Toshi Yoroizuka, Hitachihime

Today I wasn't working so late, so, to get a new Toshi Yoroizuka cake, I ran to the Kyoubashi shop, which is a little farther than the Midtown one, but convenient to Viron as a backup. Not much selection that close to closing (there's a cafe, as well as a salon, so seems like pretty steady business). I went with the shortcake Hitachihime (which is a registered brand of strawberries). I asked for no ice packs , since its cold (though with a strong wind, not as cold as it feels), and I got 8 little ones: I brought a bag with a giant ice pack already in it, but the young person packing the cake put two little ones in the box and then dumped 6 inside, maybe to fill up the space? This made it rather heavy, besides being rather wasteful (as far as I know, no one wants to recycling my ice packs). However, a heavy bag was useful in the strong wind.

Well, the strawberry was definitely good and the cake was fine as standard Japanese strawberry cake, but didn't stand out, so Bien-Étre remains at the top of the quite exceptional group, challenging Pierre Hermé, except the latter as more cakes under it's belt and Bien-Étre already has almost enough even for a superb shop, so I'm not sure what I'll do. I should get another cake from Bien-Étre soon, but it's not a huge priority (and I haven't actually seen new cakes there for a long time). Besides En Vedette, though, I'm not sure I have any place that's a priority that also has new cakes, so maybe next week, as well as finally starting to hit some new shops.

Jean-Paul Hévin: Bûchette Lichen

I'm way behind, but here goes. By last Wednesday, I had noticed that the individual versions of Jean-Paul Hévin's Christmas cakes were available, so I went hunting. I tried Isetan first, where there was a line (not necessarily for cake), but when I got a chance to ask, I found out that they were sold out, so I left. It was still early enough for me to go by bicycle to the Marunouchi shop, where they didn't have either and I didn't ask, so I went to Ginza Mitsukoshi, where they had both, not too much to my surprise (they are never as busy there). I went with Bûchette Lichen first because they only had one compared to several of the other, so I figured next time the other would still be easier to get, which would turn out to be true.

There is a full-sized version that has a fuller explanation of the layers, so I'm going to assume that they are the same, since the pictures match. The top (and sides of the big cake) is Venezuelan chocolate mousse, then Ethiopian café au lait mousse, a chestnut and almond biscuit, a chocolate and marzipan biscuit, and a cinnamon sablé base. So a high proportion of hard biscuit-type things, flour-less. The problem is the coffee, but I knew that going in. I really like this harder, drier cake as a change and I could accept the café au lait as an interesting flavor and enjoy it. There wasn't even a coffee aftertaste problem for me this time. However, it still left a burning feeling in my stomach, if not my mouth, so I still need to avoid coffee and have to rate it as only excellent.

Besides the bicycling, I did my indoor non-weights workout, which was enough.

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.

Jean-Paul Hévin: 4 cakes

Was at Ginza Mitsukoshi last Thursday (I think; I got confused by the long weekend) evening and went for cake for two people with me not choosing (just I pointed out what was new). We got 4 cakes that just became available in the last couple weeks, Passion, which is a regular cake that was new to me this month, Éclair Chocolat, which is only available on weekends, and two verrine, Verrine Chocolat Apricot and Verrine Chocolat Trente. Only the latter (in honor of the 30th anniversary) is new to me, so I'll mention that it is bay leaf scented Peruvian cacao mousse and strawberry, raspberry, and blackberry gelatin.

I thought both verrines were excellent, which is an upgrade for the first one and decided that they were cake enough to count (versus pudding with a little cake). The eclair was also excellent, as previously, but I thought that the Passion was actually great this time (maybe due to a lighter temperature or just chocolate intoxication), also an improvement over last time, though an average of semi-great is not enough to get it into cake-offs yet



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Frédéric Cassel: Paris-Brest Sakura

Tried going to Frédéric Cassel again, this time the day after White Day rather than the day before, and things were calmer, though there were still a couple dozen people in line at Jean-Paul Hévin. F. Cassel did not have a line, though all four people were busy filling other orders before I got served, and they were almost out of cakes, but they had two that I was interested in (which was good, because I looked in at my back-up on the way home and they were completely sold-out). I would have gone with a cake from this month's variation, but there was an actually different cake available, Paris-Brest Sakura, so I went with that. It seemed somewhat delicate, so I walked home (though vigorously) rather than jog. Because it was almost warm today, I was wearing the same thing I would on the hottest day, so it was a little chilly for walking, especially with high winds, but I was okay.

