Chez Lui: Cassis Dijon

Went to another shop on the neighborhood running course, this one in Suragaku-chou, down southwest from Shibuya Station. Never had high expectations for this shop based on never having heard any recommendations and the line-up, but I did have an excellent (rather old-fashioned Japanese) pastry. I went with Cassis Dijon. The card claims that it has chocolate crunch, would would be expected to go with cassis/blackcurrant, but I don't remember any crunch, just the bottom layer is thick chocolate sponge, which doesn't really go with anything, but certainly not with a mousse top. It does explain the low price, although the size would also explain that. Anyway, this cake reminded me of other cakes from similar old chains, just those cakes are not my style, so I won't need to get cakes as such from them, though I will try more pastries.

Cake-off: Jean-Paul Hévin's Mille-Feuille Chocolat over Pierre Gagnaire's Finger Ruby Fig Framboise

Tomida Farm Black Fig Tart

I finally had the cake-off that I've been looking forward to for almost two months: a second-round match for Jean-Paul Hévin's Mille-Feuille Chocolat, which is available just the second half of October. It lost its first round, so I needed someone from the losers bracket. Fortunately, I was able to get one available two weeks ago in the form of Pierre Gagnaire's Finger Ruby Fig Framboise (according to the I saw today). I ran for the first cake. I had brought an insulated bag, but they use such large boxes that it was not enough. I remember that there was one place like that, but not which one. I went directly from there running to Ginza Mitsukoshi, arriving a little before opening. I wasn't at the front, but I was the first one through the desert section, which was awkward, given my attire and that each group of attendants have to greet me. JPH is in the back, in their own glass-walled room. The mille-feuille was available, as promised. On the way back, I was walking past Frédéric Cassel and saw that their fig tart I had just seen advertised was bakery type rather than cake. I had planned to get a pastry during my run but this seemed like a better option, so I turned and bought the Tomida Farm Black Fig Tart. Turning, I think someone said, "As expected", as they thought I was there for that, though I had passed them initially. I had seen the social media post, though, so I recognized it, just it was on top rather than in the cake case and they recommended heating it up "a little" (they checked, but they didn't have any more precise information). I tried 2.5 min at 100 degC, which seemed reasonable and warmed it without destroying it. It was excellent, as I would expected.

Running, I tried to do the

neighborhood course Daita--Daizawa--Hatagaya--Kamiyama-chou--Kitazawa--Motoyoyogi-chou--Nishihara--Ooyama-chou--Shouto--Tomigaya--Uehara loop, but I hadn't reviewed it the night before (if I really knew it, I shouldn't have to). I got farther than last time, but I had changed part and though I remembered why and where to turn initially, and then where I logically had to go next, I wasn't sure how to get back on the old track, so the run out ended after Mister Donut Shimokitazawa. Like last time, I took that as an excuse to turn home. I went by the shortest route, and ran into a shrine I hadn't known about between where I screwed up this time and where I did the previous time, so the map is changing again. Hope I can remember later this time, or at least remember to check the map the night before (on the day would be against the rules).

Just before failure,

I had bought a France Croissant from Chez Lui. Not sure about the name, but it's their #1 item, supposedly, and it looked sufficiently sugared to be preferable to a real croissant. I hadn't packed enough energy cookies for the run, or this would have been one pastry more than I had intended for the week. I deviated coming back to take some pictures of sites on more nearby loops, or confirm that the site was not needed (in one case).

For the cake off, I'm still having trouble with the strong fruitiness of the Finger Ruby Fig Framboise, despite at the same time wanting to keep it around for its distinctiveness. The mixture of mille-feuille and high-quality chocolate made be choose JPH's cake as the winner, so I definitely want to do another cake-off with it next weekend, this time a third-round for cakes that are one and one. There's a seasonal Frédéric Cassel cake that meets that criterion.

Cake-off: Éclat des Jours's Baked Cheesecake over Frédéric Cassel's Fraisier

The previous Friday, I tried to get a pastry from The Baked (or maybe that was Thursday, as I seemed to have failed to get anything that day), but they were sold out (or maybe they just don't sell pastries at night, which is reasonable). I was practicing my southwest Shibuya course, so I hit the next shop on that course, which was Chez Lui, which is open late. They had many flavors of canelé, but I went with the plain. This was definitely good, although softer than my preference, but a legitimate choice. I still need to get cake from there sometime.

Saturday, I ran out to finally get Éclat des Jours' Baked Cheesecake for a cake-off as a match against Frédéric Cassel's Fraisier. Even though that latter involves generally more expensive ingredients (pistachio), is bigger, and from a fancier shop, this baked cheesecake is really great, so it takes this first-round cake-off and suddenly I'm extra behind on visiting this shop, who unfortunately have a fairly unvarying line-up.