After lunch, walked to Très Calme by not the best route and got their Mont-Blanc, which is also their top cake with me and generally. Came back by a cheap but not close way, this time Toei lines, I think.

This was a battle of underdogs, both in terms of shops that are on the way down on my list and also cakes that lost the first round. Le Piemont is chocolate and nut cream, was well as chocolate and nuts, so good stuff. Still like it a lot, but not sure I need to keep in on the great list; will have to review in the third round. The Mont-Blanc was in a similar situation, though in the end I felt that it had a distinctive taste that I wanted to keep, so it remains safe, as well as the winner.

Yesterday, I failed: F. Cassel still did not have a cream puff for me and I've run out of pastries at Dalloyau (under my restricted definition, which calls certain things sweet breads and leaves them for a different evalutation, basically the completely soft stuff).

Thursday, I was successful at getting a pastry from Libertable for the first time. This was Feuilletée au Chocolat, where the first part just means a layered-type pastry, so pretty generic as a name. It sort of combines the best of croissant and pain au chocolat, so I completely approve and am calling it a great pasty. They are now my top priority for pastries. I might have tried to stop by there when I failed yesterday, but it was already going to be my longest walk of the month, so I didn't want the detour coming back from Ginza.

Avranches Guesnay: Pistache

Went for a run to Avranches Guesnay and got there with no cash. I decided to tour Jean-Paul Hévin shops, Marunouchi, Mitsukoshi, and Omotesandou Hills, in case any of them had speciall 15th anniversary cakes like at Isetan but was not surprised to find that they did not. What I had not know, though, was that the Motesandou one had moved locations and now has a café space, like all but the Ginza one. Total, I ran about 17 km at around 9 km/h, though a little slow at the end. I went back by bicycle after lunch (, which mostly worked, except the cake flipped in the box and cracked, but didn't leak, fortunately.

If I remember correctly what I read, the outer shell, which is pretty thick, about 1 cm, is white chocolate and pistachio paste with pistachio bits stuck on. Inside, there is a solid lower half and raspberry sauce, which splits out when you cut into the center, but is reasonably thick so that you have some all the way through (assuming that you done each the cake top to bottom; I ate radially). This was definitely good, but I'm feeling in a strict mood these days, so this was not special enough to lift this shop from their current Excellent rating to fill the gap in the Quite Excellent listing.

Cake-off: Sadaharu Aoki's Cassisier over Très Calme's Mont Blanc

Started off with morning cycling with the new bike to check out the route to Maison Douce. Google had a short cut from the main road, but I'm not the only one it told about and it's not really wide enough even for two large cars to pass each other without pedestrians and cyclists, so I think I'll just put up with the noise along the main road. It was about 28 km and I was back in under a couple hours. No major hills, but I did manage to get it to top gear on one somewhat downward stretch.

For cake, I decided to do a cake off with the nearly reappeared Cassisier (though I spelled it Cassissier before, though I'm not sure whether I was correcting their spelling then) from Sadaharu Aoki. First, though, I had to run up to Très Calme, which I tried to do by the Google route, but ended up too far west by one bridge and maybe did more climbing than necessary. It was still cool (with a sweat-soaked shirt in a breeze) with clouds, until 10:30, but then got pretty hot when the sun came out. It's about 13 km round trip and I could manage 10 km/h up and 9 km/h, despite heat and slopes (though only about 30 m each way). Then I hit Isetan for Cassisier and confirmed the actual ingredients in my previous Sadaharu Aoki visit. I also did a short (< 1 km) shopping run after that, all these at around 9 km/h or more.

Both of these cakes are definitely excellent, so I don't want to demote them, but neither stood out strongly. In the end, I'm giving it to Cassisier based on degree of difference from other great cakes (I've had other great Mont Blanc), but the Mont Blanc would win for value, since it's about 60% of the price.

Heritier: Mars

Yesterday's run was to try to do 11 km/h around Akasaka Palace, which is hard because, as the name "Red Hill" suggests, there are slopes (enough to put up sign for cyclist to watch their speed), so probably I'm going 12+ km/h down slope sometimes and -10 km/h up slope sometimes. I managed my target 1 2/3 laps (5.5 km), before I pealed off to do some shopping.

Today, I went to (Patisserie Francaise) Heritier, which is in Hakusan, in Bunkyo-ku. I got even more lost than last time I went, so I have to just guess about the distance there, but probably ended up around 6.5 km, in which case it was 10 km/h. After I got cake, I ran about the same speed for around 3 km, but then after I picked up 2100 of peanuts at Nikunohanamasa, I was slowed down to around 8 km/h, which is still pretty good, as I was carry things in both hands at this point.

The cake was Mars (マアルス; 540 yen).  The cake is kind of bowl of chocolate coating (though not noticeably chocolate in taste) studded with nuts full of a dried fruit mass that you shoot run into. It's definitely good and definitely interesting, but ultimately not particularly flavorful besides being sweet and a little rummy, so maybe a good shop but not a priority for a quick return.

L'Essentielle: Citron Praliné

Jogged up to L'Essentielle for the first time.

I passed Porte Bonheur, which was closed again, so I'm doubting the Kasuga/Myougadani branch is ever open these days. Fortunately, L'Essentielle was. I got the Citron Praliné for 500 yen and ate in at the outside table (which was a little windy today). It's a nice little place with several tables inside, as well. There were a couple other people eating in inside, which is not a lot around 1 pm on a Saturday, but is still a good sign. The cakes are properly fancy cake, that is, for adults. This was was lemon cream and praliné. Actually, the praliné was fairly crystalline, so it was like there was an layer of crushed ice, being basically dry rather than a paste or crunchy from lots pieces versus powder, but it did not really affect the over all texture of the cake, since it's not a thick layer. The cake was definitely good, so I wouldn't mind going there again, but not particularly special to make going there a priority.

The run was okay. Last post's suggestion that I needed to move to 11 km/h for my training runs was premature. My overly fast running Thursday night left one knee sore the next day, which came back a little bit at the end of today's run. So I tried to keep it slower, on the high side of 8 km/h going out and the low side of 9 km/h coming back. Total, it was about 10 km. I had planned to go farther tomorrow, but I'll see how my knee is.

I did make carob brownies yesterday, and had another today with lunch. Also definitely good.