This cake is actually an éclair, so I'm not sure why they chose the name they did (the Paris-Brest part: it was obviously cherry-flavored). Very sweet (maybe that's why), and relatively pretty while still being excellent.

At home, I was happy to see on their website that Jean-Paul Hévin finally listed what the new upcoming cakes are and all three are ones I've rated great and one I've never did a cake off, so it's going to continue to be JPH versus everyone else in cake-offs for a while.

Foundry: Miyazaki Kumquat Cheese Tart

Went to Ginza Mitsukoshi again, running a little slower than yesterday but working on stretching my right ankle and getting good contact on my right sole so that hopefully I don't have problems with any part of that foot, eventually. My aim was to finally get a  new cake from Dalloyau for their (not so recent) cake-off win and I resolved even to take the Cheese Brulée (which is a small cheese tart that I had previously passed on), but they did not even have that. My back-up was a first cake from Foundry, which didn't look especially interesting to me and isn't somewhere that I've had any recommendations about, but they do have a shop more or less on my neighborhood course map (since I can get to Toukyuu), so I feel obligated to give them a try. I went with what I think was the Miyazaki Kumquat Cheese Tart (their web page is fairly limited as far as selection). It's definitely kumquat cake and looks like cheese, though not really any taste to confirm that. I hadn't looked closely, I just was trying to avoid the shortcakes (this place specializes in brand fruit, which is not my thing), but actually this has layers of sponge between whatever the cheese layers are rather than rare cheesecake throughout.

Running back, the box was relative large and heavy, so I only ran some of the course, though I took the outside track, so to speak, rather than run against the current on the moat course. Heavy ran is predicted for tomorrow night anyway, so I stopped one day early to replenish my supply of grocery essentials (mainly tofu and yogurt) and lugged those back as well.

Well, the cake was not as good even as I had hoped (partially my fault for expecting rare cheesecake without sponge). The fruit taste was fine, and I'm going to say that the cake is good for what it is, but what it is is not something that I need. I should have gone for the shortcake, since whipped cream would probably have had more taste than the "cheese" layers of this. I'll also say that I don't cake for this type of tart crust, which is just flaky enough not to be too brittle but not enough for me to call it a pastry crust. It's probably reasonable for these huge tarts, structurally, but that's just another reason for me not to trust slices of huge tarts versus individual tartlets.

Jean-Paul Hévin: Violette

Did a lot of walking today, first to Isetan and then back from Ginza Mitsukoshi (rather than run with cake, and to focus on my right foot, which has been giving me some problems, though that's not new), though I also did a few kilometers of running in the middle.

At Isetan, my first two choices failed: Blondir (a maybe good shop I've had only one cake from who were visiting but sold out on their last day) and Jean-Paul Hévin, who were sold out of what I wanted. My alternate was Sadaharu Aoki, but I decided to go to Ginza instead, where I could have a second chance at JPH's cake and 4 alternative counters that I was interested in. As it happens, I was successful at JPH, getting the Violette (or maybe Violet, though the Japanese pronunciation, which is all I have online, looks like the Italian, which seems unlikely). This is a chocolate mousse flavored with cassis (redcurrant) and scented with sumire (violets) on top of a pretty rich and relatively solid chocolate base. It is great, so I'll have to keep track of how long it's going to stick around and get in a first-round cake-off.

Dominique Ansel Bakery: 25-Layer Tart Tatin

Tuesday, being the first day of the short workweek, I went for a pastry. I overdid it the previous day and had things to do around the house, so I just did a quick run to Christa and got a Pain aux Raisins. It was definitely good, but I sensed that this would have been better more fresh; not much I can do about that with a shop that's only open on weekdays.

Wednesday, I went to Ginza Mitsukoshi with the intention of visiting Frédéric Cassel and found out why, I think, they still have not updated their homepage to include this month's featured selection of cakes, which I already saw on the 1st: they were not selling them today because of focusing on chocolate sales. Well, I'm not that into this month's theme, there are two more weeks, and there's a new theme every month, so no worries. My back-up was Dominique Ansel Bakery. I haven't heard anything great about them but they also have a shop on my neighborhood running course and they are Mitsukoshi, so that's reason enough. I went with the 25-Layer Tart Tatin. It's heavy, started off lopsided and came in a huge bag, so I mostly walked (hard) on the way back. This was as good as layers of baked apple can expected to me. I wonder if the great one I think I had was warm? Anyway, it's good and probably healthier than mounds of cream, just not that exciting to me. Still, I'd like to get their eat-in place in Omotesandou some time.

(Fri) Jean Francois: Croissant

Friday was a research run to Aoki Sadaharu, Viron (I skipped JPH because they told me before that there would be no new cakes until Dec 23), Toshi Yoroizuka, Fred Cassel and Dalloyau in Ginza Mitsukoshi, and Origines Cacao. I was running fast only to the first stop (5.2 km at 11 km/h) and only ran to the Ginza Station entrance (1.7 km at 10 km/h). From there, I walked, using the underground were possible. I've gained a new respect for the exercise value of walking and avoiding damage to my arms by running too much carrying things in my hands (in a backpack is okay). Couple great cakes back that I'll feature in the next couple cake-offs, I hope. At the last stop I got a Croissant from Jean Francois. As the picture shows, this is a petty crispy type, since there is no room to be fluffy inside. It was excellent. My plan for next year is to try to get a couple pastries a week from somewhere, on no-cake days.

Frédéric Cassel, Tarte Noisette

Decided to do the cake for Frédéric Cassel's last cake-off win. I went a long way relatively fast yesterday, so I just did 9 km/h both ways for about 9 km. The US visit police presence and road barricades around Yotsu Station and Hibiya Park were gone, not that they affected me much either way.

The cake was Tarte Noisette, which is, bottom to top, praliné, hazenut-flavored chocolate ganache filling, and white chocolate & Guérande salted hazelnut whipped ganache. It was excellent nutty goodness, as expected. Glad to get a chance to try this. Of course, they have a couple other hazelnut things, as this month's theme, that I probably won't get to, as I'm behind on other shops and the theme will change again next month, no doubt.

[Sat] DelRey: Chocolat Dome

Had a relatively busy Saturday, but I fit in photographing a selection of neighborhood sights along my neighborhood running course (here's a tiny version which I just spent way too much time making). I ran about 12 km at 9 km/h in just a little rain at the beginning, not including walking under Ginza. First I went to Hidemi's to confirm that they had a cake that I want for a future cake-off (they told me it should come into season in a month about three weeks ago) and then went to the DelRey patisserie (buried back along a foot path from a back street in Ginza) for a second cake. I went for the Chocolat Dome. It was good enough, but nothing special, unlike the price. Maybe it need more time to warm up first, as the flavor was not very strong.

Frédéric Cassel, Mille-feuille Framboise

Another typhoon is coming through, so I decided to stick close to home today, and just went to Ginza to visit Frédéric Cassel. Normally, since it's available on workdays, I wouldn't visit on a Sunday except to facilitate a cake-off, but their regular mille-feuille is only available weekends and I wanted to try this month's raspberry variation, Mille-feuille Framboise. Raid was actually fairly light and the wind not to strong, but there was some variation, so better safe than sorry seemed reasonable. Also, I found that my upper legs were tired from yesterday (also, I found that a bicycle offers good leverage for putting pressure on my lower back, so I have to be careful about my gearing).

Shimizudani Park

On the way there, I experimented with alternate routes (since it's too close for me to get really lost, even on a cloudy day). I ran through this park, went out the wrong exit for it to be useful go going east-southeast. Look at a map now, there should be a path at the southeast corner (this is looking back southwest), but I'm not sure whether the construction/renovation on the left (note the white barrier) has closed that path. I should find out. I'm just looking from a way to avoid the noise pollution from the major roads.

The mille-feuille was excellent, so I'll try to remember to work in a weekend visits to vary the cakes, though I'm caught up their cakes with them now, so no hurry.

Frédéric Cassel: Mille Feuille Finger Framboise

Cool with a mist of rain today, so should have been comfortable, but I felt slugish. Not sure why, since actually my average time over 9.6 km was 9.9 km/h, which was faster than I expected.

Visited Frédéric Cassel at Ginza Mitsukoshi again and got Mille Feuille Finger Framboise, which was excellent, as their Mille Feuille Finger series usually is. This is layers of white chocolate, two layers of cream---mango and passion fruit, and raspberry (thus, Framboise)--- and mille-feuille.

Cake-off: Mont-Blanc Jewel over Mont-Poire Yuzu

View of south center of Hibiya Park

Started off by running to Mitsukoshi in Ginza to get there near opening time so that I could get both cakes for a cake-off: Mont-Poire Yuzu from Jean-Paul Hévin and Mont-Blanc Jewel from Frédéric Cassel. It wasn't too hot going, but was heating up coming back. I saw some people with "staff" shirts, so there was probably some sort of specific running event along the inner moat coarse, but since there would always be a lot of people on it Sunday morning, I think, there did not seem to be that much of an effect. I walked underground from the corner of Hibiya Park, so the running was less than 5 km each way, 11 km/h going and 9 km/h coming back.

Before eating my cake, I went out to do more month survey of other shops looking for seasonal great cakes but did not find the two tarts I was looking for at Paris S'éveille and Ryoura. It was about a 30 km ride.

Both cakes were great and reminded me that eating great cake is the goal, so I should balance out trying new cakes with enjoying known ones. It's hard to choose between these two. They are both mainly chestnut, but fairly different. The FC give a dense cake with cassis (currant) for flavor on a dense butter (? still haven't studied how to make different kinds of tarts so much, beyond the crusts) tart, whereas JPH flavors with pear and yuzu and has very light whipped cream in the middle on a very light meringue base. Different, but both great. In the end, I thought the cassis flavoring was more effective, but I hope to have the pear and yuzu again next year.

Frédéric Cassel: Turin

Yesterday, I just had a croissant from Pierre Hermé, from the Omotesando main shop. It was good but expensive and not that special. It was soft versus crispy in a buttery way rather than a dry fluffy way, to explain its position among the spectrum of croissant types. That's the second non-cake pastry that I've had from them that was nothing special, so I should probably steer clear of them for those types of things. On the plus side, they had all three of the advertised new cakes, whereas Isetan had only one by the time I could get there. The running was relatively fast, 10 km/h going and 9 km/h coming back for a total of 8 km (a couple of those being from going by way of near Shinjuku Station, because I had somewhere else to visit). Interestingly, the run down Meiji Avenue between Shinjuku Station and Harajuku Station was not that congested, though I still got sort of lost when I turned on the back streets to cross over to Aoyama Street, and it's not as flat back in there as I expect.

Today, the run was to Ginza and back (with a stop at the grocery). It was 9 km total, not including walking under Ginza, but only 8 or 9 km/h. It was a little hot and definitely humid, as there was some light rain, especially going out. (If there is steady rain, the paper bag or even just its handle would not survive). Not sure what the real name of what I got was. I'm going with Turin (updated, based on JPH's spelling of one of their chestnut cakes). It's from Frédéric Cassel, who I'm almost caught up on (though, I'm not sure what I'll do then, since most of the other places I need to go are not available weekdays). it's chestnut cream and mascarpone cheese (which features heavily in a hot of their stuff). Unfortunately, it's not very exciting and of course expensive, but definitely good. On the plus side, their Mont-blanc Jewel is back, so I'll probably be doing my next cake-off with that.

Frédéric Cassel: Éclair Chocolat

It was hot today, not as hot as a lot of this summer, but it was also cloudy, so it did not cool off much in the evening. I went to Ginza to visit Frédéric Cassel at Ginza Mitsukoshi, but went underground from the corner of Hibiya Park. Coming back, I actually circled north as far as the International Forum, just to remind myself how to get there underground (I still want to see if that is a shortest route), because I was at Ginza last weekend and needed to get to Tokyo Station in the rain. Anyway, besides walking a lot underground for the crowded bits, I kept my speed down to 9 km/h out and 8 km/h back, running 9.5 km total.

Although I had seen some things I wanted more when I visited Sunday morning, today I had to be satisfied with my next choice, their Éclair Chocolat (600 yen), though there were still too other less attractive choices, a slice of roll cake and another flavor variation on the Mille-Feuille Finger (whereas, what I really want is the chocolate regular mille-feuille that I saw Sunday, but that might be a weekend only thing).

The éclair was definitely excellent and I had determined to call it great, but I've backed down on that. I can compare chocolate éclairs someday separately from cake-offs. This particular éclair is rather thin/flat and has a fairly thick crust, but the filling is also rather thick and it actually balanced out so that it seemed rather different from other éclairs, though my experience is still insufficient.

Jean François: Kouign Amann

Today was a no cake day, at least a no fresh cake: I still got a snack. I ran, somewhat fast (because it was somewhat hot) to Ginza 6 by a not so direct route, a little under 6 km at a little over 10 km/h. Coming back was 9 km/h, as I dealt with a less familiar route that took be through Hibiya Park and also shopping.

I got a Kouign Amann from Jean François at Ginza 6, opened this year. Jean François is a Viennoiserie, which means sweet breads, though they have plain walnut bread, so I'm not sure what counts. I'd really like to see some breakdown of baked goods from fancy fresh cakes down to breads. This cake/pastry/bread was, I think, excellent, though I'm highly biased toward it. It was sort of the middle of the spectrum as far as the balance between crisp flaky and soft parts, as these things go, much like croissant (no special center, but there was some caramelization on the bottom.

Dalloyau: Tarte Fruits des Bois (second time)

I intended to do a cake-off, but confused one cake for another. It's actually surprising that it does not happen more, though it was not completely useless. What triggered it was my first choice being unavailable due to summer vacation and Frédéric Cassel having their limited Tarte Ruby Roman available only until Monday. Actually, Tarte Ruby Roman was only rated excellent, so it didn't qualify for a cake-off, though it's also not a waste of time to confirm an excellent one. Also, it's an excellent match for Tarte Fruits des Bois from Dalloyau, which I had rated as great.

The 5 km I ran going to Ginza as at 11+ km/h, being not too hot in the morning, although that did rise to less comfortable levels later and there was more sun than I would have liked. I got both cakes and took the train back, more because I thought they were a little delicate for jogging than because of the heat.

The tart bases of these two are equally excellent, so I wouldn't mind learning how to make them, and the fruit is good as fruit goes, but it's hard to say that these tarts are definitely excellent, much less one of them being great. I'm downgrading Tarte Fruits des Bois, disqualifying it from a future cake-off. Since I've already downgraded Dalloyau to just Superb, which I've visited quite enough for, they'll just have to put one of the several great cakes that haven't been available back in the line up to get me to return, though I'll probably be back for pastries, because theirs are great, and I've never even tried their breads.

At noon, I went up to visit Trianon near Okubo Station: note to myself, never jog past Okubo Station; what a mess on a narrow sidewalk (it's the Korean shopping district). Trianon is on my list of places visited by Sweet Sonobe that I should give a chance, but I haven't gotten to it yet because I only was considering the main store, which is 15 km out (but open to 9 p.m., so doable on a weekday). It has a lot of pretty old-time Japanese Western-style cakes and reminded me of a lot of shops in Kobe (and not the good ones). Still, there were some cakes that looked like they had the possibility if being good and it's possible that they've survived 57 years for a reason, so I expect it to be my next new shop to visit. That was about another 6 km of running/walking at various speeds before stopping to order myself a new bicycle.

Dalloyau: Chou Cubique Mangue

Tried running to Frédéric Cassel, at about 10 km/h in the rain, but even though they still had three types of cakes I hadn't bought yet after my last purchase, last week, this week they were sold out except for two that I've already had, so I'll wait until next Monday, maybe, to visit again.

Instead, I went to Dalloyau and abandoned my "choux à la crème doesn't count as cake" rule and bought the Chou Cubique Mangue for 540 yen. I figured that I've had prejudices against various types of cake that I've overcome, so some day I'll find a cream puff that changes my mind. This wasn't quite there, but it was definitely good. It seemed to be the soft Japanese-style rather than the traditional crisp chou. For the traditional, you really want to get them filled at the time you buy them (e.g., try Ryoco's, if you're willing to order ahead).

Frédéric Cassel: Soleil

Did a slow jog, because it's still very hot and very humid with a little rain from the passing typhoon. Today was just to Ginza Mitsukoshi to visit Frédéric Cassel, though I walked from the scramble underground and passed by Dalloyau on my way back. I got the Soleil, which is a layered rare/baked cheese cake flavored with lemon, which is not very original, with some ornamental blueberries. For some reason this seemed perfect, so I'm going to say it was great until I can prove otherwise.